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Provigil Or Nuvigil?

wschmucks

By wschmucks
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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wschmucks Contributor
wschmucks
Posted

I am not a crazy pill popper :-) BUT with that said- several times I have gone through several months of severe brain fog and fatigue where i am totally home bound and cannot function as a person. I have been seeing Drs for the past 2 years straight and have really left no stone unturned. During that process i was diagnosed with both Celiac and Hypo and have been treated for Celiac for about 10 months and Hypo for about 4 months. Now i am working on the underlying causes of the brain fog very agressivley but in the mean time--I am a 25 yr old who cannot leave her father's house and NEED to get back to life. I have heard that medications like Provigil/ Nuvigil for brain fog or chronic fatigue. Has anyone used this? It would be just to get me back on my feet until we can figure this out. (all of my B-12 and other vitamins are normal and i take tons of supplements--this hasnt helped)

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OliveBranch Apprentice
OliveBranch
Posted

I'm not certain, but I think both Pro- and Nuvigil contain gluten. Before I started suspecting gluten as a cause of my own chronic fatigue and brain fog, I did try Nuvigil, with terrible results. I only felt worse! I can handle some jitters, but only if they come with some extra energy--which was not the case.

Previously I've had much better luck with Focalin--toward the beginning of my illness (about a year and a half ago), it afforded me 5-6 hours of good energy and relief of brain fog, and then wore off gradually. However, when I tried it again more recently, I only got ONE hour of relief, and then a major crash into fatigue, brain fog, and depression. I stopped taking it after just a couple of attempts. My prescribing doc thought that I must not be absorbing it well, or that it passes though me too quickly--possibly because the damage to my gut had progressed in those 1.5 years, and absorption in general is not as good. I'm hoping that, as I heal, I will no longer need stimulants, or at the very least be able to get more help out of them.

I can completely sympathize on how hard it is not to be functional due to fatigue!! I am 27 and in the same boat. I do think it is worth trying a stimulant--perhaps you'll have better luck than I am having--but I would NOT recommend Nuvigil.

I am not a crazy pill popper :-) BUT with that said- several times I have gone through several months of severe brain fog and fatigue where i am totally home bound and cannot function as a person. I have been seeing Drs for the past 2 years straight and have really left no stone unturned. During that process i was diagnosed with both Celiac and Hypo and have been treated for Celiac for about 10 months and Hypo for about 4 months. Now i am working on the underlying causes of the brain fog very agressivley but in the mean time--I am a 25 yr old who cannot leave her father's house and NEED to get back to life. I have heard that medications like Provigil/ Nuvigil for brain fog or chronic fatigue. Has anyone used this? It would be just to get me back on my feet until we can figure this out. (all of my B-12 and other vitamins are normal and i take tons of supplements--this hasnt helped)
wschmucks Contributor
wschmucks
Posted
  • Author

Great thanks for the advice! I am going to call my Dr tomorrow and see what she thinks.

I just looked it up and it looks like provigil does have gluten and nuvigil does not- just and FYI

OliveBranch Apprentice
OliveBranch
Posted

wschmucks -- if you'd like to share, I'd be curious to hear what you and your doctor came up with, and if you're getting some relief. Hope you're doing well.

Great thanks for the advice! I am going to call my Dr tomorrow and see what she thinks.

I just looked it up and it looks like provigil does have gluten and nuvigil does not- just and FYI

wschmucks Contributor
wschmucks
Posted
  • Author

Shes playing around with my thyroid medication first. But I see her on Monday and if the test didnt work I'll let you know what she has to say about Nuvigil.

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