provigil and bipolar disorder

<sleepysmom> · Guest

If you have any experience/information about this could you please email me at ecavagrott@AOL.COM THANKS

sleepymoon · Joined: 13 Jan 2004 Posts: 2237 Location: CA

I don't know if anyone responded to you via email, sleepysmom, but I would guess that having both is not very common. I thought my doc said Provigil is completely different and does its own thing, doesn't interact with any other medications, but we here on TAS have found that it can multiply the effect of some things, such as alcohol.

I wish doctors knew more about this and would actually warn us. But it's hard, because we're rare, and not all of us use Provigil, so Prov is even more rare. They may know what it is, but have relatively little experience prescribing it. Even more rare is bipolar with N. So I wish I could help. I just noticed nobody responded to this post and thought you deserved some opinions on this. Such a hard issue to deal with, and when it's your kid that has the conditions, it's even more scary, I'm sure.

TracyS · Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Posts: 41

Sleepsmom,

I didn't respond to your post because I don't know anything about bipolar and Provigil. My 12 year old son is bipolar and is on many meds. Now that I've been diagnosed with N I wonder if maybe he could have it too. His meds make him very tired and he requires naps everyday. Not sure what will happen when school starts up again.

It would be hard for him to go off his meds to have the sleep studies done to see if he is Narcoleptic.

Your child has bipolar and N?

Sorry I can't help you but if you want to email me for moral support anytime please feel free.

sleepysmom · Joined: 21 Jul 2004 Posts: 12

Thanks for the reply to both of you...no bipolar disorder that we khow of...former MD did mention it a year ago when son was so irritable,but hey the poor guy was so tired who wouldnt be cranky x 10. We noticed some evening irritability since increasing provigil to 400 mg daily. I know that folks who are bipolar cannot take stimulants and just wondered if anyone had had personal experiences with using provigil and being bipolar. Just another question for the MD....lol...<sigh>

TracyS · Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Posts: 41

Wish I had some information for you. I'm glad to hear your son doesn't suffer from bipolar in addition to the N. Both are bad enough on their own.

Sleeping Lizard · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Posts: 1161

Hey all, the following is a link to a post that I have done on this topic a few weeks ago. It has some interesting links for further information as well as a discussion. I hope it is helpful.

http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/message-boards/viewtopic.php?t=8104

Tracy and Sleepy's mom: these articles also have discussions about adults and children being diagnosed with Bipolar when they really do have Narcolepsy. Additionally, One of them is a study done on individuals with bipolar disorder and N. and the effects that they experienced while being on Provigil. Good luck in your search.

[ August 06, 2004: Message edited by: Sleeping Lizard ]

TracyS · Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Posts: 41

Thanks SL, you're AWESOME! Don't have the time right now to read all of those links but will try over the weekend.

laugino · Joined: 21 Apr 2004 Posts: 46

I am Bipolar and cannot tolerate Provigil even at small dosage,it triggered mania when I tried.In general ,DR do not recommend taking Psychostimulants if you are Bipolar or have an anxiety disorder.
However,I have met Bipolars who were treated with Psychostimulants with almost no side effects.
They are different types of Bipolars(I,II),rapid cycling,mixed...and people misdiagnosed with bipolar that will tolerate the meds better than others but in general it is not recommended to use psychostimulants.

This not a good combination to have and you must simply accept to deal with the sleep disorder the best you can because it cannot be treated and wait for new drugs that will treat this combination.

Sleeping Lizard · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Posts: 1161

Ok I just found one more

Here's another article Called Stormy Sleep. It discusses the differences in sleep between individuals with Bipolar disorder and other individuals. It also has references so that you can find related articles.

http://bipo lar.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=bipolar&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fsleepmedicine.advanceweb.com%2Fcommon%2Feditorial%2Feditorial.aspx%3Fcc%3D22841

Oops one more:

Does Bipolar Disorder effect your dreams? This article discusses the dreams of people with Biporlar disorder and has a bunch of links to other articles.

http://bipolar.about.com/od/sleepissues/a/040729_dreams_2.htm

[ August 09, 2004: Message edited by: Sleeping Lizard ]

Sleeping Lizard · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Posts: 1161

Here is an article on Child sleep disorders:

http://sleepdisorders.about.com/cs/sleepandchildren/a/childrensleep.htm