Good Luck to you. My friend has MS and can't even get any of the above mentioned stimulants.
Denise
As you know symptoms from HCV and HCVtreatment vary from slight to none to extreme. my attention and concentration problems seemed to start about 3-4 months ago from small things to last week I forgot that I took my inf inj on thursday. i got my days mixed up and gave my self another shot on friday. I told my dr about this and some other things, missed dentists appt. ran a red light and almost hit a little girl and her mother in the crosswalk. My gastro called a hepatologist that is associated with the pegasys program. He said when the the effects get to be life threatining. It would be a wise decision to administer stimulamts. which by the way provigil is classified a a stimulant also' I thank God that according to you most patients symptoms arent bad enough to warrent any add meds. But according to my gastro and the hepatologist that he consulted with my symptoms warrant a stimulant and he would have given me ritalin or adderall but he cant write prescriptions for class II meds. By the way ritalin is given very frequently for HCV ,fatigue and concentratioon.so i dont know where you got the data that most patients dont take anything for fatigue or concentration. Could it possibly be that the fatigue and mental fog just wasn't as severe in your case as it it was in some others cases. Or maybe your just tougher and was able to suck it up and keep going , where others have effects that they just cant shake it off. any way I got the script and the dr said it should really help "IN MY CASE' and I pray to God it does,thanks for your inspiration.
Most doctors will not prescribe amphetamines for thier patients because they can develop addiction to them and they are not necessary.
Have you tried the Provigil that seems to ahve worked for some folks. Most of us just deal with it because adding something that might be considered an upper when we arleary have sleeping difficulties is so counter productive.
It just doesn't seem necessary or logical - most all of us on treatment have dealt with brain fog but not to the point of needing any real sort of speed ... you don't have an addiction now thank God but you sure could in no time at all.
Not worth it. Life is too difficult already without that. Trust me.
Why would a Dr. be reluctant to give me a prescription for this didrex? Im not a drug abuser and if it will help relieve my symptoms, it looks like he would want to try it to see if it will help me.
I know that they give adderol and ritalin for fatigue and concentration,which by the way are both schedule II class drugs. although they are both very effective for fatigue brain fog due to tx.but they have a very high abuse potential and in texas,where I live an MD can have a class v through class III schedule license, but in order to write for class II substances he must apply and be granted a special license to write for class a II substance. I checked with the provigil,my insurance wont cover it and even that they have a generic available for provigil (modafil) the price for the generic without insurance is $167 a month 200mg a day.My hepa said all stimulants have the potential for abuse Didrex is a class III schedule and is less addictive than the addrerall or the ritilan(which he cant write for anyway. Didrex was approved by the FDA in 1960 as a Central Nerve stimulant. The normal dosage is 2-50mg tabs daily and costs $22.00 for 60 tabs. I've read other posts about the didrex and they all said it worked wonderfully for attention, memory and fatigue. the only drawback is the potential for addiction. My Gastro said to use it with the same caution as you would ritalin or addreall and do not increase the dosge. He's going to give me a 30 day trial supply and then check to see how its affected the brain fog, fatigue,ect. I hope it works. I forgot that I took my peg injection last week and took it twice. and im having trouble carrying on a conversation because I cant hold my train of thought. Thanks for everybodys support.
My Dr. just recommended Provigil for my fatigue and brain issues. It sounds like an upper to me, but without the edginess of Ritalin...like Bill says used by pilots duing the Iraqi wars...also people with narcolepsy and MS patients with fatigue, amongst others. I read on the MS forum that many members use and recommend it. I'm still waiting on a prior auth and trying to make up my mind about it. Right now...today....I feel really good, so I don't know that it's warranted. First time I've ever heard of it.....
Pam
Hey there,
I’m unfamiliar with didrex; like GSDgirl, I looked it up, and it’s labeled for weight loss. Have you discussed the use of Provigil (modafinil) yet? This stuff is FDA labeled for fatigue (think fighter pilots :o)), and is supposed to be non-addictive.
Bill
I just looked it up and it is an amphetamine. Good luck getting a doc to give you a script for it.