I have taken 100-400mg of Modafinil daily for about 10 years. I happen to have my 23andme results (thanks for the tip, tene!) and it looks like I'm rs4680(A;A)

I have taken 100-400mg of Modafinil daily for about 10 years. I happen to have my 23andme results (thanks for the tip, tene!) and it looks like I'm rs4680(A;A). Despite what the paper in CPT says, it does have a significant effect on my alertness. The comments about procrastination and focus all sound familiar to me. So do the comments about addiction: sometimes I'll forget to take it and if I don't have any because I forget to pack it while travelling I don't feel an urge to do anything about it. I only have a few things to add to what's been said already: 1) Modafinil is not a substitute for sleep for me. I've gone without sleep for days while using it, and I do suffer from the effects of sleep deprivation. I just don't notice that I'm suffering from them. The best way to describe it is that I am alert and thinking, but I am missing half my IQ points and don't realize it unless I'm particularly mindful about how I am feeling. I'm great at driving, working out, the boring parts of reverse engineering firmware, and other mindless repetitive physical tasks, though. A few years ago I decided to spend a lot of time at the gym and was performing at superhuman levels: it's just not normal for a 5'8" guy to feel happy about running 6 minute miles at 4 AM on no sleep. When I did that on no sleep I kept losing my keys and phone, though... 2) Modafinil significantly increases my ability to get out of bed in the morning. I've never taken a sick day since I started using it. If I don't get enough sleep I still zone out a little during the day, but it makes it so much more pleasant to get out of bed and go through my morning routine if I'm missing sleep. I'm certainly in better shape because I have the energy to go work out, as I mentioned. 3) I'm quickly approaching the point where I'll have been on Modafinil for more than 50% of my life, and as far as I can tell there have been no long-term side effects. My partner is a MD and although at first she couldn't believe that it wasn't permanently screwing something up, she's come to accept that Modafinil seems to be pretty safe in my case. 4) Despite what others have said about Modafinil affecting their creative thinking, I have no problems assimilating entirely new concepts or doing other abstract thinking while using the drug.