Adrafinal is a medication prescribed regularly in Europe for depression and narcolepsy. It is chemically related to Modafinal (provigil) but much less expensive. Also, Adrafinal is not available by prescription in the US as is Modafinal. (Though it is obtainable over the internet). In France, apparently, Adrafinal is considered preferable to Modafinal as a psychostimulant.

I'm thinking of ordering Adrafinal, as I have read some very encouraging research on it. Just wondering if anyone has tried it, and if so, has it helped?

I've never tried it, but, if you do decide to try it, I would definitely make sure you were being monitored by a doctor.

I just got a prescription for Provigil, I took a small dose today to start and it seemed to work pretty well. I can't say much, though, until I've been on a higher dose for a while.

From what I've read, Adrafinal is really hard on your liver because it has to be metabolized into something else before it works, whereas Provigil is the version that's already in that form.

It ain't cheap either, probly be about $200 a month, which I might pay, depending on how good the stuff is.

I tried Provigil and hated it. It was very expensive as you have noted, did nothing for my ADD symptoms and make me feel wired and jittery. That's not to say that it might not work for someone else.

I also tried modafinil awhile back, and didn't like it much. I became interested in adrafinil after reading some anecdotal accounts by people who found it more effective than modafinil. Not to mention, it's about 1/4th the price of modafinil!

As you point out, modafinil is a metabolite of (and supposedly more potent than) adrafinil. But some reports (again, anecdotal rather than hard research) suggest that some of the efficacy of adrafinil is due to chemical compounds that get removed when it is metabolized into modafinil. (Yikes, I feel like I'm spewing gobbledygook here! Sorry...but I find this stuff so hard to articulate).

Anyway. I've decided not to try adrafinil...mainly because of the concern pointed out above: potential long-term liver problems. Also, because I don't know of any physicians here in the US who are familiar enough with it to prescribe it. I was just curious about it because it's been around for awhile, and is widely used in France, but I've never known anyone who's tried it.

My doc takes Provigil, and that's why he was recommending it, he says he uses it for late-night driving...

I tried adrafinil, and it seemed to work improving my attention span and motivation. It also cleared my head. A good drug.
But you need to have liver enzyme tests done every couple of months when you take adrafinil and my liver is compromised enough.

Ritalin and amphetamine work well for me, are legally prescribed in the US and both are inexpensive.

I've tried Modafinil/Provigil and it didn't help my add at all.

It did have a nice effect that I never felt tired when I was on it. I could stay up as late as I wanted without feeling sleepy, but could always fall asleep whenever I wanted.

- Amuk