Hello, I am Masa. Yesterday, I was sleeping all day, 24 hours to recuperate from a malfunction of the stomach.
Today I will talk about common drugs for Narcolepsy sufferers, as I found a question about them in a forum. The first drug is about Modiodal, or provigil named in the U.S., and the other is Anafranil or called Clomicalm. The name of drugs is often different depending on the company selling the drug. In Japan, they are called Modiodal and Anafranil, both are sold by Alfresa Pharma Corporation.
Modiadal
Cost : It costs about 403 yen(4 dollars) a pill (100mg). The maximum of pills allowed in Japan is 3 pills a day. I make it a rule to take the two every morning following the two reasons. First, it costs a lot. Even Japan has such a qualified national insurance system (the citizens' burden is 30%), it is still expensive. I have to pay approximately 250 yen (2.4 dollars) a day. Second, psychologically, I want to leave some room for more important occasions and events, when I take 3. In Japan, the maximum quantity is 90 pills for one consultation with a doctor, so, I have to go to see the doctor once in a half and a month. For a month, so I pay about 10000yen(100 dollars) in addition to the cost of consultation(1500 yen) and transportation(700yen). These are really burdensome.
Effect：The basic effect is to keep a brain awake. The merit of this medicine is said that it has almost no side effects and dependence. I agree with that to some extent. At first, I was told by the doctor that it would be better to make a day without taking Modiodal, but now I take it 7 days a week. On the other hand, "almost no side effects and dependence" means that its positive effect is also not so strong. Actually, I can seep even after taking Modiodal, and I cannot stand sleepiness whenever I could not have enough sleep at the previous night. Nevertheless, I keep taking it as I feel a certain positive effect on activating my brain.
Anafranil
Cost : Compared with Modiodal, Anafranil is quite cheap. One pill (25mg) costs about 19 yen. As I take two of them a day before sleeping, my burden a day is about 8 yen. This has no limit quantity of a prescription, I suppose, but usually I get 80 pills for one consultation as the same number of days as Modiodal's.
Effect：This had a positive effect on the quality of sleep and cataplexy. The impact in my life has bigger than that of Modiodal, in inverse proporsion to their cost. The biggest problem for me was repeated nightmares, which prevented me from a sound sleep. Anafranil could lessen the number of nightmares. Furthermore, it had a good effect on restraining cataplexy, sudden loss of power of muscle. These really improved the quality of my life. (although some extent of these effects are caused by Modiodal, I'm not sure.)
Conclusion
Modiodal and Anafranil are surely effective in improving the life quality of Narcolepsy patients. However, they are not at least perfect. The most important thing for us is to have a good quality of sleep. This is everything. (I recommend you to read the article of Carnitine, too)
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