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Comment by mirimir | Hacker News Reader

I typically drink one large coffee (30g beans) per day. That's about three standard cups. Plus 100mg modafinil. Without the modafinil, I typically drank about twice that. With that much coffee, I occasionally experienced premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). Which are extremely disconcerting, but rarely fatal. Or at least, that's what the cardiac specialist said, after the isotope imaging stress test ;) And generally, I'm happier with the caffeine-modafinil combination.

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15g of Lavazza Red ground coffee in a mokapot. Once a day. Assuming this hits the 'not major consumption' spot.

How bad is the withdrawal when you stop all of that?

What do you mean "stop"?

I've been drinking coffee for some decades. And taking modafinil for at least one decade.

If you don't do it for a week, how bad is your headache?

Why would I want a headache?

I do know from experience that I'll have headache if I cut off coffee. If I cut modafinil, I'll just not feel like doing anything, and sleep a lot.

Do you cycle the modafinil ? and How ?

No. I just take 100mg per day, upon arising. As prescribed.

If I need to work a long day, I take another 50mg, plus more coffee.

I'm surprised you feel anything from that dose daily.

I found Modafinil to be somewhat worthless due to it only coming as an instant release tab and the resulting insta-tolerance.

It works for me. But then, I'm not looking for a buzz. Modafinil modulates my ability to focus, and my need for sleep. But not in an acute way like caffeine does.

If I ever had "premature ventricular contractions", whatever they are, I would never touch a coffee ever again. How can you do that? "rarely fatal" is not good enough for me :/

You wouldn't lean to assuming the modafinil was the odd factor there before the coffee?

I got the impression that this happened before OP started taking modafinil.

Yes, and I haven't had any PVCs since taking modafinil. Because, I presume, I'm drinking less coffee.

Well, that was my thought, at first! PVCs feel like your heart is trying to jump out of your chest. Very freaky.

But, as I said, I've seen cardiac specialists. At least twice, over the years. They basically said to drink less coffee. But they found no evidence of heart damage.

That sounds strange to fear something purely based on its medical name. Driving is "rarely fatal", and that seems good enough for almost everybody.

premature ventricular contractions are basically extra heart beats that disrupt the normal rythm. If you have the feeling that your heart skips a beat, that's most likely caused by a premature ventricular contraction. It can be caused by heart problems but is in itself apparently harmless.

(note: I am not a doctor)

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