neurologists have a variety of noxious stimulants available to them to determine level of consciousness, or depth of coma, or coma vs faking a coma: nipple twisting, pubic hair pulling, thumb pressure on eyeballs , knuckle rubbing on chest, rectal exam...and ammonia capsules. The physician's choice of stim probably tells you more about the physician than it does about the patient. Anyway, if the patient is goofing on the doctor by pretending to be comatose, or is in a relatively light coma, or is just asleep, these stims are annoying enough to cause a reaction; if the level of consciousness is lower (or the patient a really good actor), there is no reaction to the stimulus.

Provigil is indeed a controlled substance, I guess because of its abuse potential, rather than because of side or toxic effects. Its side effect/toxic profile seems pretty benign, certainly better than amfetamine and arguably better than caffeine or nicotine, both of which are legal by heritage rather than by rational evaluation.

I'm glad that you are in great health...never take that for granted!

(I'm assuming the antibiotics are for something other than acne.)
Many prophylactic antibiotics are for when you've had something stitched up, or pre-post-surgery or stuff like that. Your decision not to take it is certainly yours to make. But you are rolling the dice if you DON'T take them. If you wait until you get cellulitis and it's speeding up your limb, you have a real emergency.

And your doctor is 100% correct to tell you to TAKE THEM ALL. The "tolerance" you are cautious of is actually the bugs surviving a subtherapeutic dose of the antibiotic... much more likely to occur if you DON'T take them all. Your body doesn't develop a "tolerance" for antibiotics, the infecting bacteria do!

Tea bags have other uses too. They're good for tooth aches.

IIRC 'Dayquil' keeps some people up. For those relying on adrenaline, my reading from combat vets is that it's great for the first 20 minutes or so but after that it leaves you. Then it's a function of your training, fitness and whatever stimulants you have on hand.

I keep caffeine tablets in my kit because I get headaches if I miss my morning coffee. I'd hate to have to deal with a splitting headache while dealing with an emergency.

In college, I used to take sudafed on occasion when coffee wasn't doing the trick. It works, but it has some side effects like drying you out that make it less than optimal. You need to drink lots of water with it.

Bad idea to me. Alot of the stay awake meds will have a diuretic effect and will make hydration harder if water may be scarce.

Caffeine is a drug of choice for many, so I guess if it is part of your everyday it makes sense to keep a maintenance hit ot two in your kit in case your usual pushers are not around.

I would still like to understand what other first aid purposes are served by stimulants.

Thanks.

"...nipple twisting, pubic hair pulling...rectal exam..."

Medicine seems to have gotten kinkey when I wasn't looking...

I have seen that too. Makes my eyes water just thinking about it...

Me too. But I have to stop prior to noonish...