Hmmm, so caffeine without carbs doesn't work as a stimulant?

I agree with cutting caffeine out, mostly, for daily use. But we aren't talking about daily use here. I keep a small quantity of it, and psuedoephadrine, in my gear for times where I need mental clarity and energy for just an another hour or two. I understand, and accept, the potential short term risks. But adrenaline doesn't always last long enough, your body will only make so much before it stops. Then you crash.

Caffeine works if you don't overuse it. But just like an analgesic, antipyretic, antibiotic, or heavy duty pain meds, if you use it when you need it, it helps you. Saying "my body can keep me awake" is like saying "my body can keep me healthy" and completely ignoring the value of vaccines. We have technology. Those who abuse it are no greater fools than those who ignore it.

That's some wisdom spoken, Ironraven.

I wish I could tell you how many people believe that "if a little of this drug is good, then more must be better." I can't remember all of the times that people come in for early refills on meds that affect their CNS.

I carry provigil. I work 24 hr shifts. I learned about it from my wife, who does research in aerospace and military medicine.

Jeff

Not just people but the doctors who prescribe them. My doctor has put me on 'preventative' antibiotics many times and the instructions on the bottle are very specific to TAKE THEM ALL! The last few times I haven't filled the prescription. I don't need to built a tolerance to something that could save my life later.

Lately I've just stopped going. If I get the sniffles I just take care of myself and it passes. If I keep it up after I feel better, I continue to feel better. I've been feeling under the weather once in the last year...that's some real prevention.

How so?

I used to drink coffee. It has a very short-term kick, but it never kept me awake when I was truly tired, regardless of how much I drank. It's just not that powerful, at least not in my body. I have since overcome my caffiene addiction and I cannot imagine a situation where I honestly believe it would be useful. But I did not use it religiously. So for people who do, they may have trained their bodies to be awake longer if on caffiene, but certainly not necessarily so, as without caffiene, the body can remain just as aware and awake, at least in my opinion. Maybe, though, my tolerance to it had gotten so high that it didn't effect me anymore.

I use so much caffiene I feel no effects from it. When I was a child in kindergarten I used to go to bed at 8. Stay up until 11, and then sneak down into the basement kitchen and drink 2 mugs of heavily sugared tea with my gran while watching Hogan's Heros and M.A.S.H. re-runs. My soft drink of choice has been Mountain Dew since it was introduced in the north east. Even now as I try to cut back on sugar, I still drink iced tea. Caffine just does nothing to me, awake wise.

-Bill Liptak

"A flight simulation task was chosen for the assessment of the stimulants in a counter-balanced, within-subject design under four different conditions: baseline (no drugs), placebo, caffeine (200 mg), and modafinil (200 mg). The equal effectiveness of both drugs in abolishing the nocturnal drop in cognitive performance...."

From: Cognitive Performance during Sustained Wakefulness: A Low Dose of Caffeine Is Equally Effective as Modafinil in Alleviating the Nocturnal Decline
by Dagan Y, Doljansky JT. Chronobiol Int. 2006;23(5):973-83.

Provigil is a controlled substance. Cafeein isn't. Yet.

I live by the coffee cup, I am actually drinking it right now. I consume caffeine daily and over the past 3 days have been doing a lot of night driving so caffiene has been my co-pilot.

After reading about caffeine pills on ETS a few months ago I bought some at Walmart but have not tried them yet. It just seems abnormal to take a pill when you are used to drinking a "food" product.

When I was younger I could drink coffee right up to bed time and have no trouble falling asleep, now I cut out caffeine after supper or I will have trouble sleeping later.

Mike