Content area
Full text
BOOK EXCERPT
Narcolepsy drug helps Dr. Brian Goldman function on late ER shifts, with no apologies
THE DOWNSIDE of having two busy careers is that I try to pack too much into my days. Everyone who works nights has a different routine. Ideally, you get to sleep in late the morning prior to your first night. Not a chance with me, since I work days at the CBC. Even if I didn't, I have a lifelong tendency to wake up early in the morning. Besides, on weekdays, when Tamara sets the alarm for 6:20 a.m., I usually get up with the alarm. I'm seldom able to get back to sleep.
To stay awake at night, I have often relied on caffeine. I sometimes bring to work a large single-cream . double-sugar from Tim Hortons, along with a box of 40 Timbits. The people I work with at night are always grateful for food, garbage calories aside. But I've long found that while one cup of coffee increases my alertness, any more tends to make me antsy without improving my wakefulness or my ability to think. I became resigned to feeling somewhat impaired at night.
Then I discovered modafinil.
Modafinil is sold under the brand names Alertec and Provigli. The drug was first approved in 1998 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and in 1999 by Health Canada for the...