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How do caffeine and Modafinil interact?

If you’re a car lover like me, you would know that there are 2 methods of getting more horses out of your engine.

One is turbocharging the other is supercharging. Both tweaks make the car go faster.

But what we are here to find out is if they can be combined and still not wreck your engine or your drive.

I’m drawing an analogy to caffeine and Modafinil. Of course, they’re not quite the same as super / turbochargers but let’s go along with it for now.

If we combine both, we first need to know what they are capable of as stand-alone brain boosters.

Let’s start with caffeine…

Caffeine

In 17th century England the popularity of the drink gave rise to a number of coffee houses which were dubbed ‘penny universities’, because with one penny a person could buy a cup of coffee and have intellectually stimulating conversations with other people.

So its nootropic effects were confirmed in the civilized society pretty long ago.

It is probably the most-prevalent and popular nootropic in the world.

Drinking coffee goes back more than centuries ago if evidence is to be believed. Wars were actually won because of this amazing drink.

There was a soldier who wrote in his diary ‘you can’t soldier without coffee’.

Pros

  • Acts as an antioxidant, repairing damage to neurons due to oxidation
  • Prevents Parkinson’s disease in some cases
  • Lowers the risk of liver cancer
  • Generally considered good for the heart

Cons

  • Diuretic, so loss of fluids and dehydration may occur when consumed in higher amounts
  • Increases anxiety in larger quantities
  • Known to increase acidity, causing acid reflux
  • Mood swings and jitteriness
  • Coffee breath

Modafinil

One of the first to earn the moniker “smart drug,” Modafinil has been a strong force in the world of nootropics.

Although its nootropic properties are off-label, you can easily buy it online from a handful of websites. As such, there is enough anecdotal evidence to convince people about its benefits for the brain.

Pros

  • All benefits of coffee but much stronger
  • Studies have found it increases cognitive functions in the brain
  • Within accepted dosage levels, side-effects are minimal
  • More pronounced effect-for-money-spent than coffee

Cons

  • Not many people prefer a drug’s off-label use
  • Needs prescription or brought in from outside the country
  • Need to be careful not to overdo it

So you see they each have their positives and negatives. My job is to find out if they offer a synergistic experience when they are combined. Spoiler alert: they do!

But, do they mix?

Following are the excerpts from my own experience when it comes to mixing the two.

I like my coffee in the morning; every day of the week and a bit late on weekends.

But I have never overdone it. Meaning I don’t guzzle 10 cups of it every day like a lot of people do.

But all said, my cup o’ joe is critical for me to function normally right after I’m up.

I usually pop my Moda right after I wake up.

This gives me ample time to work up a good ‘zone‘ before I head out to work. The coffee goes down the hatch at about 11’o clock.

Let me tell you, if you are used to plain black coffee, you should try coffee on Modafinil. You can literally hear your internal turbo spooling up (coffe cubes is another option you could try – read my review here)

The key to the intake of stacked nootropics is to make sure that you have the exact measure and timing right when you take them.

Timing is everything

I would recommend that you take your dose of Modafinil as you usually do in the morning. Then down the coffee late-morning or post lunch, whenever you are feeling a bit drained.

Since you already have Modafinil in your system, your shot of coffee should now have extra strength and perk you right up!

This recommendation comes after I tried taking both at the same time.

The results were far from beneficial. I was on-edge throughout the day and hardly got any meaningful work done.

The right boost pressure

It’s easy to overboost your turbo/supercharger.

The feeling of power is addictive not to mention all the exciting sounds that go with it! But you should be aware that running it at a high boost can be very harmful to your engine. Similarly with stacking nootropics.

I have come across in a lot of cases is that most people tend to not notice the fact that they are downing huge quantities of coffee even when they are on Modafinil. This might either be due to force of habit or just because it feels good.

But you should avoid doing this as too much coffee when on a course of nootropics can cause loss of focus, jitteriness and anxiety.

But by all accounts, you should give it a try if you do not down coffee by the gallon. Modafinil and caffeine are synergistic and you should have beneficial effects when consumed. They interact and combine with each other well.

Other Modafinil users recognize the synergy between caffeine and Moda. Ronald Ng, a frequent user, had this to say about combining the two:

There is a synergistic effect between modafinil and caffeine.

If you are a regular drinker of caffeine, be especially careful when you begin taking modafinil. Err on the side of caution and assume that your regular morning coffee is going to be two or three times more potent. While this might sound like a good thing, this synergy is also present in the negative effects of any form of over-stimulation.

Yes, you will be more awake but if you have too many coffees, you may find yourself experiencing greater anxiety than usual. It takes time to find the right balance but once you do I think you’ll find that they work well together.

Other Quora users ditch caffeine altogether:

Read Tim Robinson answer to How do caffeine and modafinil interact? on Quora.

I follow a morning routine similar to Ronald’s. A just a little bit of Armodafinil (37.5 mg or ~1/4 pill) with a cup of green tea or decaf coffee. Together, I feel the benefits of caffeine and modafinil, without the downsides of either (jitters, anxiety, dehydration, anti-social vibe).

Final Word

So to answer the question we started off with, yes, there are cars that have turbochargers and superchargers combined.

They are called twinchargers and they eliminate the flat-spots normally associated with both the parent technologies.

But you need to be careful as with twincharged engines. Because too much boost pressure can ruin it and send you back to the repair shop with a huge tab.

So go ahead and twin-charge your day with caffeine+Modafinil and tell us how it went in the comments section below.


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Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 11 comments
Jenny - September 4, 2015

Good to read a cohesive and practical post about your use of Modafinil.

I buy all my Modafinil from MODAFIZONE – Go Google them.

I have only started using it recently to help with extreme fatigue from poor sleep patterns. Everything else in my life is on track, fit and healthy 49 year old woman. I have had clinically diagnosed major depression and OCD for many years but manage it well now without medication these days (exercise, diet, CBT etc.) Only using a 50mg dosage as I am inclined to be very sensitive to drugs. Also, my problem is small compared to someone who has significant fatigue issues. Just mentioning these boring facts because they may make a difference to people.

I only need 50mg every second day or so and find it is very effective but only if I organise myself beforehand otherwise I will waste time all day long without a care in the world. What I do find is that, for me, it just clears the mind and allows me to focus and stay on topic in meetings etc. I find that I am not so overwhelmed during stressful episodes. Also, no yawning which I used to do non stop during the day. If I take 100mg I find I talk non stop and fidget madly. If I drink coffee on the same day I take it I am highly nervous so putting caffeine in the mix is not a good thing for me.

The days I take it I often have a good sleep afterwards but very dream filled. I also have a sharper memory of the day that stays with me. It’s made a difference to my life and a positive one at that. Previous to having it I used to have to organise my work day so that I could do the complicated tasks between 11am and 2pm which is when I was not in zombie mode. Now I find the day is just a normal day.
I do make sure there is food and drink nearby otherwise I just won’t think of eating or drinking (not a good feeling).
One other thing I find it great for is on the weekend when I am doing my writing. I take it and just sit down and write without stopping. It does not help with creativity but it makes it very easy for me to get the creativity out and onto paper.

It’s a bit like being a wind up toy. I just go!!

Reply
    Dan - September 4, 2015

    Hey Jenny,

    First off, thanks for sharing your experience and I’m glad to hear that modafinil has had such a positive benefit for you.

    “it is very effective but only if I organise myself beforehand”

    > This is my experience as well, and seems to be the experience of most people I know. Taking modafinil is like firing a bullet or arrow; it’s going to follow a straight path, but you have to make sure it’s aimed in the right direction first. A little daily planning the night before goes a longgg way. But if not, an otherwise-productive day can quickly go off track and it’s tough to “right the course” once it kicks in.

    I’ve also had your experience with caffeine, though I find that some green teas compliment small doses well. (I take Armodafinil 25mg, which is about the same effect 50mg Moda).

    Thanks for the tip re: Modafizone – I’ll definitely give them a try.

    Cheers,
    Dan

    Reply
Larry Trowbridge Sr. - September 21, 2016

I too have found that smaller doses more often of armo/moda seem to work better. One of the biggest challenges to this strategy is cutting 1/2 pills in half (for 1/4 of a pill) and keep a consistent/uniform size, or in many cases, completely destroying the half-pill. **Any tips on how to get consistent sized 1/4 pieces?**

**Also, I was wondering what a good amount of time would be to wait before taking caffeine after taking moda/armo, and how much caffeine?** I use powdered caffeine during the week when I’m at my factory job (welder) because it’s so much easier than trying to drink coffee before it gets cold, spilled, or sparks in it. And, since I can make my own capsules, I can keep the dosage much more consistent.

Reply
    Dan - September 22, 2016

    **Tips for breaking about 1/2 a pill into 2 quarter pills.

    Nope! I just use my fingers and that’s worked well thus far. Yeah occasionally it’s not an even split but it’s not the end of the world. 🙂

    **Modafinil and caffeine…

    Great question. This will depend on how sensitive you are to caffeine. I keep it to 1 cup of coffee max per day, which is anywhere from 100-300mg of caffeine depending on how strong I make it. But let’s call it 200mg since that’s typical for an 8oz cup. Unless you overdue it with caffeine, adding in a little moda won’t hurt. If you drink too much coffee though, moda will amplify the jitters. (In my experience).

    Reply
Synosia - September 21, 2016

These will interact extremely foul or not at all, full spectrum variance, depending on the caffeine tolerance preestablished. Some people can take the two together and fall asleep while others would be in foul-panic with a BP over 160. There is an unusually wide various with this particular combo that is so large, not much else can be written about it.

Reply
Synosia - September 21, 2016

If you arent a regular caffeine user, you wouldnt want modafinil combined with a first caffeine trial dose above 25 mg. See web for caffeine content of drinks. On the other hand, those highly tolerant to caffeine to begin with wont have any adversity & may find they need their caffeine to even feel any benefits of the modafinil they go on; reduction or withdrawal of caffeine will completely wipe out modafinil. And then there is everyone else in between these two. I personally take caffeine alone.

Reply
renz - May 29, 2017

My first expirience with coffee + moda in the morning, I was terified because suddenly i feel my heart pounding so fast, i check my heart rate on my smartphone it goes up to 127bpm..(ave.80 bpm-normal)

Looking for best advise…tq

Reply
DL - June 25, 2017

Thank you for this informative article. 🙂
Just started with a standard 200 mg Moda + exactly 1 cup of my morning coffee.
This was my regimen for adderall, 5mg TR + 1 morning coffee, and it worked well. As you described that second cup when I first started was far too much. Completely agree that overdoing either causes discomfort.
Trying Moda because it is supposed to be similar to adderall but with far fewer side effects. 🙂

Reply
Charles Muffin - August 16, 2017

WARNING: I bought some of these pills online (artvigil + provigil) and used them for about 2 months with caffeine and have given myself some kind of heart attack / stroke.

The capacity of my heart seems to be reduced now. 6 Months on since, quitting all caffeine / stimulants I have tried drinking tea again and found that I cant even drink a single cup without my heart beating erratically for the rest of the day. I have seriously damaged my health by taking this stupid drug. I think I have shortened my life by 10-30 years as a result. Before doing this I was a pretty healthy and in shape 29 year old.

No one should be promoting this drug. If you dont have narcolepsy you dont need it. If you are just doing this because you want to earn more money or work more hours you are a fool. The number of people buying this stuff online and not using a doctor is ridiculous. My experience with using this drug was almost exactly the same as the plot line of the Limitless movie. Avoid at all costs. Business and life is a marathon not a sprint.

Reply
Bruce wayne - August 26, 2017

Best way to describe mate and explain mate!

Reply
Prasoon - March 23, 2018

Thanks for sharing this valuable information Dan! I’ve always enjoyed the wakefulness that coffee gives me. Have overdone it in the past but, have learnt to become a responsible coffee user 🙂
When I started Modaf (I take 100mg in the morning – single dose), I was quite curious about topping it up with my favourite brew (If you ever visit South India, don’t forget to try some of the yumminess we have here from places like Chikmangaloor).

Your article was exactly what I needed! It tells me that there is wisdom in moderation and timing. I have my first cup of coffee a few hours into the day, after my choline rich breakfast is settled well and only top it up early afternoon if I feel like I need some extra fuel.

So hey, thanks for helping this random stranger form the Internet 🙂

Have a productive day!

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