Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Precautions
Your doctor should check your progress at regular visits to make sure that this medicine is working properly.
This medicine may cause you to have a serious rash or a serious type of allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis can be life-threatening and requires immediate medical attention. Stop taking this medicine and call your doctor right away if you have a skin rash; itching; hives; hoarseness; trouble breathing; trouble swallowing; or any swelling of your hands, face, or mouth while you are using this medicine .
If you think modafinil is not working properly after you have taken it for a few weeks, do not increase the dose. Instead, check with your doctor.
If you are using a medicine for birth control, such as birth control pills or implants, it may not work properly while you are taking modafinil and for 1 month after stopping modafinil. Another form of birth control should be used during this time.
Modafinil may cause some people to feel dizzy, to have changes in thinking, to have difficulty controlling movements, or to have blurred vision. Make sure you know how you react to this medicine before you drive, use machines, or do anything else that could be dangerous.
If you have been taking this medicine for a long time or in large doses and you think you may have become mentally or physically dependent on it, check with your doctor. Some signs of dependence on modafinil are:
- a strong desire or need to continue taking the medicine.
- a need to increase the dose to receive the effects of the medicine.
- withdrawal side effects when you stop taking the medicine.
While you are taking this medicine be careful to limit the amount of alcohol that you drink .
If you have been taking this medicine in large doses or for a long time, do not stop taking it without first checking with your doctor. Your doctor may want you to reduce gradually the amount you are taking before you stop completely.
