Modafinil can improve depressive symptoms in some patients with bipolar depression when added to a mood stabilizer, but it is not approved as an antidepressant. In a six week placebo controlled trial of 85 patients, adjunctive modafinil produced higher response and remission rates than placebo. The evidence comes from short term data, and psychiatric safety…

Current prescribing references do not identify a known drug–drug interaction between modafinil and gabapentin. However, the combination has not been studied in controlled clinical trials, so conclusions about safety rest on the absence of reported interaction concerns rather than direct evidence. For most adults without significant renal, psychiatric, or substance-use risk factors, using both medications…

Yes. Nerve pain appears to be a rare but real side effect of modafinil, documented in a published clinical case and reflected in specific patient accounts. It is not a common reaction and does not affect most users, but when it occurs, it can be severe and warrants prompt attention. Most people take modafinil without…

Modafinil does not harm the liver in people with normal liver function. Across more than 3,500 patients in clinical trials and decades of post-marketing use, it has not been linked to clinically apparent drug-induced liver injury. The key exception is severe liver disease, where slower drug clearance raises blood concentrations and requires halving the standard…

People with cirrhosis often ask whether modafinil is dangerous for the liver. Modafinil does not directly damage the liver, but cirrhosis changes how the body processes the drug, which affects dosing, side effects, and overall risk. Key takeaways Does modafinil harm the liver? From a liver injury perspective, modafinil has a relatively reassuring profile. According…

Modafinil doesn’t automatically become dangerous when you’re sick, but whether you should take it depends on how sick you are. A mild head cold is fundamentally different from a fever-driven infection, and the safety profile changes accordingly. Key takeaways Severity matters more than diagnosis What determines safety isn’t the name of your illness but how…

Despite frequent online discussion, there is no established clinical evidence that modafinil meaningfully alters immune function in humans when taken at therapeutic doses. Most concerns about immunity stem from animal research on neuroinflammation and from personal reports that are easy to misinterpret. Key takeaways The short answer for most people For typical users prescribed modafinil…

For most healthy people, modafinil is not bad for the kidneys. The drug is processed mainly by the liver rather than being cleared unchanged by the kidneys, and clinical evidence does not show routine kidney damage. Rare immune-mediated kidney reactions have been reported, and people with existing kidney disease should use modafinil only with medical…