Modafinil is a popular nootropic drug in Belgium. The medication is used to boost cognitive performance at work or university.
This eugeroic (sleep-inhibiting) medication is highly effective for providing mental and physical energy and delaying the onset of fatigue. This allows users to stay alert and focused for longer periods of time.
In Belgium, the laws around modafinil are a little confusing. The drug is considered a prescription-only medication, specifically used to treat narcolepsy (a rare sleeping disorder).
Despite its prescription-only status, the medication can be purchased online.
In this article, we’ll highlight the laws surrounding modafinil in Belgium, and offer a few simple ways you can purchase the medication to boost your cognitive output and overall productivity.
Modafinil in Belgium: Highlights
- Modafinil is a safe and effective eugeroic medication
- The most popular off-label use for modafinil is for enhancing productivity
- Modafinil is considered a prescription-only medication by the European Medicines Agency
- The best way to get modafinil is to buy it online
How to Buy Modafinil in Belgium
Modafinil is available by prescription only in Belgium.
This doesn’t mean you can’t find modafinil in Belgium, it just changes the way you have to buy the compound.
Here, we’ll go over the two options you have available for acquiring modafinil.
Option 1: Use Your Prescription to Buy Modafinil from a Pharmacy
The first option is to pick up your modafinil from your local pharmacy. This involves obtaining a prescription from a medical doctor. In order to do this, you need a narcolepsy diagnosis — a rare sleeping disorder involving chronic daytime sleepiness. This condition is a result of a deficiency in the neuropeptide known as orexin — responsible for making us feel awake.
Modafinil works very well for this condition because it directly increases orexin levels in the brain.
If you don’t have narcolepsy, it’s unlikely a doctor will give you a prescription for modafinil in Belgium.
Even with a doctor’s prescription, buying the modafinil from a pharmacy is less than ideal. Most pharmacies only sell brand name modafinil such as Provigil or Nuvigil which are significantly more expensive than the generic equivalents sold online.
Provigil can be expensive — some sources selling 30 tablets (1 month supply) for 80 €.
Generic modafinil is much cheaper — usually costing around 45 € per month.
Option 2: Order Modafinil Online & Have it Delivered
This is the preferred option for people living in Belgium — even if you already have a prescription.
Online vendors have the option of selling either brand name modafinil and armodafinil or generic options. Most online vendors choose to sell generic versions of the drug because they’re the same quality and dosage as their brand name counterparts, only much cheaper.
Why spend 90% more for a medication when you don’t need to?
Generic medications are regulated the same way as brand name medications. The only reason they’re so much cheaper is that they’re manufactured by companies that didn’t invent the drug. This means they didn’t spend millions of dollars during its development.
All drug companies are protected from competing manufacturers for 20 years after inventing a new drug with patents. Since modafinil is older than 20 years old, these patents have since expired. There are now several large pharmaceutical manufacturers producing the drug at a fraction of the cost of the original brand name versions.
How to Buy Modafinil Online
Buying modafinil online is simple — go to an online vendor like ModafinilXL, and choose which product you’d like to have delivered.
MXL offers a few different options, including:
Although all of these options are very similar, some people notice slight differences between each manufacturer. You may want to try a few different options before deciding on one, in particular, to see how they affect you individually.
Other modafinil vendors in Belgium (e.g. BuyModafinilOnline or Afinil) also offer sampler packs so you can try a few different versions of the medication.
Once you’ve decided which products you’d like to order, simply go through the checkout process like any other online store. Many vendors will offer discounts if you pay for your order with Bitcoin — this is simply because of the many benefits Bitcoin offers when making payments online.
The Benefits of Paying With Bitcoin:
- Faster payment confirmation
- Keeps your payment discrete
- Significantly lower fees for the vendor compared to credit card payments
- More financially secure than credit cards
Even if you don’t want to pay for your order with Bitcoin, you can still pay for your order with credit cards during checkout.
The Benefits of Ordering Modafinil Online
- Much cheaper
- No prescription needed
- Convenient
- Multiple options available
- You can pay for it with Bitcoin
Is Modafinil Legal in Belgium?
In Belgium, modafinil is considered a prescription-only medication by the European Medicines Agency. It’s only prescribed for treating the rare sleeping disorder known as narcolepsy.
Purchasing modafinil online allows customers to get modafinil with or without a prescription. Most modafinil is shipped from India, where it’s completely legal to sell modafinil without asking for a prescription.
What Happens if my Package is Stopped at the Belgian Border?
This is a common question people often ask when buying modafinil online.
Most of the time, your package will travel through Belgian customs without any issues — however, in some cases a keen border officer might open your package. If they can’t find a copy of the prescription in the box, they’ll hold the package.
What tends to happen in this case is the Belgian border security officials will send a letter to the address requesting a copy of the prescription to release the shipment.
If you don’t have a prescription, you can simply disregard the letter and send an email to the vendor. Most vendors (including BuyModa.org) offer delivery guarantees — should this happen to you, they’ll ship another identical package in the mail free of charge to replace what was lost.
It’s rare that border security officials will stop two packages in a row.
Your first package will either be sent back to the vendor or destroyed.
Why is Modafinil Only Available by Prescription in Belgium?
Prior to 2007, modafinil was legally purchased in pharmacies without a prescription. It was used for treating conditions such as ADHD and sleep apnea, on top of its contemporary use for narcolepsy.
A lot of people were using the medication for cognitive enhancement as well.
In 2007, the drug was re-evaluated by the European Medicines Agency. The agency was investigating reports of side-effects and wanted to get a new evaluation on the effectiveness and safety of the drug.
At the end of the study, the EMA decided the drug was valuable but should be moved to a higher restriction level due to some potential side-effects of the drug.
Is Modafinil Harmful?
This question has been asked many times before. There are a few studies that seek to answer it.
One study looked specifically at the safety (and efficacy) of modafinil for children diagnosed with ADHD [1].
130 children and adolescents were given either modafinil or placebo control (sugar tablet). Over 9 weeks, the vitals of the children were monitored, and they were given tests to assess ADHD symptoms (ADHD-RS-IV scores).
Over the course of the study, only 3% of patients in the modafinil group dropped out due to adverse side-effects. Milder side effects were reported in at least 5% of patients in both the modafinil group and placebo group.
What are the Side-Effects of Modafinil?
Compared to other stimulant medications, modafinil has very few side-effects. The most common of which is insomnia. This makes perfect sense when you consider the fact the drug is designed to make us feel awake and alert.
Let’s go over the common side-effects of the drug and offer a simple solution for each to avoid them.
1. Anxiety
Anxiety attacks are not uncommon with modafinil, simply due to the stimulating nature of the drug.
The best way to avoid this side-effect is to avoid other stimulants (like caffeine) when taking modafinil.
It’s also beneficial to practice slow, rhythmic breathing whenever you feel anxiety coming on. This is by far the most effective method of stopping an anxiety attack before it even starts.
2. Headaches
One of the main causes of headaches when taking modafinil is dehydration. This is because modafinil often makes us forget to drink water throughout the day, and can act as a diuretic (promoting a loss of water).
The best way to avoid this side-effect is to ensure you’re drinking plenty of water throughout the day.
3. Insomnia
Insomnia is the most common side-effect of modafinil. The best way to alleviate this side-effect is to take the modafinil earlier in the day so that the effects wear off by the time you’re ready to go to sleep.
Additionally, practicing winding down before bed with meditation, relaxing walk, or even a calming tea is an excellent way to avoid insomnia.
4. Fatigue
Fatigue occurs in some people who take modafinil — usually as the drug starts to wear off, or the day after the modafinil dose.
If you experience fatigue as the modafinil wears off, we recommend lowering your dose. Everybody responds to modafinil differently, so it’s useful to learn your own limits and take a smaller dose if need be.
5. Weight Loss
This is a problem that happens over several weeks or months of modafinil use. The drug can reduce our appetite, making us forget to eat during the day.
The easiest way to avoid this is to ensure you always eat a good, hearty breakfast before the modafinil kicks in, and to pack snacks to eat throughout the day.
Some people will even set a daily timer on their phone to remind them to eat throughout the day.
Key Takeaways: Modafinil in Belgium
Modafinil is an impressive pharmaceutical-grade nootropic. People often take the compound to delay mental fatigue while working or studying to get longer, more productive work or study sessions.
In Belgium, modafinil is only available through a prescription and local pharmacy. However, you can also buy the drug online at ModafinilXL and have it sent directly to your door.
Buying online is the most convenient, and cheapest way of getting modafinil.
We recommend starting with various versions if you’ve never used modafinil before to try a few different types of the compound out before deciding on anyone in particular.
Although the drug does have some side-effects in some individuals, they tend to be very mild, and preventable if you know what to do.
References
- Biederman, J., Swanson, J. M., Wigal, S. B., Kratochvil, C. J., Boellner, S. W., Earl, C. Q., ... & Greenhill, L. (2005). Efficacy and safety of modafinil film–coated tablets in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, flexible-dose study. Pediatrics, 116(6), e777-e784.
- Boivin, D. B., Montplaisir, J., Petit, D., Lambert, C., & Lubin, S. (1993). Effects of modafinil on symptomatology of human narcolepsy. Clinical neuropharmacology, 16(1), 46-53.
- Sevy, S., Rosenthal, M. H., Alvir, J., Meyer, S., Visweswaraiah, H., Gunduz-Bruce, H., & Schooler, N. R. (2005). Double-blind, placebo-controlled study of modafinil for fatigue and cognition in schizophrenia patients treated with psychotropic medications. The Journal of clinical psychiatry, 66(7), 839-843.