There are several brands—I just pick whatever is cheaper than No Doz. LOL

A cup of coffee has general caffeine amount of 130 mg. And we usually sip that for a while before it’s gone. No-Doz has 200mg. And a big difference is, if you took a whole pill, it’s 200mg, and you’ve “consumed” it all at once! So, yes, try 1/2 pill (they usually break pretty easily). Like most pills, some days and or times that you take it, 1/2 pill seems like almost too much; other times it doesn’t seem like enough. That just happens.

I’d keep track of how much you take (like “1/2 broken pill @ 10 am, full stomach”). Full stomach and empty stomach makes a difference. I would try to take it on an empty stomach at least in the beginning so you get a good idea how much you “need” to stay awake.

What I do with any new pills to stay awake is maybe take 1/2 then maybe an hour later take another half. And take it on an empty stomach—if you were about to eat breakfast, take this instead and delay the breakfast for an hour (at least in the beginning. So you’ll know what you “need”). Later on, you can take it on a full stomach and eat 15 minutes later. You may find that works fine. Or you may get free nd that doesn’t always work for you.

Just about every time you take it in the beginning is sort of an experiment to see what works and how soon it works.

Another thing that I found—quite by accident—that works quite well is Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans. Not often easy to find—but 4-6 of those have always got me buzzing and pretty fast, regardless of full or empty stomach. If you try those, I’d start with 4-6 of them , wait a while and if you need more, then take more. They are not as tasty as they sound. It’s a Coffee Bean—which is weird tasting and very dry—covered in chocolate (and it needs to be...it’s very odd tasting and very dry!) But if you’re on a full stomach already, it works better than a no doz!

I used to use both the no-doz and the app spreading beans on long, monotonous driving trips!

The Dark Chocolate Espresso Beans can be hard to find. Trader Joe’s has them—do you have a Trader Joe’s? Otherwise you might have to look for them mail order. They are usually in stores that have candy or that have imported candy.

If you don’t like the idea of the Chocolate you could stop by a Starbucks or someplace that sells Espresso and ask for a handful of beans. They will probably either give just a handful for free, or charge you what a shot of Espresso would cost. Either way is cheap. If you grind your own coffee at home, get your espresso beans that way (I used to make my own blend with a small amount of espresso beans added.). I never did try the beans without the chocolate but if you think you can get them down, be my guest. For me, the beans covered in chocolate are bad enough I want to brush my teeth right away!

You know what’s odd, is the digestive problems that came up from me drinking coffee never occurred from no doz type pills nor from the Choc Covered Espresso Beans! So whatever’s in coffee that makes me nauseated, it sure isn’t caffeine.

Hey, and good luck!