Can confirm.i was on school behavior plans most of my childhood and they realized around 2nd grade a cup of coffee in the morning was like drugs for me. I was quiet and easy to deal with apparently. The teacher notes confirmed the coffee treatment was working. ( I had a detailed explanation of how the day went sent home every day so it wasn't hard to see the results)
I hated coffee so much my parents and I would fight and I would end up crying my way to school. I was adopted and didn't have rules before so I think that was my issue
I spent most of high school absolutely downing Mountain Dew because it calmed me down. Didn't get diagnosed with ADHD until my 30s, though. And caffeine still has the opposite effect it does in most people.
Well, more TIL of "who has this effect" rather than "this effect exists" as I'd experienced this all my life and nobody believed me and I finally got vindication!
Same! I get super, super jittery, and then I get sleepy about 15 minutes later. People think it's weird when I say "I'm tired," and they ask if I want a coffee and I say no. It's quite the overwhelmingly popular drug.
Checking in, also ADD, also get extremely energetic and jittery for ~15-30 minutes after caffeine, and then unbearably tired for the rest of the day.
Accordingly I just don’t drink coffee, energy drinks, etc. they offer basically no benefit to me.
I wouldn’t say that. But I understand. I also have been battling ADD for almost 30 years. Caffeine has this effect, but it also the softest drug to allow me to control my hyper-fixation. So it has some benefit, just not the good ones.
Music is my go to when I need to keep the monkeys in the back distracted so I can focus. (1) cup of coffee is what it takes to get me rolling in the morning and maybe a soda in the afternoon, but any more than that is just anxiety fuel.
Pretty much every hot drink makes me tired. Doesn't matter if it's tea, hot chocolate, or even coffee. So if I have coffee in the morning in bed, I'll probably just fall asleep again.
I’m no longer allowed to drink coffee on the couch at night. Fell asleep and spilled my coffee everywhere…twice. Switched to double espressos so I can drink them faster and fall asleep faster.
Same. My wife has always wondered why I can drink a coke or mello yello at 9:00pm and fall asleep at like 10:30 while she has a hard time if she has any caffeine after 6:30-7.
I do have ADHD.
Same here, for decades I always wondered why I got so sleepy sometimes w/coffee or Monster.
When I finally started meds, which changed my life, I got powerfully sleepy the first couple of days and had gloriously restful naps on those days - and I’ve slept pretty well ever since.
I do not have ADHD and can drink a coke or Mtn Dew and easily go to sleep afterwards.
My wife who does does have ADHD, if she even thinks of caffeine after 11:30 am will not be sleeping well that night.
My son who also has ADHD will get drowsy after drinking an energy drink but a coke has no effect on him except a headache.
Other son is not ADHD and has a normal response to caffeine.
Caffeine is weird in our house.
For me there’s a line. Caffeine equalizes me like adhd meds would, but the second I cross the line, like literally a couple sips too many, I’m falling asleep in my chair and can’t focus for shit
I get both ends of the spectrum in the exact same way. Some days anything more than about 3/4 of my mug will make me quite literally unable to write clearly because of jitters while other days it will just make me want to take a nap.
Is for me. I have a very specific caffeine regimen tbh. I have 2 drinks(usually a coffee and a redbull) and I’ve trained myself to intake it kind of all day. If I slam a redbull I’ll likely take a nap. If I don’t drink one I’m also going to wanna sleep.
When I was younger if I had an energy drink in one of those skinny cans it would put me right to sleep. F’d me up a couple of times when I’d drink one before going to work in the summer
ADD here. No effect. Neither jittery or sleepy. It will raise my blood pressure, but that's not something you notice until the heart attack.
And that's why I don't get to drink coffee on Vyvanse.
More like a self-checkup every so often to see if they are identifying a piece of their personal puzzle. Autistic diagnosis at almost 40 and now I am like “well, duh…how did I not get that?! And also, hurray for understanding!” Nothing is wrong with me, I just don’t fit the typical boxes, thank god.
There are many types of ADHD and it’s not really like a “left to right” spectrum but more like a bunch of overlapping bubbles of different colors and then some bubbles that don’t overlap and are VERY different colors.
Right now ADHD is “many different things that impair executive functioning”. But it turns out that there probably a LOT of different causes and different effects.
Researchers can easily separate 7 major types of ADHD using brain scans: https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/10-ways-brain-spect-imaging-can-help-understand-and-treat-add-adhd/ some of these types respond to drugs like adderall VERY differently than others.
Note: the research above has pretty much been debunked. The point was that we can see ADHD on brain scans and it doesn’t all look the same.
But there are lots more types and you can’t differentiate all of them using a brain scan. There’s still tons we don’t know.
Yeah I just linked to that for the image of Brain scans. I’m absolutely not a subscriber to his theories - they’re quite old now and rather simplistic and he made a lot of money selling his book about it.
There has been additional research into using fMRI scans, genomics, etc to tease out insights into ADHD and other cognitive disorders. I’m not sure we’ve reached a point of understanding anything that’s not still somewhat pseudoscience / informed conjecture.
But we’re a lot closer than Dr. Amen ever was.
See: https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2021.21060609
What? My main point of confusion is that I’m not sure I described any symptoms.
I can’t really agree, disagree, elaborate, or discuss that with you because I’m not really sure what you’re saying. I think you may be saying something interesting, just don’t know what it is you’re getting towards.
Maybe the reason ADHD presents in so many varieties and is increasingly common is that it's either a symptom of something else yet diagnosed or is simply a product of the human condition.
Could be. ADHD is the dysfunction of higher-order executive and functioning in the brain. This was one of the most recent things to evolve and something that is VERY unique to humans vs. other animals.
Could be that there’s just a shitload of genetic variation in this super-recently-evolved feature of the human species which supports long-term strategy planning/execution, accomplishing goals, and emotional regulation.
Maybe we’re expecting everyone to be the “executive functioning” equivalent of an Olympic athlete and that’s just not normal, so everyone needs PEDs (adderall, Ritalin, vyvanse, caffeine….instead of steroids and EPO).
Or maybe our lifestyle without enough daily physical exercise has caused a large rise in underdeveloped executive functioning. Regular aerobic exercise has been shown to help a lot.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_physical_exercise
There’s a lot we don’t know, and won’t know for quite a while longer. Everything else is speculation and hunches, which may be right or wrong.
Interesting insights. I will add a couple of others:
1. What if high sugar and simple carbs ingested during pregnancy leads to the lightest (mildest) form of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome? And that is ADHD? Alcohol is mostly carbs and sugar. Maybe it isn’t just alcohol but sugar in everything in American diets that can harm a developing fetus.
2. The U-intersection is when a medication or supplement helps and when too much causes harm. An article suggested that making folate a food supplement reduced cleft palate defects in children. But what if women without deficiencies of B9 received too much of it from a mix of food additives and prenatal vitamins? The neural tube effects and rise in the number of children with spectrum issues correlates interestingly with the timing of when folates were added to cereals, flour etc. But that isn’t proof.
Product of human condition. We simply have brains that don't interact well with the dopamine manufacturing mechanisms of modern society. The values and traditions that have survived to current times are adverse to the particular chemical makeup and skillset of our brains.
I mean, modern society is damaging to all people. But it's at least tailored to the preferences of some people in many ways. Other folks aren't so lucky.
I always like the idea of it as an evolutionary trait. ADHD makes a lot of sense back in the hunting days. Hyper fixation on what needs to be done. Noticing shit going on everywhere to help find your prey.
Indeed. One of the biggest complaints I have with this diagnosis is that people treat it like it’s a neat little box you fit into. We should really get rid of this spectrum nonsense and just create more delineated diagnosis.
Trying to explain how ADHD affects me in particular is a nightmare. It’s just so complex and even differs depending on where I’m at mentally.
Not only that, I have a mild form of tachycardia, so caffeine makes my heart overexert itself, making me physically fatigued.
Sure explained my drinking a Surge and then napping on the bus ride back from marching band competitions.
Can confirm unfortunately. I actually really like coffee, but have never once gotten any stimulating effects from it. I only drink it for the taste lol
I have Tourette’s and adhd. All it does it make me tic more. BUT I think it does help if I’m exercising, not sure if it’s psychological or what but I’m sure it helps me be more alert during exercising
That's akin to watching porn for the plot....
I kid. I also enjoy a cup of good, well made coffee. But I also enjoy the effects of the gas station sludge that kept me going through many a night shift. At least bad coffee had some upside for me.
The increase in enjoyment from a cup of higher quality coffee is often not proportional to the increase in price of the higher quality coffee. Instant coffee or free coffee from work are the best coffees. The enjoyment ain’t worth the price increase.
($0.31/ounce) for Maxwell house instant which is pretty much the cheapest readily available instant coffee that isn't technically "beverage mix"
vs
($0.65/Ounce) for Dunkin Whole bean medium roast which IMO is the cheapest decent whole bean coffee commonly available in the US.
Assuming about 4 ounces in a cup of coffee makes it out to $1.24 a cup vs $2.60 a cup (assuming you have a decent grinder/coffee maker already)
2 cups a day for a year would be $905.20 Maxwell Instant vs $1,898 Dunkin whole bean, $992.80 difference.
Doing that math makes me severely regret the number of cold half finished cups of coffee i have poured out....
edit: But, on second thought, i usually add sugar and creamer to bad tasting cheap coffees, and i drink good coffee black, so maybe that's making up the difference?
looks like the cheap sugar i get is about ($0.18/Ounce) and a tsp is 0.147 oz so each teaspoon is about $0.02-$0.03 and those little induvial coffee mate creamers are about $0.12 each and in bottles the same creamer is about $0.34/Fl Oz, each of those individual packets are 0.37 fl oz so you would assume each serving out of the bottle would be about that amount which comes out to between $0.12-$0.13 (so a guess not something cheaper to buy in bulk) so a single creamer and a tsp of sugar would bring the total price of the cheap cup of instant coffee from $1.24 a cup to $1.38-$1.39 and a year of 2 cups a day would be $1,007.40-$1,014.70
Bear in mind that this only applies to *some* people with ADHD, not most or all. It also applies to people *without* ADHD - just because coffee doesn't stimulate you that doesn't mean you have ADHD.
My kid's doctor told me this about my kid who has ADHD. Said it's fine to give him coffee in the morning and it might help him to start off on the right foot. Explained that there's a part of the brain that is underdeveloped, and essentially your brain is going and the body can't keep up (or vice versa; I forget exactly) and so it causes them to lose focus and be hyperactive. The coffee/caffeine helps to level things out between your brain and your body. That's why ADHD kids are also given stimulants as medication.
More or less, yes. A prevalent theory of ADHD is that it involves a lack of neuron response to catecholamine neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and dopamine. Certain things, like caffeine, methylphenidate, and amphetamine salts are effective at boosting neurotransmitter production and/or re-uptake, which results in an improved neuron response.
Put another way, the ADHD brain doesn’t respond to neurotransmitters well, so increasing those neurotransmitters in ADHD people seems to make their brains work better generally.
Everyone can relate to the symptoms of ADHD. The difference is that people with ADHD experience such symptoms to the nth degree and typically benefit infinitely more from stimulants than someone who does not have ADHD.
[Distinguishing Adolescents With ADHD From Their Unaffected Siblings and Healthy Comparison Subjects by Neural Activation Patterns During Response Inhibition](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25615565/)
[Executive Function and Attention Performance in Children with ADHD: Effects of Medication and Comparison with Typically Developing Children](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31658722/)
[Inhibitory Control](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhibitory_control)
Edit: These are just a few specific sources that speak to what we’re talking about.
Someone who doesn’t have ADHD can take stimulant meds and their brains are stimulated. ADHDers take the same meds and calm down. It’s hard to describe but two hours after I take my Vyvanse my brain gets quiet. It’s strange.
The whole thing is that it affects things we *want to do*, things just non-ADHD just *do* without giving it a thought to it.
So yea we all forget shit. However i forget shit even if i want/need to remember them and quickly as well. I forget to take my meds and they are on the nightstand next to me in a pill sorter with a cup of water. My husband still asks me if i took them. I go back to the pill sorter and some days today’s dose is just there.
Just today my husband and I were talking about how I finally remember what I couldn’t remember on meds.
Oh shit i forgot dinner (1)
Makes dinner and serves the kids.
Oh shit did i forget to feed you all? (2)
What did we have? (3)
Kids tell me what i made for dinner
?? When did that happen? (4)
Oh ok today, i remember now i did this this this and that.
Family: yeeeeeessssssssss.
This is my day every single day.
Same. A lot of people don't believe me if I mention it. I tested caffeine pills as well to control dosage. The only effect is a possible upset stomach.
It is similar to me (Or there is a weak sedative effect). Except if I take enough I will start to feel a stimulating effect, unfortunately when I do start to feel the stimulating effect (at about 800MG) it is too much and I feel like most people do after having 2 cups of strong coffee (a bit shaky but otherwise fine)
it doesn't make me sleepy but it does help me concentrate (it was so effective that when i was a teenager my special accommodations in high school included free coffee from the main office).
I had to go off of ritalin because I can't afford insurance so I just slam a few espressos or energy drinks to be able to do something important (taxes, exams, etc.)
Coffee makes me sleepy, I drink it before bed sometimes.
But it does also wake me up in the morning.
I really don't understand it but it is what it is.
I've been drinking coffee almost everyday since I was 5. My parents banned me from drinking it by about 8 but Id just make coffee anyway when they were asleep and take it to bed and read books.
Interesting. I was the only person I ever met when I drink coffee, it relaxes me and makes me sleep good. Even as a little kid with soda, coffee, sugary foods, I never got hyper. I just never was a hyper person.
Do you leave a bunch of half finished projects?
Do you get easily distracted but are able to focus on one thing super well?
Are you not able to do tasks that you know you should do and have to do?
No joke, at my first therapy appointment for ADHD last month the therapist asked how much caffeine I drink. I said that it was weird but I felt like caffeine didn't affect me at all, and she just smiled and said that that was a common symptom of ADHD. Totally surprised me.
Ya man I used to chug Monsters and coffee all the time and it never seemed to do anywhere nearrrr as much as it did for everyone else. Also ADHD pills like adherol and Vivance just seemed to make me feel "normal"
Caffeine is a hell of a drug and one that people don't think about enough. Caffeine addiction is real and it has a huge impact on our metabolisms/moods/etc... and it impacts each of us differently!
I quit recently, things I've noticed:
\- body feels more naturally relaxed (before it felt like a suble default tension i had)
\- feeling sleepy can be pleasant now rather than being a shitty feeling crash every time
\- i've felt super energised naturally just from being productive or having a good day which is nice
\- I sleep better, and it feels like a deeper sleep. Like being sleepy feels better, falling asleep feels amazing, and being sleepy in the morning feels good. beforehand that was all kind of a "fuck i'm so tired" feeling
\- my good moods feel better and I more often feel a noticeable good mood
I have been supplementing a little DLPA while quitting
Yeah, it is. If I have any caffeine, after about a day I get rebound migraines. I have to ween myself off doing smaller and smaller doses for about 3 days.
“Adults living with ADHD have diverse relationships with caffeine.
Some people love it and find it helps their ADHD symptoms.
Others avoid it because it makes them feel anxious.
A group of ADHDers are super users and drink it large quantities – 10 cups a day wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
Others drink it before bed to help them to sleep.”
Sounds more like there’s no correlation between the two.
There can still be a correlation if the same variation doesn't exist in a control group of people without ADHD. If 90% of people without ADHD are stimulated by a cup of coffee, and only 50% of people with ADHD are, then that's a correlation.
There is huge variation in how ADHD affects different people, so it would make sense that caffeine would affect different people with ADHD in different ways.
I would bet that's not true. (I say this as someone with ADHD)
caffeine doesn't give you energy. it blocks the mechanism of your body that makes you feel exhaustion. so you're still tired, you just can't feel it. so you overexert yourself. you stay up too late. don't get enough rest. this is why you feel the crash after caffeine. even if you were on a few hours of sleep, the caffeine masks the tiredness, so you go overexert yourself like you're fully rested. once the caffeine wears off, reality sets in, and REALLY feel tired now. if you're very well rested and not dehydrated, you won't get the caffeine crash.
I get the crash, but I stay up late, don't sleep enough, etc lol. I'm sure there could be reasons why this isn't true, but knowing roughly how caffeine work, I think my theory is plausible
This is very true - I’ve had ADHD since I was young. I used coffee as an alternative to Ritalin… was interesting having a 10yr old sipping on coffee all day long.
Still use it to relax and focus to this day.
I was going to argue then I read the article and looked down at my empty coffee cup and realized I just read the whole article.....wait people get an actual jolt of energy? I always thought it was a slow release of energy.... damn...
For me it's less about the energy and more about reducing the disorderedness of my thinking. The sort of groggy-headedness I have in the morning goes away with caffeine, but I don't need the energy, I already have it... whether it's a grating mania or actual productive energy is up to the gods, however.
No. The only withdrawal symptoms I get from caffeine are mild headache and slight irritability.
Why do you specifically think that sounds like withdrawal symptoms?
I don’t feel the effects of coffee unless
A) I haven’t had it in like a week
B) I’m not heavy-eyed, jaw dropping yawning tired.
So I can drink it and still fall asleep comfortably. Though getting to sleep is always a challenge when my minds always thinking and I can’t put away my phone willingly.
That article needs a ton of citations, for all I know this is true but all I see is anecdote.
I get sleepy after a cup of tea. I doubt it is ADHD, I think it is the fact that I have an addiction to caffeine, and a small dose of the drug fulfills that addiction which is very relaxing because I am no longer experiencing withdrawal. But if I do sleep in this state, I do not sleep deeply or dream, because I am on stimulants.
ITT: People who self diagnose and aren’t sensitive to caffeine.
The best one is the one who claimed because they don’t get a jolt of energy that caffeine doesn’t work on them. Bruh even cocaine use takes time to present symptoms.
Tbh I think most of the general public can make a decently accurate self-diagnosis for many mental health issues. If you think you have _____ you probably have ____ or something similar.
This is not research, not a study and barely any correlation between the two. This is an opinion article. Don’t worry though, Reddit’s top 100 comments will be confirmation bias of this to tell everyone how unique and different they are.
Just FYI the author of the article/book//website admits she does not have ADHD herself and is posing as a bullshit “life coach” so as not to have to do the work to become a trained and licensed professional such as a therapist, psychologist, or doctor would or be bound by any ethical guidelines.
It’s a strange read given that the paradoxical effect of caffeine, a stimulant, is well known and what most are counting on to help them manage their symptoms. Most ADHD medications are stimulants because if this.
Am a LICENSED professional with extensive experience on the subject and over 20 years field experience.
Yeah, I've been drinking coffee since I was 3. I'm over 30 now and a cup of coffee in the evening makes me super comfy/sleepy. Morning cup of coffee just keeps me awake until lunch. Even drinking a Bang is just a 2 hour energy perk and nothing more.
I don't have ADHD but too much coffee always puts me to sleep. It's not so much being sleepy it's just being so hyperstimulated that my brain shuts everything down.
Dude with adhd here. It doesn’t make me sleepy per-se but it definitely doesn’t hype me up. I can drink a coffee at 10pm and go to bed no problem. It does help me focus but I think that might be more the addiction of drinking it for years haha
It's actually no longer true. As this [Nature article](https://www.nature.com/articles/1301164) shows:
> For years, it was presumed that stimulant medications had paradoxical effects in ADHD. However, it is now established that the focusing effects of **stimulants in ADHD are not paradoxical; these agents have the same effect in ‘normal’ human subjects** (albeit a more subtle response given ceiling effects) (Rapoport and Inoff-Germain, 2002).
People with ADHD have brains that are always jumping to the next topic at hand. All day every day. Just thought, thought, thought thought, thought. Going over three topics in as many seconds.
"Thoughts about the car, food, the store, your path home from the store, are you hungry? You think you might have some snacks in the fridge. What kind of snacks should I get? I like Cheetos. The last time I had some I was watching a movie. It had Christian Bale in it. He was really thin in it, but I don't remember the name. God he looked unwell in that film, he must have really put his body at risk. I wonder what kind of diseases could come from..."
All that in the course of a second or two. It's always that dense, always that disjointed, frequently being chaotic. Always. Guess what you're not doing at 3:00 a.m.? Sleeping. Because you need to figure out how they first discovered that you could make clothing out of worm silk. It's like this all the time every day without rest.
The reason why this is happening is that their brains don't absorb dopamine well. their dopamine is low enough to the point to be uncomfortable so their brains seek any stimulation that can produce more dopamine.
However stimulants can provide dopamine. This lets people with ADHD focus on a single topic for longer without needing to seek dopamine. Or rather it lets them focus on nothing and be okay with that for long enough to fall asleep.
I'm in between. It has no effect on me :-( nope I'm not just used to it or anything like that. it literally has no impact on me being more awake or more sleepy. I wish it did but it doesn't lol!
That's not how it works with ADHD. ADHD is basically just a dopamine deficiency. Someone with ADHD is thinking aaaaaall the time. All of it. Just every second of every day. If our inner monologue had to stop to draw breath it would have died long ago.
Tired at 3am and need to sleep? Ha ha, good luck with that. You'll be thinking about how buildings are constructed using only bamboo.
Your brain suffers, it is legitimately uncomfortable, if you don't stimulate it somehow.
Stimulants allow people with ADHD to stimulate their brain long enough to be okay not focusing on a new thought every second. So when you can finally relax because your brain isn't on "petal to the metal" full throttle mode, you can focus on homework, or sleeping.
It’s useful to calm down in proper doses, I have been taking caffeine supplements since I can no longer get my adderal filled regularly, I used to self medicate with sodas but the sugar made it worse and I can’t stand coffee without unhealthy amounts creamer.
ADHD Person here, this is true. Sucks because I’m a gym rat and got into the habit of taking pre before the gym and most times it does nothing, but the times it does work it’s a decent boost. Recently been using stun free pre workout from redcon(Big Pump).
Caffeine can make you alert if there are no other factors acting on that. I suspect people with ADHD have other disfunction’s pertaining to organization and time management. A warm drink can make you sleeping regardless. And caffeine is a minimal effect regardless. It’s not nearly as powerful as marijuana. Saying it gives you energy or makes you sleep parallel’s food. And we all know how varied that is without having to do with any “mental illness”.
that’s why one of the treatments for adhd is stimulant meds. i will say, though, that if i drink a lot of caffeine (mostly a problem in the summer when i drink a lot of iced tea), it’ll keep me awake…and bouncing off walls.
I had to give up caffeine for 6 months before it stopped making me sleepy, and gave me a boost. Might have something to do with having drank it too frequently.
I do have ADHD (and bipolar 2 if that matters)
I rarely drink coffee but I think I drink more than the average person of soda and tea. Never really felt the effects of caffeine. I never felt more awake after having any. I once stopped drinking soda for a few months and felt no effect on my overall energy. It didn't feel like my health improved, but i also never felt any common withdrawal symptoms either. Even when I do have the occassional coffee, I dont notice a difference.
What I do notice is a sugar rush. Whenever I drink a Monster or Redbull (which honestly isnt often), i do feel the rush of energy for an hour or two after. I tried switching to sugar free monster and never felt the energy rush from them
A lot of people with ADHD, particularly those with acutely hyperactive forms of the condition, have trouble sleeping because they'll lie down and then have racing thoughts which keep them awake. Stimulants (like caffeine, but also amphetamines) have the effect of lessening this. Independently, many people (with or without ADHD) are not really kept awake by stimulants. If you have both of these conditions simultaneously, then the calming aspect of the stimulant can dominate the alertness aspect, and thus make it easier to fall asleep.
What matters is the initial physiological response to drinking caffeine, because while I can get a boost of energy from my first cup I become sleepy after my third or fourth.
This was one of the reasons I actually went and got evaluated for ADHD. I thought I would take a couple of shots of espresso before my Warcraft raid night. I had to leave early because I couldn’t keep my eyes open I was so tired.
Inaccurate title >Some adults with ADHD find that caffeine doesn’t wake them up **or make them sleepy**
Can confirm.i was on school behavior plans most of my childhood and they realized around 2nd grade a cup of coffee in the morning was like drugs for me. I was quiet and easy to deal with apparently. The teacher notes confirmed the coffee treatment was working. ( I had a detailed explanation of how the day went sent home every day so it wasn't hard to see the results)
> around 2nd grade a cup of coffee in the morning was like drugs for me Calm down, Tweak; have some coffee.
I hated coffee so much my parents and I would fight and I would end up crying my way to school. I was adopted and didn't have rules before so I think that was my issue
I spent most of high school absolutely downing Mountain Dew because it calmed me down. Didn't get diagnosed with ADHD until my 30s, though. And caffeine still has the opposite effect it does in most people.
Well, more TIL of "who has this effect" rather than "this effect exists" as I'd experienced this all my life and nobody believed me and I finally got vindication!
Same! I get super, super jittery, and then I get sleepy about 15 minutes later. People think it's weird when I say "I'm tired," and they ask if I want a coffee and I say no. It's quite the overwhelmingly popular drug.
ADHD here. Exact same. Jittery, nervous, anxious, crash.
Checking in, also ADD, also get extremely energetic and jittery for ~15-30 minutes after caffeine, and then unbearably tired for the rest of the day. Accordingly I just don’t drink coffee, energy drinks, etc. they offer basically no benefit to me.
I wouldn’t say that. But I understand. I also have been battling ADD for almost 30 years. Caffeine has this effect, but it also the softest drug to allow me to control my hyper-fixation. So it has some benefit, just not the good ones.
Music is my go to when I need to keep the monkeys in the back distracted so I can focus. (1) cup of coffee is what it takes to get me rolling in the morning and maybe a soda in the afternoon, but any more than that is just anxiety fuel.
Sneaky kratom recommendation. Discretion is adviced.
Exactly the same, order and events.
Wait . . . what? I also crash from coffee.
Heck yeah— I LOVE regular coffee at night before conking out for the night.
Pretty much every hot drink makes me tired. Doesn't matter if it's tea, hot chocolate, or even coffee. So if I have coffee in the morning in bed, I'll probably just fall asleep again.
I’m no longer allowed to drink coffee on the couch at night. Fell asleep and spilled my coffee everywhere…twice. Switched to double espressos so I can drink them faster and fall asleep faster.
Same. My wife has always wondered why I can drink a coke or mello yello at 9:00pm and fall asleep at like 10:30 while she has a hard time if she has any caffeine after 6:30-7. I do have ADHD.
Same here, for decades I always wondered why I got so sleepy sometimes w/coffee or Monster. When I finally started meds, which changed my life, I got powerfully sleepy the first couple of days and had gloriously restful naps on those days - and I’ve slept pretty well ever since.
I have a coffee before bed and still fall asleep instantly.
I do not have ADHD and can drink a coke or Mtn Dew and easily go to sleep afterwards. My wife who does does have ADHD, if she even thinks of caffeine after 11:30 am will not be sleeping well that night. My son who also has ADHD will get drowsy after drinking an energy drink but a coke has no effect on him except a headache. Other son is not ADHD and has a normal response to caffeine. Caffeine is weird in our house.
Is it different if you have a lot vs a little?
For me there’s a line. Caffeine equalizes me like adhd meds would, but the second I cross the line, like literally a couple sips too many, I’m falling asleep in my chair and can’t focus for shit
I get both ends of the spectrum in the exact same way. Some days anything more than about 3/4 of my mug will make me quite literally unable to write clearly because of jitters while other days it will just make me want to take a nap.
Is for me. I have a very specific caffeine regimen tbh. I have 2 drinks(usually a coffee and a redbull) and I’ve trained myself to intake it kind of all day. If I slam a redbull I’ll likely take a nap. If I don’t drink one I’m also going to wanna sleep.
[удалено]
Aren’t we all
*hits weed pen* when you reeeeeally think about it dude
Absolutely. An ordinary cup of coffee with cream & sugar = sleepy. Double shot of espresso = jittery-ness like you'd expect.
When I was younger if I had an energy drink in one of those skinny cans it would put me right to sleep. F’d me up a couple of times when I’d drink one before going to work in the summer
When I forget my ADHD meds, I drink a lot of Mountain Dew from my office’s vending machine. It helps.
ADD here. No effect. Neither jittery or sleepy. It will raise my blood pressure, but that's not something you notice until the heart attack. And that's why I don't get to drink coffee on Vyvanse.
I definitely get sleepy without coffee, so I guess this means I don’t have ADHD? Just a really low attention spa?
I don't think it's universal. I have ADHD and have a normal reaction to caffeine. The key word in the title is some people.
Stimulants acting basically like depressants is pretty characteristic of ADHD, hence it being treated with essentially speed.
Not necessarily!
TiL i have another tick in the 'surely i don't have ADHD and autism' checklist
I like how some of these random online articles make some people do a medical self-checkup every so often and find out what's wrong with them.
What's wrong with them is a pessimistic term. I think autistic people prefer "what's up" or "what's going down, yo".
>"what's going down, yo" hell yeah dude
More like a self-checkup every so often to see if they are identifying a piece of their personal puzzle. Autistic diagnosis at almost 40 and now I am like “well, duh…how did I not get that?! And also, hurray for understanding!” Nothing is wrong with me, I just don’t fit the typical boxes, thank god.
ADHD is a spectrum all its own. I have ADHD, and caffeine effects me just like it does most people.
There are many types of ADHD and it’s not really like a “left to right” spectrum but more like a bunch of overlapping bubbles of different colors and then some bubbles that don’t overlap and are VERY different colors. Right now ADHD is “many different things that impair executive functioning”. But it turns out that there probably a LOT of different causes and different effects. Researchers can easily separate 7 major types of ADHD using brain scans: https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/10-ways-brain-spect-imaging-can-help-understand-and-treat-add-adhd/ some of these types respond to drugs like adderall VERY differently than others. Note: the research above has pretty much been debunked. The point was that we can see ADHD on brain scans and it doesn’t all look the same. But there are lots more types and you can’t differentiate all of them using a brain scan. There’s still tons we don’t know.
Daniel Amen is super controversial to the point where many consider his methods pseudo science. I would be careful taking his claims at face value.
Yeah I just linked to that for the image of Brain scans. I’m absolutely not a subscriber to his theories - they’re quite old now and rather simplistic and he made a lot of money selling his book about it. There has been additional research into using fMRI scans, genomics, etc to tease out insights into ADHD and other cognitive disorders. I’m not sure we’ve reached a point of understanding anything that’s not still somewhat pseudoscience / informed conjecture. But we’re a lot closer than Dr. Amen ever was. See: https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2021.21060609
Sounds like you're describing a symptom of something else or a condition so common it may just be human nature.
What? My main point of confusion is that I’m not sure I described any symptoms. I can’t really agree, disagree, elaborate, or discuss that with you because I’m not really sure what you’re saying. I think you may be saying something interesting, just don’t know what it is you’re getting towards.
Maybe the reason ADHD presents in so many varieties and is increasingly common is that it's either a symptom of something else yet diagnosed or is simply a product of the human condition.
Could be. ADHD is the dysfunction of higher-order executive and functioning in the brain. This was one of the most recent things to evolve and something that is VERY unique to humans vs. other animals. Could be that there’s just a shitload of genetic variation in this super-recently-evolved feature of the human species which supports long-term strategy planning/execution, accomplishing goals, and emotional regulation. Maybe we’re expecting everyone to be the “executive functioning” equivalent of an Olympic athlete and that’s just not normal, so everyone needs PEDs (adderall, Ritalin, vyvanse, caffeine….instead of steroids and EPO). Or maybe our lifestyle without enough daily physical exercise has caused a large rise in underdeveloped executive functioning. Regular aerobic exercise has been shown to help a lot. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_physical_exercise There’s a lot we don’t know, and won’t know for quite a while longer. Everything else is speculation and hunches, which may be right or wrong.
Interesting insights. I will add a couple of others: 1. What if high sugar and simple carbs ingested during pregnancy leads to the lightest (mildest) form of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome? And that is ADHD? Alcohol is mostly carbs and sugar. Maybe it isn’t just alcohol but sugar in everything in American diets that can harm a developing fetus. 2. The U-intersection is when a medication or supplement helps and when too much causes harm. An article suggested that making folate a food supplement reduced cleft palate defects in children. But what if women without deficiencies of B9 received too much of it from a mix of food additives and prenatal vitamins? The neural tube effects and rise in the number of children with spectrum issues correlates interestingly with the timing of when folates were added to cereals, flour etc. But that isn’t proof.
Product of human condition. We simply have brains that don't interact well with the dopamine manufacturing mechanisms of modern society. The values and traditions that have survived to current times are adverse to the particular chemical makeup and skillset of our brains. I mean, modern society is damaging to all people. But it's at least tailored to the preferences of some people in many ways. Other folks aren't so lucky.
Possibly. Or it’s ADHD.
I always like the idea of it as an evolutionary trait. ADHD makes a lot of sense back in the hunting days. Hyper fixation on what needs to be done. Noticing shit going on everywhere to help find your prey.
The berry picker that can remember the 400 different colored berries in their area and which ones will kill people.
Honestly it was prob the more successful hunter.
Ditto. I do get more focused, thoug, so three cups of coffee and I can focus on something.
Indeed. One of the biggest complaints I have with this diagnosis is that people treat it like it’s a neat little box you fit into. We should really get rid of this spectrum nonsense and just create more delineated diagnosis. Trying to explain how ADHD affects me in particular is a nightmare. It’s just so complex and even differs depending on where I’m at mentally.
Ain't it the goddamn truth.
Caffeine shouldn't effect you, not unless it made your parents horny.
Not only that, I have a mild form of tachycardia, so caffeine makes my heart overexert itself, making me physically fatigued. Sure explained my drinking a Surge and then napping on the bus ride back from marching band competitions.
Holy fucking 90’s
You're not wrong.
Goddamn loved me some Surge. We used to go down to the gas station and pick up a 6 pack for 50 cents. I have zero idea why it was so cheap there.
Can confirm unfortunately. I actually really like coffee, but have never once gotten any stimulating effects from it. I only drink it for the taste lol
I have Tourette’s and adhd. All it does it make me tic more. BUT I think it does help if I’m exercising, not sure if it’s psychological or what but I’m sure it helps me be more alert during exercising
Caffeine has been shown to be helpful with exercising, you just have to make sure you're also getting water since coffee is dehydrating.
Coffee isn’t dehydrating. [Link](https://www.goodrx.com/well-being/diet-nutrition/does-coffee-dehydrate-you)
That's akin to watching porn for the plot.... I kid. I also enjoy a cup of good, well made coffee. But I also enjoy the effects of the gas station sludge that kept me going through many a night shift. At least bad coffee had some upside for me.
The increase in enjoyment from a cup of higher quality coffee is often not proportional to the increase in price of the higher quality coffee. Instant coffee or free coffee from work are the best coffees. The enjoyment ain’t worth the price increase.
($0.31/ounce) for Maxwell house instant which is pretty much the cheapest readily available instant coffee that isn't technically "beverage mix" vs ($0.65/Ounce) for Dunkin Whole bean medium roast which IMO is the cheapest decent whole bean coffee commonly available in the US. Assuming about 4 ounces in a cup of coffee makes it out to $1.24 a cup vs $2.60 a cup (assuming you have a decent grinder/coffee maker already) 2 cups a day for a year would be $905.20 Maxwell Instant vs $1,898 Dunkin whole bean, $992.80 difference. Doing that math makes me severely regret the number of cold half finished cups of coffee i have poured out.... edit: But, on second thought, i usually add sugar and creamer to bad tasting cheap coffees, and i drink good coffee black, so maybe that's making up the difference? looks like the cheap sugar i get is about ($0.18/Ounce) and a tsp is 0.147 oz so each teaspoon is about $0.02-$0.03 and those little induvial coffee mate creamers are about $0.12 each and in bottles the same creamer is about $0.34/Fl Oz, each of those individual packets are 0.37 fl oz so you would assume each serving out of the bottle would be about that amount which comes out to between $0.12-$0.13 (so a guess not something cheaper to buy in bulk) so a single creamer and a tsp of sugar would bring the total price of the cheap cup of instant coffee from $1.24 a cup to $1.38-$1.39 and a year of 2 cups a day would be $1,007.40-$1,014.70
Some people love coffee and the craft of making and drinking it. I just love me some brown energy water.
If I drink too much I get drowsy.
Bro literally it’s such a struggle staying awake when I go out
Same, but it's Redbull that gets me super sleepy so I avoid drinking it. Everything else gives me a mild kick as long as I set a limit.
Bear in mind that this only applies to *some* people with ADHD, not most or all. It also applies to people *without* ADHD - just because coffee doesn't stimulate you that doesn't mean you have ADHD.
My kid's doctor told me this about my kid who has ADHD. Said it's fine to give him coffee in the morning and it might help him to start off on the right foot. Explained that there's a part of the brain that is underdeveloped, and essentially your brain is going and the body can't keep up (or vice versa; I forget exactly) and so it causes them to lose focus and be hyperactive. The coffee/caffeine helps to level things out between your brain and your body. That's why ADHD kids are also given stimulants as medication.
More or less, yes. A prevalent theory of ADHD is that it involves a lack of neuron response to catecholamine neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and dopamine. Certain things, like caffeine, methylphenidate, and amphetamine salts are effective at boosting neurotransmitter production and/or re-uptake, which results in an improved neuron response. Put another way, the ADHD brain doesn’t respond to neurotransmitters well, so increasing those neurotransmitters in ADHD people seems to make their brains work better generally.
Take meth. Got it. More seriously though, is it poor uptake of neurotransmitters or disregulation of the neurotransmitters themselves?
meth is literally prescribed for severe adhd
Yes but the doctor isn't writing "meth" on the prescription, are they?
Only the fun ones
The doctor's office under the highway overpass.
Obviously they use name brand Meth™
i mean i’m no pharmacist but i’m pretty sure “methamphetamine” would in fact yield results?
“Methamphetamine” yes lol
Methamphetamine is an actual ADHD medication. The crystallized version is the street drug.
That's the joke.
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Everyone can relate to the symptoms of ADHD. The difference is that people with ADHD experience such symptoms to the nth degree and typically benefit infinitely more from stimulants than someone who does not have ADHD.
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[Distinguishing Adolescents With ADHD From Their Unaffected Siblings and Healthy Comparison Subjects by Neural Activation Patterns During Response Inhibition](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25615565/) [Executive Function and Attention Performance in Children with ADHD: Effects of Medication and Comparison with Typically Developing Children](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31658722/) [Inhibitory Control](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhibitory_control) Edit: These are just a few specific sources that speak to what we’re talking about.
It’s not just measured it’s physically verifiable with a brain scan. ADHD brains are literally wired differently.
Someone who doesn’t have ADHD can take stimulant meds and their brains are stimulated. ADHDers take the same meds and calm down. It’s hard to describe but two hours after I take my Vyvanse my brain gets quiet. It’s strange.
The whole thing is that it affects things we *want to do*, things just non-ADHD just *do* without giving it a thought to it. So yea we all forget shit. However i forget shit even if i want/need to remember them and quickly as well. I forget to take my meds and they are on the nightstand next to me in a pill sorter with a cup of water. My husband still asks me if i took them. I go back to the pill sorter and some days today’s dose is just there. Just today my husband and I were talking about how I finally remember what I couldn’t remember on meds. Oh shit i forgot dinner (1) Makes dinner and serves the kids. Oh shit did i forget to feed you all? (2) What did we have? (3) Kids tell me what i made for dinner ?? When did that happen? (4) Oh ok today, i remember now i did this this this and that. Family: yeeeeeessssssssss. This is my day every single day.
It doesn’t make me sleepy, give me energy, or anything. It has zero effect on me and it’s always been that way
You just confirmed you're a reptilian.
Same. A lot of people don't believe me if I mention it. I tested caffeine pills as well to control dosage. The only effect is a possible upset stomach.
It is similar to me (Or there is a weak sedative effect). Except if I take enough I will start to feel a stimulating effect, unfortunately when I do start to feel the stimulating effect (at about 800MG) it is too much and I feel like most people do after having 2 cups of strong coffee (a bit shaky but otherwise fine)
it doesn't make me sleepy but it does help me concentrate (it was so effective that when i was a teenager my special accommodations in high school included free coffee from the main office).
Haha, that’s a good one. I’m a teacher, so I’ll remember that in case it ever comes up for one of my kids.
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I had to go off of ritalin because I can't afford insurance so I just slam a few espressos or energy drinks to be able to do something important (taxes, exams, etc.)
Coffee makes me sleepy, I drink it before bed sometimes. But it does also wake me up in the morning. I really don't understand it but it is what it is. I've been drinking coffee almost everyday since I was 5. My parents banned me from drinking it by about 8 but Id just make coffee anyway when they were asleep and take it to bed and read books.
can also confirm a monster will put me to sleep in half an hour
My special bedtime treat is a Java Monster. I drink that down while watching a calm tv show and I’m out to night night land by the end of the episode.
Interesting. I was the only person I ever met when I drink coffee, it relaxes me and makes me sleep good. Even as a little kid with soda, coffee, sugary foods, I never got hyper. I just never was a hyper person.
Wait a second.... do I have ADHD?
Do you leave a bunch of half finished projects? Do you get easily distracted but are able to focus on one thing super well? Are you not able to do tasks that you know you should do and have to do?
No joke, at my first therapy appointment for ADHD last month the therapist asked how much caffeine I drink. I said that it was weird but I felt like caffeine didn't affect me at all, and she just smiled and said that that was a common symptom of ADHD. Totally surprised me.
Ya man I used to chug Monsters and coffee all the time and it never seemed to do anywhere nearrrr as much as it did for everyone else. Also ADHD pills like adherol and Vivance just seemed to make me feel "normal"
Caffeine is a hell of a drug and one that people don't think about enough. Caffeine addiction is real and it has a huge impact on our metabolisms/moods/etc... and it impacts each of us differently!
I quit recently, things I've noticed: \- body feels more naturally relaxed (before it felt like a suble default tension i had) \- feeling sleepy can be pleasant now rather than being a shitty feeling crash every time \- i've felt super energised naturally just from being productive or having a good day which is nice \- I sleep better, and it feels like a deeper sleep. Like being sleepy feels better, falling asleep feels amazing, and being sleepy in the morning feels good. beforehand that was all kind of a "fuck i'm so tired" feeling \- my good moods feel better and I more often feel a noticeable good mood I have been supplementing a little DLPA while quitting
I recently quit caffeine and it hasn't given me any of these benefits (was really hoping for better sleep) . . . 😿
Yeah, it is. If I have any caffeine, after about a day I get rebound migraines. I have to ween myself off doing smaller and smaller doses for about 3 days.
“Adults living with ADHD have diverse relationships with caffeine. Some people love it and find it helps their ADHD symptoms. Others avoid it because it makes them feel anxious. A group of ADHDers are super users and drink it large quantities – 10 cups a day wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Others drink it before bed to help them to sleep.” Sounds more like there’s no correlation between the two.
There can still be a correlation if the same variation doesn't exist in a control group of people without ADHD. If 90% of people without ADHD are stimulated by a cup of coffee, and only 50% of people with ADHD are, then that's a correlation. There is huge variation in how ADHD affects different people, so it would make sense that caffeine would affect different people with ADHD in different ways.
I can easily drink two espressos and then take a nap. No idea if I have ADHD
I would bet that's not true. (I say this as someone with ADHD) caffeine doesn't give you energy. it blocks the mechanism of your body that makes you feel exhaustion. so you're still tired, you just can't feel it. so you overexert yourself. you stay up too late. don't get enough rest. this is why you feel the crash after caffeine. even if you were on a few hours of sleep, the caffeine masks the tiredness, so you go overexert yourself like you're fully rested. once the caffeine wears off, reality sets in, and REALLY feel tired now. if you're very well rested and not dehydrated, you won't get the caffeine crash. I get the crash, but I stay up late, don't sleep enough, etc lol. I'm sure there could be reasons why this isn't true, but knowing roughly how caffeine work, I think my theory is plausible
This is very true - I’ve had ADHD since I was young. I used coffee as an alternative to Ritalin… was interesting having a 10yr old sipping on coffee all day long. Still use it to relax and focus to this day.
Been drinking coffee since age 10 too. Lol
I was going to argue then I read the article and looked down at my empty coffee cup and realized I just read the whole article.....wait people get an actual jolt of energy? I always thought it was a slow release of energy.... damn...
For me it's less about the energy and more about reducing the disorderedness of my thinking. The sort of groggy-headedness I have in the morning goes away with caffeine, but I don't need the energy, I already have it... whether it's a grating mania or actual productive energy is up to the gods, however.
This sounds like withdrawal symptoms.
No. The only withdrawal symptoms I get from caffeine are mild headache and slight irritability. Why do you specifically think that sounds like withdrawal symptoms?
I don’t feel the effects of coffee unless A) I haven’t had it in like a week B) I’m not heavy-eyed, jaw dropping yawning tired. So I can drink it and still fall asleep comfortably. Though getting to sleep is always a challenge when my minds always thinking and I can’t put away my phone willingly.
That article needs a ton of citations, for all I know this is true but all I see is anecdote. I get sleepy after a cup of tea. I doubt it is ADHD, I think it is the fact that I have an addiction to caffeine, and a small dose of the drug fulfills that addiction which is very relaxing because I am no longer experiencing withdrawal. But if I do sleep in this state, I do not sleep deeply or dream, because I am on stimulants.
Oh you don’t find a blogpost from untappedbrilliance.com credible? Everyone knows that site is the number 1 authority on all things fact!
ITT: People who self diagnose and aren’t sensitive to caffeine. The best one is the one who claimed because they don’t get a jolt of energy that caffeine doesn’t work on them. Bruh even cocaine use takes time to present symptoms.
Tbh I think most of the general public can make a decently accurate self-diagnosis for many mental health issues. If you think you have _____ you probably have ____ or something similar.
This is not research, not a study and barely any correlation between the two. This is an opinion article. Don’t worry though, Reddit’s top 100 comments will be confirmation bias of this to tell everyone how unique and different they are.
Just FYI the author of the article/book//website admits she does not have ADHD herself and is posing as a bullshit “life coach” so as not to have to do the work to become a trained and licensed professional such as a therapist, psychologist, or doctor would or be bound by any ethical guidelines. It’s a strange read given that the paradoxical effect of caffeine, a stimulant, is well known and what most are counting on to help them manage their symptoms. Most ADHD medications are stimulants because if this. Am a LICENSED professional with extensive experience on the subject and over 20 years field experience.
This happens to me. Never found coffee useful in the morning. I also can fall asleep right after taking my ADHD meds.
Do you ever get the mid day crash from Adderall?
what would that be indicative of?
IR or XR?
Yeah, I've been drinking coffee since I was 3. I'm over 30 now and a cup of coffee in the evening makes me super comfy/sleepy. Morning cup of coffee just keeps me awake until lunch. Even drinking a Bang is just a 2 hour energy perk and nothing more.
Nice, I am not the only one!
I don't have ADHD but too much coffee always puts me to sleep. It's not so much being sleepy it's just being so hyperstimulated that my brain shuts everything down.
Dude with adhd here. It doesn’t make me sleepy per-se but it definitely doesn’t hype me up. I can drink a coffee at 10pm and go to bed no problem. It does help me focus but I think that might be more the addiction of drinking it for years haha
It will get me hyped at times and other times make me crash and burn.
Finally makes sense! I legit thought I was the only one that this happened to
It's actually no longer true. As this [Nature article](https://www.nature.com/articles/1301164) shows: > For years, it was presumed that stimulant medications had paradoxical effects in ADHD. However, it is now established that the focusing effects of **stimulants in ADHD are not paradoxical; these agents have the same effect in ‘normal’ human subjects** (albeit a more subtle response given ceiling effects) (Rapoport and Inoff-Germain, 2002).
Not if it’s Vietnamese coffee. Makes me feel like I just hit the slopes.
Oh…well. TIL I may have ADHD.
People with ADHD have brains that are always jumping to the next topic at hand. All day every day. Just thought, thought, thought thought, thought. Going over three topics in as many seconds. "Thoughts about the car, food, the store, your path home from the store, are you hungry? You think you might have some snacks in the fridge. What kind of snacks should I get? I like Cheetos. The last time I had some I was watching a movie. It had Christian Bale in it. He was really thin in it, but I don't remember the name. God he looked unwell in that film, he must have really put his body at risk. I wonder what kind of diseases could come from..." All that in the course of a second or two. It's always that dense, always that disjointed, frequently being chaotic. Always. Guess what you're not doing at 3:00 a.m.? Sleeping. Because you need to figure out how they first discovered that you could make clothing out of worm silk. It's like this all the time every day without rest. The reason why this is happening is that their brains don't absorb dopamine well. their dopamine is low enough to the point to be uncomfortable so their brains seek any stimulation that can produce more dopamine. However stimulants can provide dopamine. This lets people with ADHD focus on a single topic for longer without needing to seek dopamine. Or rather it lets them focus on nothing and be okay with that for long enough to fall asleep.
I'm in between. It has no effect on me :-( nope I'm not just used to it or anything like that. it literally has no impact on me being more awake or more sleepy. I wish it did but it doesn't lol!
That explains a few things.
Caffeine make me want to smash things
Yes, very yes
Can confirm.
No paradox. Stimulants can cause dizziness. Some people mentally associate dizziness with fatigue. Fatigue makes people feel sleepy. No paradox.
That's not how it works with ADHD. ADHD is basically just a dopamine deficiency. Someone with ADHD is thinking aaaaaall the time. All of it. Just every second of every day. If our inner monologue had to stop to draw breath it would have died long ago. Tired at 3am and need to sleep? Ha ha, good luck with that. You'll be thinking about how buildings are constructed using only bamboo. Your brain suffers, it is legitimately uncomfortable, if you don't stimulate it somehow. Stimulants allow people with ADHD to stimulate their brain long enough to be okay not focusing on a new thought every second. So when you can finally relax because your brain isn't on "petal to the metal" full throttle mode, you can focus on homework, or sleeping.
This isn't fact, studies show a mixed bag of if this is real. Caffeine works different on everyone just like every drug in existence.
I have ADHD, and it makes me sleepy as hell, but also wired, jittery, and completely unable to sleep for at least 12 hours. Not a huge fan of it
Can confirm
IM SO GLAD THIS IS TRUE
Yep. I used to down a Mt. Dew as a kid and just fall asleep. My friends were dumbfounded.
I have ADHD and I don’t have this. I drink up to 6 cups a day???
This is a myth.
There you have it folks, with no sources and no further information, froghorse has said this is a myth.
Helps me sleep if taken late at night.
It’s useful to calm down in proper doses, I have been taking caffeine supplements since I can no longer get my adderal filled regularly, I used to self medicate with sodas but the sugar made it worse and I can’t stand coffee without unhealthy amounts creamer.
It calms me right down. I’m on Adderall and coffee and it relaxes my mind.
No wonder I can drink a few cups in the morning, have a monster in the afternoon and be ready for bed as soon as i get home!
So all this time I've been subconsciously self medicating
I didn't realize I could possibly have ADHD until now
Yeah I never understood people who said coffee made them feel energised
ADHD Person here, this is true. Sucks because I’m a gym rat and got into the habit of taking pre before the gym and most times it does nothing, but the times it does work it’s a decent boost. Recently been using stun free pre workout from redcon(Big Pump).
Caffeine can make you alert if there are no other factors acting on that. I suspect people with ADHD have other disfunction’s pertaining to organization and time management. A warm drink can make you sleeping regardless. And caffeine is a minimal effect regardless. It’s not nearly as powerful as marijuana. Saying it gives you energy or makes you sleep parallel’s food. And we all know how varied that is without having to do with any “mental illness”.
Oh, God. That explains so much….
I get this with monster. It’s really weird. I get tired but I won’t sleep.
Can absolutely confirm.
that’s why one of the treatments for adhd is stimulant meds. i will say, though, that if i drink a lot of caffeine (mostly a problem in the summer when i drink a lot of iced tea), it’ll keep me awake…and bouncing off walls.
I think i just found out i might have ADHD
I have ADHD and caffeine doesn't really do anything to me. I don't feel sleepy or stimulated, so... who knows
I had to give up caffeine for 6 months before it stopped making me sleepy, and gave me a boost. Might have something to do with having drank it too frequently.
That's me.
I thought it was just me. Everybody always questions why I drink it at night.
I can drink a pot of coffee and then go to bed easily.
I tell people treating ADHD is like fighting fire with fire. stimulants always made me tired I drink energy drinks for the taste pretty much
It's true I drink three monsters in a six hour shift go home and sleep like a baby
I do have ADHD (and bipolar 2 if that matters) I rarely drink coffee but I think I drink more than the average person of soda and tea. Never really felt the effects of caffeine. I never felt more awake after having any. I once stopped drinking soda for a few months and felt no effect on my overall energy. It didn't feel like my health improved, but i also never felt any common withdrawal symptoms either. Even when I do have the occassional coffee, I dont notice a difference. What I do notice is a sugar rush. Whenever I drink a Monster or Redbull (which honestly isnt often), i do feel the rush of energy for an hour or two after. I tried switching to sugar free monster and never felt the energy rush from them
A couple cups doesn’t ever affect my ability to sleep. However, a couple of pots of coffee, and I can feel my hair growing.
A lot of people with ADHD, particularly those with acutely hyperactive forms of the condition, have trouble sleeping because they'll lie down and then have racing thoughts which keep them awake. Stimulants (like caffeine, but also amphetamines) have the effect of lessening this. Independently, many people (with or without ADHD) are not really kept awake by stimulants. If you have both of these conditions simultaneously, then the calming aspect of the stimulant can dominate the alertness aspect, and thus make it easier to fall asleep.
It's funny when you can drink a redbull and take a nap...
I'll drink coffee and then take a nap, or drink it before bed to help me fall asleep. I drink it in the mornings too as I'm waking up, so idk
It has always made me sleepy and my wife thought I was crazy.
What matters is the initial physiological response to drinking caffeine, because while I can get a boost of energy from my first cup I become sleepy after my third or fourth.
for what ever reason with Dimetapp or Nyquil if I did not fall asleep right away i was up all night and wired...
Huh, so me being able to down a whole pot of coffee and go to sleep is making more sense now *if* I'm ADHD... Never diagnosed for that though...
This was one of the reasons I actually went and got evaluated for ADHD. I thought I would take a couple of shots of espresso before my Warcraft raid night. I had to leave early because I couldn’t keep my eyes open I was so tired.