yeah that's how you know you legit have ADHD, when a cup or two of coffee makes you calm instead of wired. I do have a threshold where if I drink too much coffee I can't sleep, get jittery etc.
I think this is a vast simplification. People vary. Sometimes drastically. Sometimes even from day to day.
I have certain foods that seems to dramatically change the way stimulants like caffeine affect me. For whatever reason if I eat bananas and nut butter (maybe I have an allergy or food intolerance?) I find that caffeine makes me feel like I crash. When taken on an empty stomach I can get very "wired" but it also depends heavily on my sleep schedule and the time of day I take it.
I've noticed I can get an incredibly productive boost from caffeine when I take it at a time that disrupts my current circadian rhythm. I (used to) usually drink coffee in the morning and it rarely felt like it helped at all. I knew if I was desperate I could drink it around noon and see a big boost but then I wouldn't be able to go sleep on time and would pay for it the next day
Genetics, diet, microbiome, epigenetics, sleep habits, study habits, social health, seasonality, etc all likely play some role in the way people metabolize caffeine.
There is no published evidence that stimulants universally make people ADHD more tired or calm.
And personally I believe given the right conditions anyone might get to experience the effect of caffeine actually making them sleepy.
> Genetics, diet, microbiome, epigenetics, sleep habits, study habits, social health, seasonality, etc all likely play some role in the way people metabolize caffeine.
> And personally I believe given the right conditions anyone might get to experience the effect of caffeine actually making them sleepy.
There was a 6 month time in my late 20s when I was averaging 3.5 hours of sleep during the week while working two jobs and going to school. The third energy drink of the day seemed to signal my body to be tired.
Years later with a much better life balance and fully off of caffeine for months at a time a single 12 ounce can of Coca-Cola at lunchtime was enough to keep me wired until late into the evening. Some time after that, while fully off of caffeine for about a year, 80 mg accidentally ingested from caffeinated protein bars disrupted my sleep deep into the night and took a couple of days to recover from.
I could definitely do better with procrastination, and sometimes have trouble focusing, but am pretty sure I don't have ADD/ADHD.
It sucks that meds used to work this way for me, but now they just don't. They stopped working after a couple months, and never started working again, even after taking absolutely nothing for weeks. It's been almost a year since they've worked and I'm convinced my brain just patched a backdoor or something and just wants me to be useless and dysfunctional all the time.
They are probably still working, but you’ll never get the same rush of excitement/euphoria that you felt in the first few months.
The euphoria is a negative side effect in my opinion. That’s what leads to abuse and addiction. Don’t chase it!
I’m sure you’ve heard all this before, but make sure you’re getting enough sleep and exercise. Also, avoid acidic drinks in the morning like coffee and OJ when taking your medication. The acid can break down some of the medication before your body has a chance to absorb it.
> They are probably still working, but you’ll never get the same rush of excitement/euphoria that you felt in the first few months.
> The euphoria is a negative side effect in my opinion. That’s what leads to abuse and addiction. Don’t chase it!
Yeah that's so not what I'm talking about.
When they worked, I was able to practice art, take regular showers, get chores done and stay focused without getting bored and compulsive. It doesn't help with any of those anymore. I can't use it to draw, can't take regular showers, can't get chores done even if they're staring me in the face, and boy do I get extremely, painfully bored all the time. And this happens whether I am on or off stimulants.
Again, they used to work. That is, actually treat the ADHD. And now they don't.
Yeah, back when I drank a lot of coffee, one cup would make me feel calmer, while going too far and drinking like 3-4 cups (which I did do once to see what it was like) makes me feel like shit, have a headache, be unable to sleep well, etc.
After stopping, even one cup makes me jittery and I no longer feel like I need to drink coffee to feel awake.
Agree. If I don't drink coffee for a couple of weeks, which I rarely do due to the extreme migraine from withdrawal (3-4 days), and then drink one with half a spoon of coffee, I'm extremely alert and focused for house. Now I'm drinking like at least 10 cups a day with zero benefit.
It is easy to quit without headaches - slowly reduce your caffeine intake over a few weeks. Quitting cold turkey (abruptly stopping) will give most people nasty withdrawal symptoms.
I regularly give up either (a) using caffeine only pills and breaking them to linearly decrease caffeine dose, or (b) measured reduction of instant coffee over time.
Start at your current caffeine intake, every morning take one dose (might start high) and reduce slowly over say 3 weeks. It requires significant patience and self-control, but it has worked for me. My main problem is ensuring I don't have social coffees: it is easy to fall back into the habit of drinking coffee if I don't follow the titration regime.
One easy thing you can do to reduce your caffeine intake is to drink 1/2 caff or have every X coffee be decaf. I switched to 1/2 caff and tapered down, that was a lot easier for me.
