First off: I am still undiagnosed. I’ve followed the ADHD topic for more than a year now since I seem to match a whole lot of symptoms and behavior patterns. An official diagnosis will most probably still take another year. I live in Germany.
One thing that got me wondering was caffeine. As I’ve heard, drinking coffee will make ADHD folks not feel any more awake, maybe even a little tired.
While it doesn’t make me feel awake as well, I very vividly remember my first coffee a long time ago that caused a massive outburst of productivity when all of the time I was known for being ‘lazy’ and distracted. However the effect quickly diminished with each subsequent coffee over the next year.
Isn’t this a contradiction though? If I actually had ADHD, why did coffee have this awakening effect on me back then?
Coffee is a stimulant, which is known to help people with ADHD. In fact, ADHD drugs are also stimulants.
The productivity effect you describe is what many ADHD folks get with coffee. The brain finds it easier to focus under stimulants so you get more productive, and even relax a bit because of quieting your inner “running commentary” that keeps you jumping from one task to another.
However, that doesn’t mean that ADHD makes you immune to caffeine or that stimulants can’t have a stimulating effect on you. After 10 coffees, you’d feel jittery like the rest of mortals, and experience a caffeine crash afterwards, or find it harder to sleep at night - all of those are normal effects that caffeine has in the human body.
The other part to what you’re describing is just normal caffeine tolerance. All drugs have this to some extent, but I find that it’s rather easy to build tolerance to caffeine, and its effect feels smaller and smaller gradually over time. For me, the best way to avoid this is to limit my intake on weekends and/or not have 7 double espressos on workdays (which I’ve done way too many times and is not a good idea). If you don’t have coffee for a month, the first one after that period will really have a strong effect.
I appreciate everyone’s brain chemistry is slightly different, but for me, coffee doesn’t make me very nervous or “buzz”, but the biggest effect is that I focus better. If I start working in the morning and don’t have a coffee, even if I feel awake, my brain will keep jumping from one task to another and struggle to maintain concentration and do anything useful. The first coffee makes that go away, it’s like my brain “latches” onto tasks more easily. I can actually work on something for half an hour without going on a wild goose chase of “what is the best calendar app that also syncs notes to my phone” or whichever is the distraction of the day.
As a bit of an experiment, I would suggest for a few weeks you pay attention to these things to understand well the effect it has on you, and treat it (i.e. dose it) as a delicious medication. 😄
Oh my god, the distractibility at work without (or even with) coffee in the morning is so real. I even get the “buzz” feeling that you describe which can feel very unnerving at times.
I don’t think I drink that much, at work its usually one in the morning and one right after lunch to avoid the food-induced coma. Max 1 or 2 on the weekends. Can’t imagine going a full month without it though, lol.
and thats the reason i can drink coffee and go right to sleep. i was always confuesed why people made such a fuzz about me making a cup of coffee late at night.
Nothing better than a warm mild stimulant drink to put me to sleep 😋
This was the one that made me think, oh, I might have ADHD!
Diagnosed. Coffe gives me energy, keeps me awake. ADHD meds give me energy and ability to actually do things. They also make me feel normal.
So the calmong sleepy thing not universal. Its also not used for diagnoses, similar to “talking lots” is not in itself a diagnoses.
FYI Ridalin makes me crash in the middle of the day, and if I forget to take it at noon I’m ADHD brain awake by night. Vyvance is much better at riding it out all day and then just crashing.
For me it’s coffee + environment. If I’m just at home chilling then the effect of drinking coffee is very mild. If I’m at a business networking event, for example, it can really trigger my hyper behaviours. I get extremely enthusiastic, creative and happy.
By the way, one of these business networking meetings I go to is exclusively for business owners with ADHD and I can’t tell you how much fun that is!
It’s basically 15 people happily talking over each other and not taking it personally and 5 or 6 who didn’t turn up because they thought it was another day. We have one neurotypical person there to try and tether the ballons that we are down into some sort of coherent group but it is wonderfully chaotic :)
That sounds awesome! I doubt there is but need to look for something like this in my area!
Many people self medicate with caffeine. It helps with focus and productivity, which is why coffee is incredibly popular. Its not just for the neurodivergent, it helps most people focus, making it a staple of workplaces worldwide.
I have only ever heard people with ADHD describe coffee as calming, but it helps with focus. The problem for those with ADHD is that the mind is too active, so being more calm helps focus.
If coffee helps you do the things you want or need to do, you should use it. Avoid excess, proper dosage is essential for any drug even ones as benign as caffeine.
Caffeine poisoning is real, and I almost died from it. Granted, I had A LOT of very strong coffee that day (probably the equivalent of around 30 cups), so it’s relatively rare, but it can happen. Not a fun experience at all, but it almost codified my maximum tolerance levels. Basically, what you’re saying, but with a caveat: if it helps, use it, but be careful not to overdose.
How did you drink that much?!? Were you distilling your coffee?
Super fine ground, almost Turkish. Instead of one teaspoon for 6oz water, I put at least 4tsp per 6oz water, and just kept drinking them. I count my coffees now…
I function best at 750mg-1g of caffeine… actually lowers my reading heart rate.
Formally diagnosed with ADHD here: Coffee does not make me feel tired, kinda helps me feel more aware, but definitely helps me concentrate on stuff. It can also increase my anxiety so I usually stick to less than 3 cups a day these days.
The way caffeine works is that it blocks the receptors in the brain for adenosine, which is responsible for slowing down the neurons in your brain, making you feel sleepy. It also causes the release of adrenaline, which is a stimulant and thus can help ADHD brains focus. Additionally, it makes your blood vessels (especially in your brain) constrict, which can make other stimulants take effect faster. As if that weren’t enough, it also slows dopamine reabsorption, which feels rewarding (the major contributor to caffeine addiction).
These are the upsides, but caffeine comes with serious downsides if you use it regularly (i.e. more than twice a week). In particular, it seriously inhibits your ability to get truly deep, restorative sleep, even if you only have it in the morning.
Tl;dr: It can make you feel more awake, but it can’t replenish your energy stores. It basically puts a pin below the needle of your mental fuel gauge so it can’t drop below half a tank, but doesn’t actually fill the tank.
Read more in this fantastic piece: https://science.howstuffworks.com/caffeine.htm
I’m diagnosed. If I haven’t had coffee in a few days and drink a few strong cups it mainly drives up my anxiety and wakes me up a tiny bit. Then I usually crash hard. If I’ve had it for multiple days in a row, I can barely register any difference in how I feel at all. It definitely affects my resting heart rate though, so I try to keep my intake low. Eating a snack and staying hydrated is more affective at perking me up.
If I have ADHD then it’s comorbid with and somewhat masked by my autism (which lets me hyperfocus, but when I’m not, I’m all over the place and switching tracks constantly). My partner though does have a diagnosis, and I’ve been doing some research into ADHD treatments for her because of the Adderall shortage. I came across a few papers like this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6574559/
L-Theanine is the main stimulant in tea (also found in other stuff like coffee and mushrooms, but in lower quantities). Maybe coffee would help with your symptoms if it had more theanine? I bought a bag of micronised theanine powder for our morning energy mix (100mg caffeine + 400mg theanine, in about 1L of water) on a health supplement site like this: https://taiyogmbh.com/en/start-en/brands/suntheanine-en/
Dissolves well, and it’s working for us as a replacement for coffee. It seems to help her focus even without the Vyvanse, more than when she hasn’t had either anyway. I really like that we can add any flavours we like, and we got a carbonator to make it seltzer too. Really refreshing on a hot sunny summer morning.
If you or anyone else in the thread try it, I’d love to hear how it works for you after a few days! Data points, y’know.
It’s not a universal rule at all. I know people who are very ADHD who if they drink coffee they have a panic attack. I know people who it makes tired, and I know people who it makes productive. Personally it makes me more talkative.
Basically, it’s not a criteria for diagnosis at all. Everyone’s brain chemistry is different. There might be a higher percentage of people with ADHD whom caffeine does not affect compared to the general population, but that does not at all mean that to be ADHD you have to have that same thing.
No, it’s not. However, you might notice that you develop a dependency faster than others, and to a greater extent. I can’t really drink coffee as it will make me slightly more alert, help with concentration and general energy levels, until after 3 days, the effects have diminished so far that I’m at 14 cups to even remotely stay awake.
Given that you can’t up your caffeine intake to arbitrarily high levels, what follows is a fast crash and constant exhaustion, while still drinking a shitload of coffee.
I got diagnosed late in life (in my 50s) and I have stopped consuming caffeine at all due to having access to medication. That resulted in a totally different (read: fixed) sleep cycle and regular energy levels over the course of the day.
Honestly, fuck caffeine.
The tired effect coffee has is because your brain calms down and can rest. You just used that calmness to actually get things done. I have ADHD and coffee keeps me up for hours if I have too much. It’s definitely not a concrete rule, more just an indicator that you may have ADHD if coffee affects you differently. It’s not a concrete determining factor either way. Good luck on your diagnosis journey!
caused a massive outburst of productivity
Coffee is a stimulant and can therefore provide a similar effect to actual ADHD meds like Adderall and Ritalin. You may have been unknowingly self-medicating.
Hey, Just to let you know: I’m also in Germany and it doesn’t need to take a year to get diagnosed. Check your surroundings for neurologists that do ADHD in adults.
Also to your question: it’s a spectrum and no hard and fast rules what your brain does. Mine doesn’t like caffeine as well, no effects, but with meds, I get massive heart rate and anxiety.
I have checked, and there’s really only one that specializes in adult ADHD. Already called them but I have to wait until the waiting list for 2025 opens in december.
I got an immediate appointment through 116 117, that was the worst therapist I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. Brushed off ADHD as a “Modediagnose” (not sure how to translate this, negatively connotated trending diagnosis?) and we thankfully never talked about any further appointments
i ended up paying for it. 650 euros. still had to find a therapist though. met a bunch of a holes. its not worth telling what was happening, it was the usual horrorstories.
Sounds like ‘modediagnose’ could be translated as “fad diagnosis” maybe?
It’s a problem with health providers here too.
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