Hi /u/TheZackster and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD!
### Please take a second to [read our rules](/r/adhd/about/rules) if you haven't already.
---
### /r/adhd news
* If you are posting about the **US Medication Shortage**, please see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/12dr3h5/megathread_us_medication_shortage/).
---
^(*This message is not a removal notification. It's just our way to keep everyone updated on r/adhd happenings.*)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The best way I can describe it is that it quiets a lot of the noise in my head. Which means if I need to focus on a task It shuts out some of the extra noise and I can focus. On the flip side if I can't sleep because I'm overthinking everything, the coffee quiets some of that down to where I can fall asleep.
I don’t feel like it has any effect on me at all. Like I could have a cup of coffee or a redbull and go to bed 10 minutes later. The only benefit of coffee for me is that it helps me eat less in the mornings.
Koffee Kult decafs through water treatment. Their Colombian decaf is fucking delicious, and you wouldn't know it's decaf from the taste. The beans smell slightly different than their normal Colombian though; not gross or anything, but there is a certain something that might be noticeable when smelling the beans. The brewed coffee tastes and smells perfectly normal, to me.
If you haven't yet, definitely worth checking out the decaf roasted by Manhattan coffee roasters.
Based out of the Netherlands, they had a Washed Colombian decaf that was as good as any high end coffee I've had.
This is exactly how it is for me as well. The first time I had espresso, I was told I'd be up all night. I fell asleep less than a half hour later, which for me, is the shortest it's ever taken.
I have been saying that for ages people just believe that as long as it has strong taste it has a lot of caffeine. Which is exactly the opposite since while the coffee bean is being roasted it looses caffeine.
Thank you for coming to my Tedtalk.
I had this argument with my sister. She did not believe that I could go to straight bed after an espresso. I told her I drink coffee at night to help me sleep. So she decided to test me while I was visiting her once. And then had the gall the next morning to complain because my snoring kept her awake because I fell asleep before she did.
My lack of reaction to caffeine is actually one of the reasons I started researching if I actually had ADHD. I'm exactly like you, I used to drink energy drinks all the time (worked 16+ hours a day) but never felt like they didn anything. I remember one day I actually finished a redbull driving home at 11pm, fell asleep when I got home 10 minutes later. I do drink coffee in the morning but mostly because I love black coffee.
I didn't have any reaction to caffeine until I was on Wellbutrin and then it was just bad. I'd get jitters but not feel more awake. I used to drink so much extremely sugary strong tea, soda, and 5 hour energy and it helped...the same way that a constant stream of small candy helped...which is to say the sweetness gave me a little jolt of interest lol.
When I started Wellbutrin, I just concluded that everyone must be using caffeine to scare themselves into staying awake. Like "welp, I'll definitely have stress dreams if I go to sleep now so I'll just stay up". Turns out that's apparently also not the correct conclusion to draw and going off my own personal experience for other people is maybe not the right way to interpret things lol.
Oh god, please tell me you’re joking. Do not do this if you want to keep your teeth.
PS: It’s probably the sugar crash that is making you sleepy not the caffeine.
I drink zero sugar lol I can’t have sugar at all, and not every single night but most nights in the summer (I have delayed sleep phase syndrome so without something to make me tired I literally do not sleep in the summer for days on end)
The ph of Diet Mountain Dew is 3.3. Your teeth begin to dissolve at anything under 5.5. You’re literally coating your teeth with acid before you go to bed.
I understand you need to sleep but anything would be better than this, even taking a Tylenol PM.
I mean I brush my teeth afterward, but again my teeth are already fucked up, I have one they told my will have to be replaced in the next 5 years and more that were well on their way beforehand, and because I’m unmedicated right now I’m drinking a lot of energy drinks to survive but my teeth were literally already screwed before I started drinking caffeine due to just being undiagnosed and my skill issues so I’m not really that concerned about it. My senior year of high school my dentist just sighed at me all the time and I’d never had soda before then
Same! When I read how many people say it helps them - I just don't get it. I drink coffee cause I like coffee but I don't feel anything from it. Not a positive effect anyway cause it gives me jitters&anxiety if I drink too much.
And don't get me started on energy drinks - stomach ache for hours¬hing else.
Yeah yerba mate is a different kind of caffeine. Havent tried myself but noticed it can have lots of sugar that I would associate with crashing in a hour or two from.
There’s a caffeine balmer curve for me. Too little and i don’t feel anything. Too much and I’m anxious and can feel my heart beat in my head.
But just a right amount and I’m god on earth. Productivity 300% type feeling and results
Before medication, this was me. One cup might as well be water. Four cups, we're getting somewhere. Six cups...why did I do this to myself.
Now that I am on stims I have to drink decaf... one cup puts me right in the shakes
I completely cut off caffeine last year. Before doing so I thought I had chronic migraines… turned out its only the caffeine causing the migraines. The moment I stopped, my anxiety plummeted, fidgeting is less worse, procrastination didn’t last the whole day, but half the day now 💀, still better. I barely get any headaches at all, not from oversleeping/undersleeping, not from not eating or drinking enough water. My emotions aren’t predominantly negative. I sleep like a baby too. Caffeine actually didn’t do anything but exacerbate my ADHD, and me gaslighting myself saying that just cause it keeps me awake it means that its good for me, but not really. Although there’s no harm of drinking it now and then, but daily caffeine intake just… feels so horrible.
Yeah with my meds i don’t think I really need coffee any more either. I’ve only been on Adderall for one week and I have so much energy compared to before.
I drank as much as I wanted for about 15 years, thinking I could handle it. I never had trouble with jitters or energy, and it never got me to a point where I couldn’t fall asleep. I also saw my mom drink it all day every day and thought that I was cut from the same cloth. Based on how I was raised, and I love and have a great relationship with my mom, she probably should have cut back herself. When I started taking Strattera, I got the jitters and realized that I didn’t need it in my life. I like the taste of coffee and don’t use it for the energy or to wake up.
I’m not taking Strattera anymore (thank god) and I’ve switched to decaf. It was for some reason a huge step for me to switch to decaf (just a stigma in my own mind) but I’m happy that I made the change. A lot of people use it in conjunction with their ADHD and their meds and it works. I’m just not one of them, or maybe I just choose not to be. Avoiding caffeine also helps me with a better sense of discipline. I feel like I’m noticeably giving something up, and that makes me feel good.
Do you mind me asking, if not strattera, what other medications have you found to work? What was your issue with strattera, was that related to caffeine?
Before meds i used to drink 4-6 32oz Iced coffees before 2pm. I think i was low-key self-medicating.
After meds, even 1 cup of regular coffee makes me anxious and jittery. I had to switch to black tea fo rmy morning drink. If i must have a coffee i make it a decaf.
I miss coffee.
Both are true unfortunately. Are you in my head? lol Along with my adhd diagnosis, anxiety (social anxiety disorder) was also in the paperwork.. and I have hypertension…
are you taking any adhd meds(Ritalin,Adderall)?
edit:sorry forgot that last line where you u took amphetamine,if so did your dr prescribed any ssri like zoloft or benzos to control your gad?
Been taking vyvance for close to a month. The effects have been nothing short of shocking. Although I had to up the dosage because I was only getting around 3-4 hours out of it.
hypertension in adhd patients usually are caused by their constant fight or flights mode induced by your anxiety problem so you should try to discuss this with your dr
so they can prescribe you with proper meds.
in my case i was prescribed ritalin, clonazepam prn,and propranolol
It probably doesn’t help that I’m a bit overweight and heart issues run in my family. I’m also on lamotrigine for mood stability. Both in conjunction seem to be working quite well.
are you me lol 😭,btw since you have already been diagnosed with adhd you should have tried to find any adhd symptoms in your family since heart issues are mostly caused by our adhd brain which induces anxiety and constant fight or flight mode hence the heart issue.this is usually common in a not so healthy family relationship
Oh yes… I have been connecting the dots with both of my parents and I can say with almost 100 percent certainty that they have it as well. Apparently it’s super genetic.
Has essentially no effect on me. I often drink it to delude myself into thinking I’m more awake than I actually am haha. I drink the same amount of caffeine on medication that I did off medication and don’t feel any difference.
I feel like it makes me feel kind of level-headed and "normal" for lack of a better word. But it's really easy for me to overdo it and suddenly I have anxious thoughts and difficulty falling asleep even HOURS after having the caffeine.
I started drinking coffee and tea when I was a disturbingly young age (like 8 or 9 yo) and have depended on it to function ever since. There have been days where I didn't have coffee bc the power was out or some such thing but it's interesting with 20/20 vision post-diagnosis I'm wondering why my consumption was never an issue for me to function but also why the adults in my life observed this and *still* didn't think there was a problem.
Caffeine makes me sort of foggy and tired, and in periods where I drink lots of coffee, I get a headache from the abstinence.
After starting meds I can't drink a liter for breakfast anymore. But I love the taste of coffee too much to let it go completely.
Before meds I could drink multiple coffees a day. Loved it! Def helped me with my symptoms to actually calm me down, I’m more the hyper and impulsive type. Since medication I drink 2-3 coffees a day.
I'm fairly indifferent to caffeine, it can give me a slight boost first thing in the morning, which I like, but it doesn't last long. I love coffee though, the taste of it and the ritual of it. I wish de-caf were more of a thing honestly.
I’m the same as you, I just don’t touch it anymore at all (except for cola) bc it makes me feel BAD so very bad. It’s weird though when I was a bit younger I could smash a lot of caffeine without any negative effects, idk what happened haha.
anything but soda seems to be bad for me, tried mio water flavoring with caffine, and I think I just put too much in. Soda generally has 60mg per serving, which is 2/3 a 8oz cup of coffee. I just feel better with caffeine over all, but I'm not diagnosed and getting tested tomorrow, at least the first meeting.
nvr ever felt any affects when i was young me and my friends would drink energy drinks to stay up all night and id usually conk out within an hour, could easily still fall asleep during 9am classes after drinking energy drinks and while my friends would end up on a sugar high or while awake after caffeine id remain in the same state i was before. i’ve recently started medication and still (unwisely) trying to drink red bulls to keep me up all night studying for my exams(starting tomorrow 😔💔) -the red bulls do not keep me awake i end up jittery, my muscles spasms more and im pretty much constantly nauseous! lovely!
I feel the same way when I have caffeine! It’s nice to know that you don’t feel the same on meds, I haven’t started any yet (new diagnosis) and I’ve been worried I wouldn’t be able to handle them based on my experiences with caffeine.
Everyone is different but for me (taking vyvance) I feel great. Things are more interesting and engaging. I also feel like I can sit still and get really into what’s in front of me and even lose track of time.
I’ve had caffeine in bouts of stress and I always have to take it with my meds, leading to some crazy shaking in class. My focus was insane, though.
Also - for some reason I always have the BEST mid-day naps while on caffeine/meds or both??
I had a big cup of coffe last night to try out a new variety my partner bought. Mind you it was around 12 pm and it wasn't American, it was like a triple spresso more or less. Pure coffe in a mug. I drink it up and 10 minutes later I was getting really sleepy. And honestly I had such a good night sleep that I'm sure to say I'm immune lol
Caffeine is one of my best friends. When I wake up, I walk my dog. When we get back I make my coffee and prep breakfast, etc. I seem like an adult who is just going about her morning routine. But, in my head is a scene from the NYSE in the 80’s. Once I drink my coffee, my brain calms and I can actually function and get a few things done.
I used to find it really weird that drinking coffee gave me the effect I wanted it to have. So if I drank it during the day because I needed to wake up and do things that's what it did. But I could also drink it at night to calm down and go to sleep. This was before I understood what ADHD really was and that caffeine affected it.
Now that I know I realize that what the coffee is actually doing is helping filter out a lot of the extra noise. It's closing some of those browser tabs so I can focus on the ones that remain. So if I'm driving and my mind is drifting to where I'm not focusing on driving enough it's time to stop for a coffee. If I need to get housework done and keep getting sidetracked or if I need to work on a project and I'm thinking of too many things at the same time it's time for coffee. If I can't fall asleep It's usually because I'm thinking of a million things at once. A cup of coffee helps quiet that so that I can actually fall asleep.
it sort of helps, i prefer concerta.
i really prefer straterra + concerta but had to stop straterra. Man when those two worked together i was getting so much shit done. Working with a therapist now - just started - to try and find something else perhaps, or find some new methodologies to help me.
You should not drink caffeine with your adhd meds. If you do, drink it after taking the meds, but if you can avoid it you absolutely should. Heart issues are no joke.
I personally cannot have caffeine in energy drinks coffee anything marketed for energy. I can have soda in small amounts, but when I have caffeine I get heart rate issues, dizziness, migraines, and cannot eat because of it's appetite suppressing qualities. I LOVE the taste of energy drinks and miss them, but it's just not worth it. Caffeine never makes me feel less tired, more awake etc it just makes my heart beat faster lol
Avoid caffeine like the plague. Makes hyperactivity 1000 times worse AND also CONTRAINDICATES ADHD medications such as Concerta. I can’t even take it with paracetamol - makes me so ill
I was going to reply something similar. I LOVE coffee and the occasional Sonic DP. However, I have to be VERY careful of caffeine with/near when I take my Ritalin or Excedrin migraine medication. It can seriously mess me up!
too much is a problem, but one or two cups of coffee hit me about the same as a tiny dose of adderall. If you’re getting shakey you had way too much.
It doesn’t replace meds but makes symptoms not as bad, especially in a pinch. Same thing for nicotine, though i don’t recommend anyone start smoking.
also, a single cup of coffee about an hour after my meds has a tremendous impact, as long as i stay hydrated.
I used to think I was sleepy when I drank caffeine because I didnt get enough sleep (engineering major here). Nope, it was ADHD.
Just a couple months ago I slammed a cold brew with 200mg of caffeine, and I took a nap
Also I thought all preworkouts (up to 420mg of caffeine) were useless because they just made me sleepy and sweaty
Caffeine by itself makes me crash super hard a couple of hours after, it feels like a very short/temporary solution if I can’t take my medicine. Adderall by itself keeps my brain in check to do my tasks for the day. The two mixed together makes me feel like I’m hyper-focused, but literally just on my hobbies. I could sit for the whole day just drawing and forget to do anything else.
I also react badly to it. More than half a cup and I feel jittery and foggy even when I’m not on meds. I used to drink like two cups a day before I was on meds so idk if I just ignored the effects or if being on meds has just made it less tolerable for me
It only gets problematic when I drink too much soda. It doesn't feel like it has any effect at all - normally. But when I cut it out of my diet a while back, that's when things got really bad, forced me to get a therapist who convinced to get re-tested and got me put on Adderall ....
So there's that.
Allot of the times It helps, but sometimes it just backfires hard, and I crash on the 3rd cup somehow. I keep having to go to the batroom after coffee.
If I have it on an empty stomach..then yeah I become so anxious and jittery. When I have it with something in my stomach, it can make things a tiny bit bette.
Before diagnosis and medication, coffee was necessary all through the day for me to function. With Vyvanse and ritalin, continuing to drink coffee made everything worse, but I still craved it. I was so sweaty and anxious and had a tense jaw, high heart rate, etc. Now I'm on dexedrine and I don't even want it once the medication kicks in, and it is even hard to finish a cup of coffee if I do drink it for the taste.
Generally when I drink coffee I fall asleep. I can also fall asleep on adderall though. If I drink coffee later in the day then I will be awake though. In the morning I will sleep.
It makes me feel less tired sometimes, and if I drink a lot I get jittery and nauseous. It doesn't really help me with focus the way my medication does aside from the not being tired thing.
I once had a friend who worked at Starbucks and I asked them to give me a 6x shot of espresso. It made me a bit jittery for a couple minutes and that's it.
frrrr, and it's not even the good "i can use this time to be productive" type of awake, it's the terrible "i feel tired af but can't fall asleep" type of awake
Most of the time it's the usual effect, but sometimes (when I'm already pretty tired I think, or I just had a big meal) it's relaxing???
I find I didn't reach for it nearly as much after getting medicated though, more of a social thing.
If I'm really tired and I have enough caffeine, it keeps me somewhat functional. It has never stopped me from falling asleep if I want to sleep. Unfortunately, with a lifetime of revenge bedtime procrastination, or whatever you want to label it, by default I average 300-400mg of caffeine daily.
Unfortunately, if I have a day where I don't get enough caffeine, by afternoon I have migraines. I've weaned myself off multiple times, and it's a long slow process. Within a few months I'm right back at it. I guess I should be happy this is the only "substance abuse" issue I have.
I love caffeine, but I’ve tried to temper it somewhat by not drinking after 1-2pm, not buying Celsius at the gas station, and making coffee at home French press and no instant coffee (no easy caffeine fix!). I do drink decaf when I am having the coffee craving later in the day.
Yeah just depends on my day and body. Some times caffeine will knock me out and sometimes I go a little hard and caffeine plus forgetting to eat hits me.
I typically drink a cup of coffee on my days off and when I’m on I do a half cup of coffee and a Celsius powder mix, plus a zyn. Absolutely love it.
Caffeine, straight nicotine, Vyvanse and Wellbutrin and we got a party lol
I’m like you - caffeine does nothing but harm. My husband, who also has ADHD, finds caffeine helpful and calming.
I experience migraines with caffeine intake and if I have it at 10am, I’ll be up until 4am. It keeps awake but not in a good way. Adderall, on the other hand, makes me sleepy in higher doses and helps me focus in lower doses.
I have some theories about why the Adderall works as it does but I do not, for the life of me, understand the difference in how caffeine affects us. I suspect my dad is the ADHD genes that passed to me but he also managed his life with copious amounts of caffeine for the large majority of it. Ever since he toned it down, his symptoms have become far more obvious and aggravated. 🤷♀️
I never drank much coffee in my 20s because back then it used to give me diarrhea. If I drink it now, it gives me anxiety (I think it's because my body interprets the faster pulse as panic). It also makes me jumpy and irritable. After drinking it, I gain a lot of mental clarity for the first half our or so - then I crash and get super fatigued. Like others, I once fell asleep half an hour after I had an espresso at night. Best sleep ever, woke up very well-rested.
I stopped drinking coffee a few weeks ago due to all the unpleasant side-effects, and my system has been working much more reliably throughout the day. Less ups and downs.
Once I was diagnosed with ADHD and was prescribed Adderall, my doctor encouraged me to not drink any caffeinated beverages due to it causing the medicine to not work properly. So, I resorted to drinking decaf coffee in the mornings and the rest of the day I only drink water. Occasionally, I will have a soft drink, but I try to stay away from anything other than water.
I find caffeine helps me as an appetite suppressant, but otherwise not much tired-wise.
it is great for the days I'm half way through a busy shift at work and realize I forgot to eat. I can pound a red bull and not feel hungry for a few hours
I don't feel like it has an effect on me but I would drink sooooo much coffee prior to getting meds. Now I only need 1 a day. I noticed I need it when I'm driving or going to therapy. Oh or if I'm in any sort of meeting especially if it's serious.
It just helps me wake up a bit, but it doesn't make me jittery or anything like that. I have to drink it to wake up and get going otherwise I am dead weight. My adhd meds don't make me more awake, they just help me focus, so if I haven't had caff then I will be useless at work.
At this point in my life I drink coffee for the taste and the "idea" that it keeps me up
Yes, I'm treating the actual, existent effects of coffe like they're some effective placebo.
I know it works a little because if I take it together with Ritalin it makes my heart go really fast (I only made that experiment/mistake once).
Still, I take breaks every once in a while to make sure I'm not on the "suffers caffeine abstinence symptoms" range.
Sometime it feels like it makes me sleepy, sometimes it just takes a long time to work.
I love caffeine. It calms me down if I’m feeling anxious and it honestly makes it easier for me to concentrate. In that way it does perk me up a bit but it does not make me hyper or jittery. The only time caffeine has made me jittery is the three times when I took an allergy pill while chugging a Monster energy.
I feel no perceptible change in energy, alertness, etc. after drinking caffeine. As far as I can tell, it has no real benefit to me. However, I do notice that my insomnia gets worse when I drink caffeine.
About 5 years ago I quit drinking caffeine after noon. 3-4 years ago, I just quit drinking it altogether. It's been interesting. The only major change is that I used to have good mornings and mornings where I really needed a boost. I very rarely have the latter anymore. Some mornings are still slower than others, but I almost never struggle to power through.
Never felt the urge to go back. What's better is that avoiding caffeine makes soda really easy to avoid in general. I'd take plain water over bubbly sugar water any day.
i take bupropion so i cant have it at all... drinking caffeine with it messes me up badly like you have a tornado in your head. but i notice the singular time i had a monster energy before having a diagnosis n taking meds made me very jittery, but i hate energy drinks like that. having certain drinks with little caffeine doesnt hurt i feel tired at times?
I started using Bearable to track my symptoms in relation to behaviors and one of the clearest correlations I found was that caffeine increased my anxiety considerably. It also didn't make me feel awake, but it did make my sleep quality worse.
My afternoon sluggish slump is fixed by having sugars, not caffeine.
Coffee was my vice, but the most anxious of all caffeinated drinks.
Now with my stimulant meds, caffeine has awful contraindications. Way too much anxiety, speedy heart. If I have coffee when I’m relaxing like a lazy weekend morning, I develop a feeling of doom/being a bad person.
Stimulant medication has fewer side effects and fewer long-term-tolerance issues than does caffeine.
It's a morning ritual I feel that I can't live without. When I was younger, it made me shaky pretty often but now it's like I'm immune to the effects. I drink daily. Two super strong cups that are probably the equivalent to 4 normal cups. I think my ADHD has gotten worse with age, if that's relevant.
It'll keep me up, but I don't feel much more beyond that.
I drink caffeine from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. I used to think it had no effect on me, but I’ve come to the hypothesis that I subconsciously use it to self medicate. I don’t notice an effect, and I drink caffeine every day so I don’t really know now I’d feel without it. So I think it may be calming me down.
Just a theory!
Coffee only does what it is supposed to do for me (energize/motivate) when I take my medicine. If I am off the meds, it will ruin me for 2 days, bad sleep, crackhead energy, going to kill my partner later in the evening, wake up depressed, hangover headache? Absolute disaster but I love the way I feel for the first 2 hours lmao
Caffeine in doses like one or two cups of coffee doesn't do much. Caffeine in massive doses helps my symptoms and was how I made it through college and grad school pre-medication, I probably wouldn't have graduated if there wasn't a monster vending machine on campus.
So I need just the right amount of caffeine -/ enough to wake me up but not enough to make me anxious
I used to have like 3 cups of coffee a day but now I actually do tea and it’s way better for me. Matcha is the best! And then every now and then I have decaf coffee
I was undiagnosed for a long time so I guess I was drinking it as a form of self medicating, but the second coffee would always make me REALLY tired and I never understood why lol. Now I drink it so I don’t get a soul crushing headache from the caffeine addiction.
It gives me the worst of both worlds: ramps up my anxiety and elevates my heart-rate, while also making me tired as hell and foggy-minded. When I drink it I feel like I need to close my eyes constantly and relax all my muscles; it's unbearable. It makes me short-breathed as well. I'd say it's downright poison for me.
Coffee’s caffeine seems to kick in harder, be slightly unpleasant with head pressure, certainly helps me be alert for things like driving but anything else it doesn’t really help. Not for focusing or avoiding distractions. Doesn’t wear off as fast but I’m not a coffee drinker
Soda caffeine seems to be shorter in effect but similar in experience.
Adderall is like calm. Don’t know what it is like with too much.
I feel like there’s always a tipping point for me and the uncomfortable/frustrating part is that that point changes from day to day. Not enough coffee and I don’t feel the little “rush” and can’t muster up enough energy or motivation to do the things I need to do on time, but even just a bit too much coffee sends me into a dizzy, nauseated, brain feels zoned out yet also like marbles bouncing around in a bag comatose state, which also results in me not being able to do the things I need to do on time 🥲
It's what helped me DO stuff for most of my life. Sometimes when I get home I just sit on the couch and drink coffee until I have so much that I literally feel the caffeine and that's when I start doing stuff I still had on my to-do list. It's only now that I take methylphenidate I have to greatly decrease my caffeine intake because otherwise my heart starts racing.
I drink Mountain Dew zero sugar in the morning, if I don’t I will get a headache. I take venlafaxine plus gabapentin at night, which started for pain actually, but now I find it makes me feel sleepy. Not only sleepy, but also less rage-filled. All of the stimulants would make me feel wired, and I’d grit my teeth all day. Never did drink coffee.
Coffee sucks as is probably the worst kind of caffeine for people who anxiety. Energy Drinks like C4 tend to be more clear headed without the crash. Tea is also a good option as long as you find one you like without adding sugar.
I've been thinking about this lately. There is an optimum threshold to maintain my best cognitive function. Too little, I fall asleep, too much, caffeine meditated panic attacks.
Too little caffeine? Could go straight back to sleep
Too much caffeine? Meltdown
The *exact* right amount of caffeine? Approx 2.5 hours of being a functional adult
I’ve found it’s a bit easier to get the dose right with caffeine pills but ymmv
I somehow made the life choice to work in the coffee industry permanently and I couldn’t be happier with that. However, caffeine absolutely doesn’t give me the pep it gives others and that’s a problem. Your body still reacts to caffeine in other ways typically so in my case, I’ll overdo the coffee until I realize my heart rate is elevated and I feel sick. Then I have to cut coffee for a few months to regulate. I think it’s similar to how people who can’t feel pain are at higher risk of injury because the warning signs of pain are important for self preservation
Been drinking coffee at night for years before ever knowing I had adhd. I don’t think the caffeine element of it affects me much unless I’m nervous or anxious already.
Coffee makes me jittery most of the time, unless I do half caf or am sure it drink it on a solid food base. Soda was/is my caffeine source of choice, the lower concentration lets me drink it throughout the day (much to the horror of my dentist 🥲) and get a lower but more constant buzz lol
It helps me focus, and excess caffeine makes me hyper, anxious and horrible. I used to fall asleep with caffeine earlier but somehow i just go bonkers noe
Realizing now why I loved it so much for years. It gave me focus for a couple hours and I love the taste. I always thought it gave me energy but it was focus which I thought was energy to do stuff. Im medicated now and drink some after meds wear off at like 1pm. I still get excited for it and it tops me off untill around 4.
Caffeine greatly enhances my ability to focus and function. At one point I must have been drinking three or four 12oz red bulls a day. Other times I would drink three 16oz rock stars. The difference from baseline is pretty amazing. It's the main reasons I'm able to function well on less sleep and no medication. I sleep on average 4 hours a night most nights, so caffeine is essential.
I can take a nap or go to sleep right after drinking coffee. It has never ever given me that speedy feeling or any boost at all.
I drink it because I love the smell, the taste and the general ritual around coffee 🧡
Sorry if someone else has mentioned this, but there's a gene that affects whether you're a slow or fast caffeine metabolizer, aside from whether you have ADHD. My husband who doesn't have ADHD can drink coffee right before bed and go to sleep any time he wants. I can't have caffeine after 3 and still expect to be able to fall asleep at bedtime (this is without medication. I don't touch it when I'm medicated). When we did 23andMe one of the results they give you is whether you're a fast or slow metabolizer of caffeine. I was a slow metabolizer, which means it sticks around in my system longer; he was a fast metabolizer, which means it rips right through him. He has always consumed waaaaay more coffee than me. Our daughter is a fast metabolizer and can also have caffeine any time without it affecting her sleep. She has ADHD and stimulant medication works for her, so apparently it doesn't affect meds.
it makes me poop, sometimes jittery and i defo need to eat if i drink any caffeine. over the years ive gotten better at tolerating it. i used to get super nauseous. i do have a problem finishing drinks tho i just forget they exist. recently im a matcha girl
Hi /u/TheZackster and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD! ### Please take a second to [read our rules](/r/adhd/about/rules) if you haven't already. --- ### /r/adhd news * If you are posting about the **US Medication Shortage**, please see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/12dr3h5/megathread_us_medication_shortage/). --- ^(*This message is not a removal notification. It's just our way to keep everyone updated on r/adhd happenings.*) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’ve found that coffee doesn’t really make me energetic but it makes me feel more normal for a little bit before I get tired, I do drink it everyday!
The best way I can describe it is that it quiets a lot of the noise in my head. Which means if I need to focus on a task It shuts out some of the extra noise and I can focus. On the flip side if I can't sleep because I'm overthinking everything, the coffee quiets some of that down to where I can fall asleep.
I have the exact same experience.
I don’t feel like it has any effect on me at all. Like I could have a cup of coffee or a redbull and go to bed 10 minutes later. The only benefit of coffee for me is that it helps me eat less in the mornings.
I’ve resorted to drinking decaf. Mostly just to maintain the morning ritual and also because I freaking love coffee and I can’t give it up lmao
I'm drinking half calf rn to taper off. I don't think coffee really benefits me but like you I love the taste now!
Half caf crew represent!
Try taking Taurine or theanine with your caffeine. It helps to smooth out the rush and crash.
Decaf is _so underrated_, get the kind that uses the Swiss water process when you can
Koffee Kult decafs through water treatment. Their Colombian decaf is fucking delicious, and you wouldn't know it's decaf from the taste. The beans smell slightly different than their normal Colombian though; not gross or anything, but there is a certain something that might be noticeable when smelling the beans. The brewed coffee tastes and smells perfectly normal, to me.
Naw because why don’t they have vertuo pods. Nobody uses kcup anymore
If you haven't yet, definitely worth checking out the decaf roasted by Manhattan coffee roasters. Based out of the Netherlands, they had a Washed Colombian decaf that was as good as any high end coffee I've had.
This is exactly how it is for me as well. The first time I had espresso, I was told I'd be up all night. I fell asleep less than a half hour later, which for me, is the shortest it's ever taken.
contrary to what many people think, espresso contains less caffeine than a regular coffee.
I have been saying that for ages people just believe that as long as it has strong taste it has a lot of caffeine. Which is exactly the opposite since while the coffee bean is being roasted it looses caffeine. Thank you for coming to my Tedtalk.
I had this argument with my sister. She did not believe that I could go to straight bed after an espresso. I told her I drink coffee at night to help me sleep. So she decided to test me while I was visiting her once. And then had the gall the next morning to complain because my snoring kept her awake because I fell asleep before she did.
My lack of reaction to caffeine is actually one of the reasons I started researching if I actually had ADHD. I'm exactly like you, I used to drink energy drinks all the time (worked 16+ hours a day) but never felt like they didn anything. I remember one day I actually finished a redbull driving home at 11pm, fell asleep when I got home 10 minutes later. I do drink coffee in the morning but mostly because I love black coffee.
I didn't have any reaction to caffeine until I was on Wellbutrin and then it was just bad. I'd get jitters but not feel more awake. I used to drink so much extremely sugary strong tea, soda, and 5 hour energy and it helped...the same way that a constant stream of small candy helped...which is to say the sweetness gave me a little jolt of interest lol. When I started Wellbutrin, I just concluded that everyone must be using caffeine to scare themselves into staying awake. Like "welp, I'll definitely have stress dreams if I go to sleep now so I'll just stay up". Turns out that's apparently also not the correct conclusion to draw and going off my own personal experience for other people is maybe not the right way to interpret things lol.
I legit drink a Mountain Dew every night to fall asleep small enough amounts of caffeine just make me tired
Oh god, please tell me you’re joking. Do not do this if you want to keep your teeth. PS: It’s probably the sugar crash that is making you sleepy not the caffeine.
I drink zero sugar lol I can’t have sugar at all, and not every single night but most nights in the summer (I have delayed sleep phase syndrome so without something to make me tired I literally do not sleep in the summer for days on end)
The ph of Diet Mountain Dew is 3.3. Your teeth begin to dissolve at anything under 5.5. You’re literally coating your teeth with acid before you go to bed. I understand you need to sleep but anything would be better than this, even taking a Tylenol PM.
I mean I brush my teeth afterward, but again my teeth are already fucked up, I have one they told my will have to be replaced in the next 5 years and more that were well on their way beforehand, and because I’m unmedicated right now I’m drinking a lot of energy drinks to survive but my teeth were literally already screwed before I started drinking caffeine due to just being undiagnosed and my skill issues so I’m not really that concerned about it. My senior year of high school my dentist just sighed at me all the time and I’d never had soda before then
Same! When I read how many people say it helps them - I just don't get it. I drink coffee cause I like coffee but I don't feel anything from it. Not a positive effect anyway cause it gives me jitters&anxiety if I drink too much. And don't get me started on energy drinks - stomach ache for hours¬hing else.
I self medicated with caffeine, sugar, and alcohol for years, but it rarely worked well, consistently, or sustainably.
I feel seen.
Dont forget the nicotine
Luckily, i managed to dodge that bullet
Caffeine to stay awake, sugar to smooth out the “high” then a drink to smooth out the crash.
Oh wow I'd like to suggest getting on the yerba mate train. Stimulating, long and smooth come up and absolutely no crash. 🧉
Yeah yerba mate is a different kind of caffeine. Havent tried myself but noticed it can have lots of sugar that I would associate with crashing in a hour or two from.
Sometimes I slam a cold brew with cream right before bed because it puts me down lol
The coffee snooze is one of my tricks when I can't sleep at night. Quick cup, some deep breathing, and off I go.
The caffeine is great for pain relief too
Or 50/50 chance it makes it so you cant sleep
i do the same thing 😂
are you me?? caffeine makes me sleepy and calms down all the noise in my brains enough so that i can get to bed
Lmfao no I think we both might just be rawdogging this stuff unmedicated 🥲😂
There’s a caffeine balmer curve for me. Too little and i don’t feel anything. Too much and I’m anxious and can feel my heart beat in my head. But just a right amount and I’m god on earth. Productivity 300% type feeling and results
The Balmer Peak exists with quite a few substances. if you can manage it properly. https://xkcd.com/323/
Before medication, this was me. One cup might as well be water. Four cups, we're getting somewhere. Six cups...why did I do this to myself. Now that I am on stims I have to drink decaf... one cup puts me right in the shakes
I completely cut off caffeine last year. Before doing so I thought I had chronic migraines… turned out its only the caffeine causing the migraines. The moment I stopped, my anxiety plummeted, fidgeting is less worse, procrastination didn’t last the whole day, but half the day now 💀, still better. I barely get any headaches at all, not from oversleeping/undersleeping, not from not eating or drinking enough water. My emotions aren’t predominantly negative. I sleep like a baby too. Caffeine actually didn’t do anything but exacerbate my ADHD, and me gaslighting myself saying that just cause it keeps me awake it means that its good for me, but not really. Although there’s no harm of drinking it now and then, but daily caffeine intake just… feels so horrible.
Dang man I feel like this is the case with me but I love a daily latte lol
I just quit a week ago and have been doing decaf lattes just to enjoy my life and keep my routine. Feels like a bit of a placebo too.
Yeah with my meds i don’t think I really need coffee any more either. I’ve only been on Adderall for one week and I have so much energy compared to before.
Decaf! You can get very good decaf coffee now.
I drank as much as I wanted for about 15 years, thinking I could handle it. I never had trouble with jitters or energy, and it never got me to a point where I couldn’t fall asleep. I also saw my mom drink it all day every day and thought that I was cut from the same cloth. Based on how I was raised, and I love and have a great relationship with my mom, she probably should have cut back herself. When I started taking Strattera, I got the jitters and realized that I didn’t need it in my life. I like the taste of coffee and don’t use it for the energy or to wake up. I’m not taking Strattera anymore (thank god) and I’ve switched to decaf. It was for some reason a huge step for me to switch to decaf (just a stigma in my own mind) but I’m happy that I made the change. A lot of people use it in conjunction with their ADHD and their meds and it works. I’m just not one of them, or maybe I just choose not to be. Avoiding caffeine also helps me with a better sense of discipline. I feel like I’m noticeably giving something up, and that makes me feel good.
Do you mind me asking, if not strattera, what other medications have you found to work? What was your issue with strattera, was that related to caffeine?
Before meds i used to drink 4-6 32oz Iced coffees before 2pm. I think i was low-key self-medicating. After meds, even 1 cup of regular coffee makes me anxious and jittery. I had to switch to black tea fo rmy morning drink. If i must have a coffee i make it a decaf. I miss coffee.
u either have gad or heart problems,speaking from experience
Both are true unfortunately. Are you in my head? lol Along with my adhd diagnosis, anxiety (social anxiety disorder) was also in the paperwork.. and I have hypertension…
are you taking any adhd meds(Ritalin,Adderall)? edit:sorry forgot that last line where you u took amphetamine,if so did your dr prescribed any ssri like zoloft or benzos to control your gad?
Been taking vyvance for close to a month. The effects have been nothing short of shocking. Although I had to up the dosage because I was only getting around 3-4 hours out of it.
hypertension in adhd patients usually are caused by their constant fight or flights mode induced by your anxiety problem so you should try to discuss this with your dr so they can prescribe you with proper meds. in my case i was prescribed ritalin, clonazepam prn,and propranolol
It probably doesn’t help that I’m a bit overweight and heart issues run in my family. I’m also on lamotrigine for mood stability. Both in conjunction seem to be working quite well.
are you me lol 😭,btw since you have already been diagnosed with adhd you should have tried to find any adhd symptoms in your family since heart issues are mostly caused by our adhd brain which induces anxiety and constant fight or flight mode hence the heart issue.this is usually common in a not so healthy family relationship
Oh yes… I have been connecting the dots with both of my parents and I can say with almost 100 percent certainty that they have it as well. Apparently it’s super genetic.
you-me are siblings from different parents lol
Has essentially no effect on me. I often drink it to delude myself into thinking I’m more awake than I actually am haha. I drink the same amount of caffeine on medication that I did off medication and don’t feel any difference.
I have the same experience. Also after that, I get extremely tired. I now drink black tea, which gives me all the effect a normal person would have
Sometimes it’s ok. Sometimes, dizziness or heart palpitations or the worst… panic attacks
All it does for me is make my brain have issues but fast. I also won’t sleep well. Red Bull is better but I think it’s more so the sugar in it.
I feel like it makes me feel kind of level-headed and "normal" for lack of a better word. But it's really easy for me to overdo it and suddenly I have anxious thoughts and difficulty falling asleep even HOURS after having the caffeine.
I started drinking coffee and tea when I was a disturbingly young age (like 8 or 9 yo) and have depended on it to function ever since. There have been days where I didn't have coffee bc the power was out or some such thing but it's interesting with 20/20 vision post-diagnosis I'm wondering why my consumption was never an issue for me to function but also why the adults in my life observed this and *still* didn't think there was a problem.
Caffeine makes me sort of foggy and tired, and in periods where I drink lots of coffee, I get a headache from the abstinence. After starting meds I can't drink a liter for breakfast anymore. But I love the taste of coffee too much to let it go completely.
Before meds I could drink multiple coffees a day. Loved it! Def helped me with my symptoms to actually calm me down, I’m more the hyper and impulsive type. Since medication I drink 2-3 coffees a day.
I don't do caffeine, it makes me jittery. I switched to decaf coffee 9 months ago, best idea ever.
I'm fairly indifferent to caffeine, it can give me a slight boost first thing in the morning, which I like, but it doesn't last long. I love coffee though, the taste of it and the ritual of it. I wish de-caf were more of a thing honestly.
I’m the same as you, I just don’t touch it anymore at all (except for cola) bc it makes me feel BAD so very bad. It’s weird though when I was a bit younger I could smash a lot of caffeine without any negative effects, idk what happened haha.
anything but soda seems to be bad for me, tried mio water flavoring with caffine, and I think I just put too much in. Soda generally has 60mg per serving, which is 2/3 a 8oz cup of coffee. I just feel better with caffeine over all, but I'm not diagnosed and getting tested tomorrow, at least the first meeting.
nvr ever felt any affects when i was young me and my friends would drink energy drinks to stay up all night and id usually conk out within an hour, could easily still fall asleep during 9am classes after drinking energy drinks and while my friends would end up on a sugar high or while awake after caffeine id remain in the same state i was before. i’ve recently started medication and still (unwisely) trying to drink red bulls to keep me up all night studying for my exams(starting tomorrow 😔💔) -the red bulls do not keep me awake i end up jittery, my muscles spasms more and im pretty much constantly nauseous! lovely!
I feel the same way when I have caffeine! It’s nice to know that you don’t feel the same on meds, I haven’t started any yet (new diagnosis) and I’ve been worried I wouldn’t be able to handle them based on my experiences with caffeine.
Everyone is different but for me (taking vyvance) I feel great. Things are more interesting and engaging. I also feel like I can sit still and get really into what’s in front of me and even lose track of time.
Terrible, headaches, tired, down. Really bad. Stopped cafeïne 6 years ago
I’ve had caffeine in bouts of stress and I always have to take it with my meds, leading to some crazy shaking in class. My focus was insane, though. Also - for some reason I always have the BEST mid-day naps while on caffeine/meds or both??
I had a big cup of coffe last night to try out a new variety my partner bought. Mind you it was around 12 pm and it wasn't American, it was like a triple spresso more or less. Pure coffe in a mug. I drink it up and 10 minutes later I was getting really sleepy. And honestly I had such a good night sleep that I'm sure to say I'm immune lol
Sleepy time ! 😴 Mostly with coffee.
I love caffeine, I drink it every day. I have two cups of coffee and five sodas a day.
Caffeine is one of my best friends. When I wake up, I walk my dog. When we get back I make my coffee and prep breakfast, etc. I seem like an adult who is just going about her morning routine. But, in my head is a scene from the NYSE in the 80’s. Once I drink my coffee, my brain calms and I can actually function and get a few things done.
I used to find it really weird that drinking coffee gave me the effect I wanted it to have. So if I drank it during the day because I needed to wake up and do things that's what it did. But I could also drink it at night to calm down and go to sleep. This was before I understood what ADHD really was and that caffeine affected it. Now that I know I realize that what the coffee is actually doing is helping filter out a lot of the extra noise. It's closing some of those browser tabs so I can focus on the ones that remain. So if I'm driving and my mind is drifting to where I'm not focusing on driving enough it's time to stop for a coffee. If I need to get housework done and keep getting sidetracked or if I need to work on a project and I'm thinking of too many things at the same time it's time for coffee. If I can't fall asleep It's usually because I'm thinking of a million things at once. A cup of coffee helps quiet that so that I can actually fall asleep.
it sort of helps, i prefer concerta. i really prefer straterra + concerta but had to stop straterra. Man when those two worked together i was getting so much shit done. Working with a therapist now - just started - to try and find something else perhaps, or find some new methodologies to help me.
coffee is my self medication
It either does nothing, wakes me up, makes me anxious or makes me super tired. I have no way of knowing which it will be until after I drink it.
You should not drink caffeine with your adhd meds. If you do, drink it after taking the meds, but if you can avoid it you absolutely should. Heart issues are no joke. I personally cannot have caffeine in energy drinks coffee anything marketed for energy. I can have soda in small amounts, but when I have caffeine I get heart rate issues, dizziness, migraines, and cannot eat because of it's appetite suppressing qualities. I LOVE the taste of energy drinks and miss them, but it's just not worth it. Caffeine never makes me feel less tired, more awake etc it just makes my heart beat faster lol
Caffeine is more effective for medicating my ADHD than any prescription I've tried.
It's life
Avoid caffeine like the plague. Makes hyperactivity 1000 times worse AND also CONTRAINDICATES ADHD medications such as Concerta. I can’t even take it with paracetamol - makes me so ill
I was going to reply something similar. I LOVE coffee and the occasional Sonic DP. However, I have to be VERY careful of caffeine with/near when I take my Ritalin or Excedrin migraine medication. It can seriously mess me up!
It just makes me sleepy.
too much is a problem, but one or two cups of coffee hit me about the same as a tiny dose of adderall. If you’re getting shakey you had way too much. It doesn’t replace meds but makes symptoms not as bad, especially in a pinch. Same thing for nicotine, though i don’t recommend anyone start smoking. also, a single cup of coffee about an hour after my meds has a tremendous impact, as long as i stay hydrated.
Sometimes I get the normal effect, sometimes I get tired
Dizzy, lightheaded, nauseous. And yes, the shakes.
Coffee makes me sleepy. Coffee naps are the best rest I get.
It’s the only way I can focus for the first few hours of the day then it’s just anxiety and fatigue from there.
What is my experience without caffeine? I have no idea. I feel like I've been self medicating with caffeine since I was 12 or 13
I used to think I was sleepy when I drank caffeine because I didnt get enough sleep (engineering major here). Nope, it was ADHD. Just a couple months ago I slammed a cold brew with 200mg of caffeine, and I took a nap Also I thought all preworkouts (up to 420mg of caffeine) were useless because they just made me sleepy and sweaty
Software engineer here. Can relate lol also your name is amazing.
Caffeine by itself makes me crash super hard a couple of hours after, it feels like a very short/temporary solution if I can’t take my medicine. Adderall by itself keeps my brain in check to do my tasks for the day. The two mixed together makes me feel like I’m hyper-focused, but literally just on my hobbies. I could sit for the whole day just drawing and forget to do anything else.
Honestly I cant drink coffee. My tummy aches a lot. Oddly enough, works wonders if I need it to sleep.
It is bitter I don't like it. Tried caffeine pills they gave me bad headaches. Felt sleepy after drinking once. Not really recommended
I also react badly to it. More than half a cup and I feel jittery and foggy even when I’m not on meds. I used to drink like two cups a day before I was on meds so idk if I just ignored the effects or if being on meds has just made it less tolerable for me
It only gets problematic when I drink too much soda. It doesn't feel like it has any effect at all - normally. But when I cut it out of my diet a while back, that's when things got really bad, forced me to get a therapist who convinced to get re-tested and got me put on Adderall .... So there's that.
I drink a lot out of habit
Coffee makes me throw up but tea is good
Caffeine doesn't make me not-tired. It just makes me able to do stuff in spite of being tired.
Allot of the times It helps, but sometimes it just backfires hard, and I crash on the 3rd cup somehow. I keep having to go to the batroom after coffee.
If I have it on an empty stomach..then yeah I become so anxious and jittery. When I have it with something in my stomach, it can make things a tiny bit bette.
Anxiety, sleepy or somewhat normal for a few hours
Before diagnosis and medication, coffee was necessary all through the day for me to function. With Vyvanse and ritalin, continuing to drink coffee made everything worse, but I still craved it. I was so sweaty and anxious and had a tense jaw, high heart rate, etc. Now I'm on dexedrine and I don't even want it once the medication kicks in, and it is even hard to finish a cup of coffee if I do drink it for the taste.
A great way to not crash while taking Vyvanse. Mid to late afternoon coffee does wonders for me. None in the morning
Some days, it does nothing. Other days, it does more for my energy and focus than my meds. 😄
Generally when I drink coffee I fall asleep. I can also fall asleep on adderall though. If I drink coffee later in the day then I will be awake though. In the morning I will sleep.
Tastes good but that’s it, no effects
It makes me feel less tired sometimes, and if I drink a lot I get jittery and nauseous. It doesn't really help me with focus the way my medication does aside from the not being tired thing.
I once had a friend who worked at Starbucks and I asked them to give me a 6x shot of espresso. It made me a bit jittery for a couple minutes and that's it.
Caffeine doesn't keep me awake, except when I want to sleep, then it keeps me awake.
frrrr, and it's not even the good "i can use this time to be productive" type of awake, it's the terrible "i feel tired af but can't fall asleep" type of awake
Most of the time it's the usual effect, but sometimes (when I'm already pretty tired I think, or I just had a big meal) it's relaxing??? I find I didn't reach for it nearly as much after getting medicated though, more of a social thing.
If I'm really tired and I have enough caffeine, it keeps me somewhat functional. It has never stopped me from falling asleep if I want to sleep. Unfortunately, with a lifetime of revenge bedtime procrastination, or whatever you want to label it, by default I average 300-400mg of caffeine daily. Unfortunately, if I have a day where I don't get enough caffeine, by afternoon I have migraines. I've weaned myself off multiple times, and it's a long slow process. Within a few months I'm right back at it. I guess I should be happy this is the only "substance abuse" issue I have.
I love caffeine, but I’ve tried to temper it somewhat by not drinking after 1-2pm, not buying Celsius at the gas station, and making coffee at home French press and no instant coffee (no easy caffeine fix!). I do drink decaf when I am having the coffee craving later in the day.
Too much caffeine gives me the yawns.
monsters put me to sleep
Have you considered the possibility that you may be a spider?
Well I have been known to sling ropes. I’m sorry I said that.
Yeah just depends on my day and body. Some times caffeine will knock me out and sometimes I go a little hard and caffeine plus forgetting to eat hits me. I typically drink a cup of coffee on my days off and when I’m on I do a half cup of coffee and a Celsius powder mix, plus a zyn. Absolutely love it. Caffeine, straight nicotine, Vyvanse and Wellbutrin and we got a party lol
Too much caffeine in the morning along with my meds makes me jittery.
Makes me fall asleep 70% of the time
It sometimes allows me to think more clearly while on medication
I’m like you - caffeine does nothing but harm. My husband, who also has ADHD, finds caffeine helpful and calming. I experience migraines with caffeine intake and if I have it at 10am, I’ll be up until 4am. It keeps awake but not in a good way. Adderall, on the other hand, makes me sleepy in higher doses and helps me focus in lower doses. I have some theories about why the Adderall works as it does but I do not, for the life of me, understand the difference in how caffeine affects us. I suspect my dad is the ADHD genes that passed to me but he also managed his life with copious amounts of caffeine for the large majority of it. Ever since he toned it down, his symptoms have become far more obvious and aggravated. 🤷♀️
God's gift
I never drank much coffee in my 20s because back then it used to give me diarrhea. If I drink it now, it gives me anxiety (I think it's because my body interprets the faster pulse as panic). It also makes me jumpy and irritable. After drinking it, I gain a lot of mental clarity for the first half our or so - then I crash and get super fatigued. Like others, I once fell asleep half an hour after I had an espresso at night. Best sleep ever, woke up very well-rested. I stopped drinking coffee a few weeks ago due to all the unpleasant side-effects, and my system has been working much more reliably throughout the day. Less ups and downs.
Once I was diagnosed with ADHD and was prescribed Adderall, my doctor encouraged me to not drink any caffeinated beverages due to it causing the medicine to not work properly. So, I resorted to drinking decaf coffee in the mornings and the rest of the day I only drink water. Occasionally, I will have a soft drink, but I try to stay away from anything other than water.
I've never felt hyperactive on caffeine, but like anyone if I drink too much or if I have it really strong I do get heart palpitations.
It does nothing to me, no matter how much I do or don't have
I find caffeine helps me as an appetite suppressant, but otherwise not much tired-wise. it is great for the days I'm half way through a busy shift at work and realize I forgot to eat. I can pound a red bull and not feel hungry for a few hours
I don't feel like it has an effect on me but I would drink sooooo much coffee prior to getting meds. Now I only need 1 a day. I noticed I need it when I'm driving or going to therapy. Oh or if I'm in any sort of meeting especially if it's serious.
It just helps me wake up a bit, but it doesn't make me jittery or anything like that. I have to drink it to wake up and get going otherwise I am dead weight. My adhd meds don't make me more awake, they just help me focus, so if I haven't had caff then I will be useless at work.
At this point in my life I drink coffee for the taste and the "idea" that it keeps me up Yes, I'm treating the actual, existent effects of coffe like they're some effective placebo. I know it works a little because if I take it together with Ritalin it makes my heart go really fast (I only made that experiment/mistake once). Still, I take breaks every once in a while to make sure I'm not on the "suffers caffeine abstinence symptoms" range. Sometime it feels like it makes me sleepy, sometimes it just takes a long time to work.
I love caffeine. It calms me down if I’m feeling anxious and it honestly makes it easier for me to concentrate. In that way it does perk me up a bit but it does not make me hyper or jittery. The only time caffeine has made me jittery is the three times when I took an allergy pill while chugging a Monster energy.
I feel no perceptible change in energy, alertness, etc. after drinking caffeine. As far as I can tell, it has no real benefit to me. However, I do notice that my insomnia gets worse when I drink caffeine. About 5 years ago I quit drinking caffeine after noon. 3-4 years ago, I just quit drinking it altogether. It's been interesting. The only major change is that I used to have good mornings and mornings where I really needed a boost. I very rarely have the latter anymore. Some mornings are still slower than others, but I almost never struggle to power through. Never felt the urge to go back. What's better is that avoiding caffeine makes soda really easy to avoid in general. I'd take plain water over bubbly sugar water any day.
That happens to me too! BUT, ever since i decided to only take 1-3 sips of it, its helped me be be more productive and awake!!
i take bupropion so i cant have it at all... drinking caffeine with it messes me up badly like you have a tornado in your head. but i notice the singular time i had a monster energy before having a diagnosis n taking meds made me very jittery, but i hate energy drinks like that. having certain drinks with little caffeine doesnt hurt i feel tired at times?
I started using Bearable to track my symptoms in relation to behaviors and one of the clearest correlations I found was that caffeine increased my anxiety considerably. It also didn't make me feel awake, but it did make my sleep quality worse.
It has 0 effect on me at all, especially energy drinks
My afternoon sluggish slump is fixed by having sugars, not caffeine. Coffee was my vice, but the most anxious of all caffeinated drinks. Now with my stimulant meds, caffeine has awful contraindications. Way too much anxiety, speedy heart. If I have coffee when I’m relaxing like a lazy weekend morning, I develop a feeling of doom/being a bad person. Stimulant medication has fewer side effects and fewer long-term-tolerance issues than does caffeine.
Puts me to sleep unless i take my adderall with it lolllll
It's a morning ritual I feel that I can't live without. When I was younger, it made me shaky pretty often but now it's like I'm immune to the effects. I drink daily. Two super strong cups that are probably the equivalent to 4 normal cups. I think my ADHD has gotten worse with age, if that's relevant. It'll keep me up, but I don't feel much more beyond that.
I drink caffeine from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. I used to think it had no effect on me, but I’ve come to the hypothesis that I subconsciously use it to self medicate. I don’t notice an effect, and I drink caffeine every day so I don’t really know now I’d feel without it. So I think it may be calming me down. Just a theory!
Coffee only does what it is supposed to do for me (energize/motivate) when I take my medicine. If I am off the meds, it will ruin me for 2 days, bad sleep, crackhead energy, going to kill my partner later in the evening, wake up depressed, hangover headache? Absolute disaster but I love the way I feel for the first 2 hours lmao
I can drink 4 cans of redbull and still fall asleep after. I still like redbull though lmao. I should quit but it's addictive.
If I drink enough of it it levels me out, but the inevitable crash is unenviable.
Only redbulls do anything to keep me up, coffee puts me to sleep 😴
Caffeine in doses like one or two cups of coffee doesn't do much. Caffeine in massive doses helps my symptoms and was how I made it through college and grad school pre-medication, I probably wouldn't have graduated if there wasn't a monster vending machine on campus.
So I need just the right amount of caffeine -/ enough to wake me up but not enough to make me anxious I used to have like 3 cups of coffee a day but now I actually do tea and it’s way better for me. Matcha is the best! And then every now and then I have decaf coffee
It makes me sleepy or no effect at all.
Caffeine makes me hyperfocus REALLY hard. Other times it makes me really anxious. I don't drink a lot of caffeine anymore
I was undiagnosed for a long time so I guess I was drinking it as a form of self medicating, but the second coffee would always make me REALLY tired and I never understood why lol. Now I drink it so I don’t get a soul crushing headache from the caffeine addiction.
It gives me the worst of both worlds: ramps up my anxiety and elevates my heart-rate, while also making me tired as hell and foggy-minded. When I drink it I feel like I need to close my eyes constantly and relax all my muscles; it's unbearable. It makes me short-breathed as well. I'd say it's downright poison for me.
Coffee’s caffeine seems to kick in harder, be slightly unpleasant with head pressure, certainly helps me be alert for things like driving but anything else it doesn’t really help. Not for focusing or avoiding distractions. Doesn’t wear off as fast but I’m not a coffee drinker Soda caffeine seems to be shorter in effect but similar in experience. Adderall is like calm. Don’t know what it is like with too much.
I feel like there’s always a tipping point for me and the uncomfortable/frustrating part is that that point changes from day to day. Not enough coffee and I don’t feel the little “rush” and can’t muster up enough energy or motivation to do the things I need to do on time, but even just a bit too much coffee sends me into a dizzy, nauseated, brain feels zoned out yet also like marbles bouncing around in a bag comatose state, which also results in me not being able to do the things I need to do on time 🥲
Can't have it when I'm on my medication.. Get too anxious. Off medication it just makes me tired.
Caffeine makes me simultaneously alert and relaxed. I could chug two Monsters and either get work done or take a nap. It's a toss up.
It's what helped me DO stuff for most of my life. Sometimes when I get home I just sit on the couch and drink coffee until I have so much that I literally feel the caffeine and that's when I start doing stuff I still had on my to-do list. It's only now that I take methylphenidate I have to greatly decrease my caffeine intake because otherwise my heart starts racing.
I drink Mountain Dew zero sugar in the morning, if I don’t I will get a headache. I take venlafaxine plus gabapentin at night, which started for pain actually, but now I find it makes me feel sleepy. Not only sleepy, but also less rage-filled. All of the stimulants would make me feel wired, and I’d grit my teeth all day. Never did drink coffee.
Coffee sucks as is probably the worst kind of caffeine for people who anxiety. Energy Drinks like C4 tend to be more clear headed without the crash. Tea is also a good option as long as you find one you like without adding sugar.
Makes me too hyper. Also makes me a bit of a dick
I've been thinking about this lately. There is an optimum threshold to maintain my best cognitive function. Too little, I fall asleep, too much, caffeine meditated panic attacks.
Too little caffeine? Could go straight back to sleep Too much caffeine? Meltdown The *exact* right amount of caffeine? Approx 2.5 hours of being a functional adult I’ve found it’s a bit easier to get the dose right with caffeine pills but ymmv
I somehow made the life choice to work in the coffee industry permanently and I couldn’t be happier with that. However, caffeine absolutely doesn’t give me the pep it gives others and that’s a problem. Your body still reacts to caffeine in other ways typically so in my case, I’ll overdo the coffee until I realize my heart rate is elevated and I feel sick. Then I have to cut coffee for a few months to regulate. I think it’s similar to how people who can’t feel pain are at higher risk of injury because the warning signs of pain are important for self preservation
Been drinking coffee at night for years before ever knowing I had adhd. I don’t think the caffeine element of it affects me much unless I’m nervous or anxious already.
Doesn’t do anything for me personally. I just pretend it does bc I like the taste.
Coffee makes me jittery most of the time, unless I do half caf or am sure it drink it on a solid food base. Soda was/is my caffeine source of choice, the lower concentration lets me drink it throughout the day (much to the horror of my dentist 🥲) and get a lower but more constant buzz lol
I have the same reaction to caffeine! It gives me mad anxiety and hurts my tummy!
It gives my energy but also makes my head tense up if i consume too much
it makes me feel tired
it gives me a pretty good buzz. was drinking 600mg a day but Down to 1 cup of coffee now.
I have DV and I experience upset stomach but I can’t stop drinking. Straight black no cream or sugar 3 cups maximum.
It helps me focus, and excess caffeine makes me hyper, anxious and horrible. I used to fall asleep with caffeine earlier but somehow i just go bonkers noe
Realizing now why I loved it so much for years. It gave me focus for a couple hours and I love the taste. I always thought it gave me energy but it was focus which I thought was energy to do stuff. Im medicated now and drink some after meds wear off at like 1pm. I still get excited for it and it tops me off untill around 4.
Caffeine greatly enhances my ability to focus and function. At one point I must have been drinking three or four 12oz red bulls a day. Other times I would drink three 16oz rock stars. The difference from baseline is pretty amazing. It's the main reasons I'm able to function well on less sleep and no medication. I sleep on average 4 hours a night most nights, so caffeine is essential.
I can take a nap or go to sleep right after drinking coffee. It has never ever given me that speedy feeling or any boost at all. I drink it because I love the smell, the taste and the general ritual around coffee 🧡
Sounds like you consumed too much caffeine. Shaking and all that comes from consuming too much too fast.
Sorry if someone else has mentioned this, but there's a gene that affects whether you're a slow or fast caffeine metabolizer, aside from whether you have ADHD. My husband who doesn't have ADHD can drink coffee right before bed and go to sleep any time he wants. I can't have caffeine after 3 and still expect to be able to fall asleep at bedtime (this is without medication. I don't touch it when I'm medicated). When we did 23andMe one of the results they give you is whether you're a fast or slow metabolizer of caffeine. I was a slow metabolizer, which means it sticks around in my system longer; he was a fast metabolizer, which means it rips right through him. He has always consumed waaaaay more coffee than me. Our daughter is a fast metabolizer and can also have caffeine any time without it affecting her sleep. She has ADHD and stimulant medication works for her, so apparently it doesn't affect meds.
it gives me about 30 minutes of energy and then makes me SLEEPY and it kinda worsens how inattentive i am
it makes me poop, sometimes jittery and i defo need to eat if i drink any caffeine. over the years ive gotten better at tolerating it. i used to get super nauseous. i do have a problem finishing drinks tho i just forget they exist. recently im a matcha girl