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. 😄
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.
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.
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.
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 :)
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.
