I find this really weird. My doc says it’s normal for those who have ADHD… my caffeine intake is quite a lot. I can down 3 monster zero sugar energy drinks and just be awake and not buzzing.
This is with my Concerta in me too.
Is this weird or just the ADHD experience?
Dramatic amounts of caffeine and sugar is nothing. Long ago when I was in my 20s and 30s I was told that it seemed to have the opposite effect and calm me down.
That’s quite frequent. My Not-a-doctor, simplified understanding is:
Caffeine doesn’t target processes related to dopamine but it’s a stimulant. Outside of hyperfocus mode, ADHD brains are constantly understimulated because the lack of dopamine makes things not feel engaging and interesting. This is why our thoughts race, our brain is struggling to find ALL THE THINGS (thoughts, hobbies, worries, plans, memories) that might give it the stimulation it needs.
Since coffee is a stimulant, the brain gets what it’s looking for and doesn’t need to race through all the possible thoughts, it’s happy. The two main problems are:
- Coffee doesn’t have a controlled release or amount of caffeine, so the effects can be at points unpredictable (peaks, crashes, jitteriness, sudden releases).
- Since it doesn’t affect dopamine production/intake/etc, it doesn’t help with the “uuuughhhh I can’t be bothered to do this” that happens when the brain can’t see/understand there is a reward.
From what I understand, most ADHD medications are stimulants. Caffeine is too. Apparently a lot of ADHD people self-medicate with coffee or energy drinks unintentionally.
I know that anecdotally it’s true. Almost everyone I know with ADHD consumes caffeine like crazy.
Caffeine also doesn’t keep me up or energetic, I tried with copious amounts of caffeine tablets and drinks. But no dice
Sadly, my anxiety issues have been way more severe lately and now if I ingest caffeine, I get massively severe anxiety symptoms
All caffeine does to me is raise my blood pressure.
It’s part of the adhd experience for sure.
