Rumor has it that caffeine can help people with ADHD, but is a rumor or does it have some truth to it? Well, it's not quite that simple. There are many factors that play into it.
I don't really have hyperactivity neither innatentive, I just lack dopamine and make me no wanna leave bed, but I only do things I like so maybe I'm innatentive when I do thing I dislike, is more like that thing doesn't give me dopamine, I'm not gonna give that attention at all (my brain)
I have ADHD, and I had a bunch of friends with it. What most doctors don't talk about is the fact that caffeine works as a sedative to most of us. It's doesn't make us concentrate better, it makes us relax. I can drink 2 tablespoons of coffee in a cup, and then do it again, and be completely calm, with almost no heart increase. ADHD is tricky. Where sedatives can work as stimulants instead. Like alcohol has upper properties for me, not that I drink often. I know coffee well, and it's the only thing that can relax the mind out of any more or less natural substance.
@@adultingwithadhd9802 yeah, ADHD is tricky. Because it usually triggers something else in people like manic behavior or depression. Brain chemistry is fascinating.
Yes, you are right. Often I will get up between 8 and 9 in the morning, take my 5mg Dex and drink a strong percolated coffee. I then do the retiree thing, sit in a comfortable chair, get all warm and nice and get two more hours of solid deep sleep. Wake up and feel great.
Caffeine relax my ADHD brain too. It's like warm safety blanket that help me cope with world around me. Especially in the morning when you need more dopamine in your brain.
I was also late diagnosed and am still in that part of the timeline when I hear someone say “ADHD is wonderful” and genuinely wonder what planet they’re on.
That part of the timeline seems to make return visits. They are less often for me now. Feels like the "wonderful" part comes at the expense of the not wonderful part.
I haven’t been diagnosed with ADHD to be honest I thought it was just for hyperactive kids, but I’ve been reading up on it and at 44 the more I read the more it explains my life, and why it takes me hours to go from the thought that now would be a good time to put the washing on, to actually doing it, while my brain screams at me that it’s easy and yet I just can’t seem to make my body move. It also explains why I can’t even get started in the day without caffeine and why I can still down a red bull right before bed and still curl up and fall asleep.
It took me until age 49 to observe and accept the obvious reality that I have had adhd since childhood. Glad I am aware and accepting of it now. It's my best feature now that it is understood 😊
I was diagnosed at 42. It was an epiphany. I highly recommend you continue exploring it. I don’t use meds but just knowing it’s a dopamine deficiency and that other people understand the daily struggle has been so very valuable to me.
my worst ADHD symptom that causes me the most problems is not being able to "Receive" what is being said to me. It's as if someone is speaking another language, even though I can hear that it's English. And also, not being able to form a sentence in my mind and speak it. Basically, any sort of connecting with another person. It makes it completely awkward and embarrassing for me, so I avoid being in social situations, which leads to loneliness, and the loneliness leads to depression, and the depression further destroys my brain.
Many people with ADHD also have PTSD and what you are describing sounds like a combination case to me. Only a qualified therapist can make this diagnosis and I hope you have access to qualified professionals. The scenario you described is common for people who have both and the good news is you do not have to feel like this forever. I am recording a series of videos on this topic now and they should be uploaded over the next month or so. Hang in there my friend 🙂
You described exact problems. I also have auditory processing and speech issues and it makes jobs really difficult. I can never form the right words for a sentence and I say the wrong thing. I also struggle really bad with lectures and verbal directions
I call it “the latency.” That’ll happen to me but, 2 days later, I will be able to recall the entire encounter word for word. However, in the moment, when I needed to actually listen and respond, it’s kinda the same level of lucidity as the lyrics you hear to music in your head; the lyrics are perfectly clear until you realize, you haven’t actually remembered the lyrics.
I have adhd and I only recently started drinking coffee. I am suuuper sensitive to it, so I just drink half a cup throughout the day and it works better than any meds I took
Just wait, you'll build up a tolerence to it. I started at 1 cup in highschool and post college i now do 4 shots of espresso daily to reach the same effect. Nearly a decade elapsed for that much tolerence though.
I'm also sensitive; typically I do mostly decaf with a little caffeine (maybe 1/4 caf) so that I can still drink satisfying quantities of coffee without getting jittery or anxious.
you may just need to lower the dose. Try drinking half the amounf of coffee you usually would, slowly over a longer course of time. ex: half a cup over the course of 1-2 hours instead of a whole cup in 10 minutes
It’s so odd how recommendations about how to deal with your ADHD, often revolve around using coordination, organization, recognition things that we struggle with. It’s kind of like curing depression with just being happy.
@@0987__ yes, you can be organized as someone with ADHD, the problem isn't 'being' organized, its becoming organize. I have certainly had times in my life where my disorganization was less of a problem, but thats about as durable as a paper cup in a hurricane. It takes very little for most people with ADHD to 'lose the plot' and find their former organization a squallor
I recently discovered something… discipline does not really exist… resolve does and it’s actually an emotion… that those of us with ADHD need badly to keep us on task… so I have been sleeping more and every morning after taking my kids to school I get some caffeine and focus alone in my car telling myself that resolve is a feeling I can pull out from deep inside… what has happened every time I do this is images of my life goals and the people I care about start popping into my head… then at that hot moment when the caffeine is now in my bloodstream I connect my dreams with all the things I have put off and tell myself “finishing my accounting is directly related to my dreams all of the little things I never finish are apart of this dream” so what seems to happen is thanks to the caffeine and the emotion I can now get 3 very strong hours of work done so long as I don’t look at my phone… this has changed my life
This is so amazing! Thank you for sharing! This is what I am hoping to accomplish with this channel. Hearing what works for other people in a forum that isn't doctors, therapists or any other "authority figure." Maybe something that someone else is doing might work for someone else. Maybe not. But having access to ideas of things to try might be beneficial.
Thank you for this advise. I’ve been struggling of having a routine or keeping a routine. It helps that you describe how to create this feeling of being resolved (something I was struggling to practice/getting to that feeling).
In my own struggle to put the reins on procrastination in order to focus on an overwhelming project, resolve is exactly the emotion we need. I used to beat myself up for not having discipline, feeling less for "not having it." The more I've grown up, I think resolve is the tipping point we need to become the adults we know we can be in service to the dreams, goals, and people we have and care for in our lives.
It really does vary from person to person! That’s one reason I love hearing comments because if something is working for someone else that I haven’t tried yet, I like to try that thing. There’s no one size fits all solution to any of this but the process of trying to learn is actually something that has become fun for me.
@@wavesofrelaxation7926 Well my dopamine and motivation levels got a lot better because of caffeine and L-Tyrosine, but what I sometimes noticed was a heightened state of anxiousness and L-Theanine helped a lot with that. L Tyrosine is the precursor to L-Dopa and L-Dopa is the precursor to dopamine, and gives the body more "building blocks" for dopamine and caffeine increases dopamine production, so it's a nice synergistic effect. But theanine doesn't increase dopamine, it just helps you to get in a calm state, and a focussed, energized and calm state is the best state to be productive
I get the caffeine crash instead of the neurotypical "can't wake up without caffeine" effect. The only thing that seems to negate any tiredness is finding something to hyperfixate on
Thank you My mom wanted me to study for school giving me a sugary Gatorade and a Mountain Dew and I fell asleep in minutes Turns out I was asleep for 5 hours
Hyper fixation is both a super power and a really bad thing. I have been fixated on something for many hours and felt that only maybe 30 mins or an hour has past. Having felt fine a second ago, all of a sudden my eyes are grainy and drooping and my body is screaming at me for food because I haven't eaten all day.
You may be able to fall asleep easily whilst having caffeine still in your system, however it can actually impact the quality of your sleep without you even knowing. Definitely worth watching Matthew Walker's video on caffeine (he is a sleep scientist that wrote the popular book "why we sleep"). It's very interesting.
I have this same thing happen for me lol I actually get terrible sleep if I don't drink my one cup of black coffee. I wake up more, I fidget more, I have a more difficult time falling asleep and I can't fall asleep as easily (I'm talking 5m to fall asleep w/ caffeine vs 1hr or more to fall asleep without it). I have one very small cup at night tho instead of my huge cup I usually have in the morning to 'mellow out' lol
Thanks for the video! I am coming to terms with my ADHD condition and how it affects me. My friend mentioned how he read that caffeine affects people with ADHD and I stumbled upon this video at random. I have always felt like sedatives and stimulants were reversed in their effect on me. After too much coffee i will literally have to lay down to sleep and when i drink large amounts of alcohol i stay up all night. It is cool to see so many people going through the same thing. I always thought I was weird.
I was diagnosed when I was a kid with ADHD and put on medication. At the time, there was only one choice of medicine and after I started exhibiting some negative side effects, my parents had me taken off of it. The doctor said to make sure I get plenty of caffeine to keep my ADHD under control. To this day, I still use caffeine to help keep me calm and focused. Caffeine actually makes me feel sleepy and relaxed. Sometimes I'll go an entire day and a half without caffeine and I'm bouncing off the walls and talk 90 miles per hour. The first thing my husband asks me is when was the last time I had caffeine. After I have some, I'm calm again.
I honestly wish this was my response to caffeine. There is not much by way of supplements or meds that slow me down. I have to exercise pretty intensely every day in order to be able to wind down and sleep
@@adultingwithadhd9802it's so interesting that, like water falling differently every time, we can share these diagnoses and still have such wildly different reactions. I love organic evolution and epigenetics. You could have one person cloned and they'd all have different pathways leading to different presentations.
@@The_Qcumberfor me ridalen made me aggressive when I didn't want to be. If others were not posting attention I would be angry. I asked to be on something else.
@@adultingwithadhd9802though I don't like to think of medicine as being the only solution out there, I was prescribed with agomelatine and it helps me fall asleep. Thus, my circadian rhythm is more balanced and therefore my overall well-being is better.
Diagnosed young. For several reasons I stopped taking meds at 18, mostly because they were causing huge social anxiety. I struggled with my ADHD in my 20s without meds but learned to live with it. Now I medicate with coffee, one first thing in the morning and one for the afternoon slump. Really helps when meds aren't an option.
I don't read much about seniors (especially women) with ADHD. Well here I am... Over the years I've been called aunt Kaffeine by my nieces and nephews. I would have a Rock Star beverage almost every day. Either that or 2 cups of strong coffee. It makes me feel better mood wise, and I focus better. I love my "best part of waking up"!
My mother is 82 and has adhd. It has been interesting learning how to better understand her. She is mentally as active as a 20 year old so her adhd actually serves her very well.
@@adultingwithadhd9802 that's wonderful about your mom! Frustration that causes me anxiety is the only thing I really have to work on. I'm also hypermobile, and my team thinks Ehlers Danlos Syndromes and ADHD are connected sometimes. Any opinions?
coffee and l theanine probably saved my life yesterday. doctors won't take my adhd seriously and won't prescribe for it instead just focusing on depression. of course the antidepressants just make me feel more suicidal. read about dopamine and decided to increase my coffee and tea intake along with some l theanine and what a difference. went from a 10 on a suicide scale to a 5. after that i read more about dopamine and found out adhd meds would do the same thing. now i am really angry with how the doctors aren't taking my problems seriously and they clearly don't give a crap.
At the end of the day learning how to live with it .will beat any form of medicational threatment .trust me the side effects mostly make it worse.although having something when it does get too much never hurts but daily threatment for adhd yeah it aint great mate .
@@adultingwithadhd9802 I'm very happy to see that you saw that you made an impact for me. This was the first video I've seen of yours, but I've subscribed to your channel and plan to watch the rest of your videos to catch yet more of your insights and perspectives. I was born in the 1950's, so when I went to elementary and high school - they just told me I was stupid. It was in my 40's that I figured out that I was seriously Dyslexic and ADHD. I never knew what my Aptitude scores were in high school because it would be too humiliating to see in print how dumb I was. Yet - I went on from high school to be successful in my work life and went on to start my own business after that. In my late 50's, that was a reason that a doctor wanted me to take the aptitude test, but I told him I didn't want to know the score. A year later I went to a different doctor for a follow up, took the same test and told the doctor I didn't want to know the score. I was so stressed out taking the test I didn't even finish it and quit before my time was up. The doctor accidently sent me the written report and I saw the score. Since I'd seen it, I had to know how it rated me so I researched the IQ score. Average is 100. I was thinking mine might be 80. Keeping in mind I didn't even finish the test - you can't imagine my surprise in seeing my score was 132. But I wasn't celebrating that I was now considered "smart", I was ANGRY that I was labeled and thrown away and not considered as worthy of being part of the human race. The movie about Temple Grandin and the fact that she was autistic is a perfect example. She was born in the 1950's and the doctors told her mother to put her in an institution and she'd die soon. Her mother did not give up on her. She said "You're different, not less that". BECAUSE her brain is wired differently, she saw things differently. She went on to make some of the most brilliant discoveries in Large Animal Husbandry, had many discoveries that changed practices on a global scale and now lectures around the world! The world has benefited from Temple because her mother did not give up on her. I can see that many people won't give up on themselves and others because YOU make these videos to enlighten the world. And but the way - I still don't label myself as "smart", but I am glad that I know I've helped the world BECAUSE I'm "DIFFERENT".
Don’t drink coffee right after yall wake up, wait for 1-2 hours, that way you can reduce the feel of grogginess and irritability in the afternoon. That’s what my doctor (licensed psychiatrist) told me and it works better than chugging a triple espresso after waking up.
I was diagnosed with ADHD as a kid but only read a few months ago that caffeine and other stimulant substances can do the opposite to me. That makes so much sense, because i could drink some cafe at night and go to bed immediately after that, without issues. I often tried not to drink any caffeine later than afternoon if i have am important day tomorrow to get sleepy earlier, but obviously that didnt worked. Now i really want to test if caffeine can improve my sleep-in problems before important days.
In my case a lower dose of caffeine in the evening does help with sleep. I have to add tho that at this point in time I have only gotten a tentative diagnosis of ADHD so please take it with a grain of salt
Caffeine is a sedative. Sleeping pills contain caffeine, that's why you are supposed to go to bed immediately after taking them. If you power through the initial "down" phase, they do the exact opposite and keep you awake. So yeah, drinking a cup of coffee before bed can help (in general).
It's weird seeing how so many of us react so differently to caffeine. I've actually never had enough that it made me feel jittery or that it was simply too much. I have had over 600mg during a 9-10 hour drive before, and that was after I already had around 300mg in the morning. I do try to limit my regular intake to 3-4 cups of coffee a day. I don't want to be entirely dependent on it.
I do not know why some days a little affects me a lot and then other days a lot affects me only a little. This Adulting thing requires some thought from time to time 😂
I second this entire account. I was on ritalin as a kid, now I self-medicate with coffee as an adult. Energy drinks are different to coffee though, got other stuff in them.
@@thephoenixsystem6765 most of the other stuff is micronutrients, carbon dioxide, and sweetener. The main 'secondary active ingredient' in them is an metric asston of vitamin b12. Meanwhile, theres probably a lab breakdown of whats in that coffee bean somewhere, but you don't have access to it. Its just 'natural'... like... cyanide...
I have somewhat severe ADD, anxiety and mild Asperger's. What worked for me, and may or may not work for anyone else: One cup (not super-sized big cup, a regular cup) first thing in the morning 30 min before I have to cognitively handle anything. Then only one cup later in the day at 3pm, no more. Then I am OK and can operate until 10:30 PM, and sleep fine. If I do coffee (caffeine in any form) more than that during the day, my focus gets really messed up and I get the opposite effect than I am looking for. Adjust that 3pm coffee a bit up or back in time to match when you are planning on going to sleep if before or after 10:30pm. The thing about relying on a stimulate like coffee or anything else, is that if you forget to take it, you are in worse shape that morning or afternoon (withdrawals) than if you didn't do it all, so you can't miss the schedule. And GET SLEEP! I figured out I need 9 hours and wake naturally, before a clock would wake me up. I need the clock so I don't oversleep through work, but I go to bed (no phone) in complete darkness early enough that I wake naturally a bit before that alarm goes off. Then I have reached that part of the sleep cycle that works for waking up and functioning, otherwise I am a zombie cognitively and useless for hours. Very controlled amounts of coffee (don't creep up to a big gulp) and 9 hours of sleep with natural waking has changed my life completely. Avoiding all sugar in any form and getting some, any, exercise also made it even better after that. I wish I could have told my 20 year old self that.
It has literally zero effect on me, except if i consume large amounts before bed, because then i can't sleep. I will have the same energy level as normal, as if i have gotten a night of sleep, and i'll only start getting tired by the time i'm going to sleep the following day.
Yeah I always wondered why everyone was so obsessed with coffee and caffeine. The only way I get an effect is when I drink too much of it and I get really bad heart palpitations. I remember one time I was told to try a 5 hour energy to see if it wakes me up. I took a nap 30 minutes later 😂
My favorite interaction with caffeine as someone with ADHD is actually my 5th grade science fair. At 12 years old I chugged a redbull in the morning with a heart monitor on and there was no change in my bpm. Still took another 5 years to get diagnosed but it is what it is
So I've been diagnosed with ADHD recently. I could never understand how ppl stayed awake after drinking coffee, i always feel sleepy. But i just love coffee hence i only drink it in the morning when i have freshly woken up.
Just got diagnosed with ADHD at 48. I can't typically have more than one cup of coffee too quickly, like with brunch or breakfast. When I am working I take a Nespresso travel mug that holds approximately 4 cups. Slowly I will work on that one mug, it probably takes me about 5hrs or so to finish it. This will give me a slow and sustained affect. While coffee can be beneficial, at times I get more of a boost with orange pekoe tea(2 bags left in the same mug with hot water)... guessing it really depends on the individual? Other things I have had to use, and helps me personally, as I wake at 2:30am for work... is taking melatonin and limiting my light exposure at least an hour before I want to sleep. If I don't sleep, I will be overtired and often get wacky brain that won't let me sleep when I should for days. Fasting helps me as well because I am so prone to crashes in energy after meals, within 30 minutes my brain shuts off and needs a recharge. A lot of the energy issues are best with preemptive measures than reactive ones attempting stimulants. Good sleep, movement, fasting is incredible for ADHD people as it gets your body to hum as fast as your brain... especially on longer fasts of 72hrs or more. Anyway thanks for the channel, going to work my way through now.
I had a full on grief cycle happen when I got diagnosed. It helped to allow myself to feel the feelings that came along with that including and especially the shitty ones. Although no one is coming to save us, it is nice to have people with similar experiences to share what has worked and what hasn’t. We all express our adhd in different ways so it’s nice to hear other ways people are adapting.
@adultingwithadhd9802 I can relate to the immediate grief, all the feelings of possibility lost. It didn't take me long to realize that I really don't have a clue what I would have chosen to pursue, had I been able to dedicate myself enough to follow through. For me the fun is in learning, would I have been a more depressed person... only able to find success and then abandon it to attempt something new? It's not worth dwelling on what was lost, the best part of my diagnosis was learning I wasn't as broken as I thought... it isn't a character flaw. We aren't that old, not too old to move in a new direction, we can still navigate with more clarity due to our failures. If anything, going through life undiagnosed has allowed me the opportunity to know my strengths and weaknesses. You have learned something about yourself that explains the why to so many questions. Life is about the journey, experiences... nobody is perfect... we felt a little less perfect than most. Your grief is understandable, but try and remember that you are who you are... including how strong and resilient you are... because of your failures. I'm happy you had the journey you did, otherwise I wouldn't have been watching your video. Have a good one sir!
@claytononcars I got diagnosed late with inattentive adhd. Your experience as you describe it is identical to mine. I also have to wake up around 2-3 am. With melatonin, do you wake up in a bad mood if you take it the night before? Also, how much seems to work for you? FYI, I'm same age and about 240 lbs. Intermittent fasting works wonders for me. After that 3 day mark, I feel invincible. It's like a permanent "flow" state.
@75blackviking For me, melatonin is a bit of hit or miss. I don't wake up in a bad mood, but I sometimes do feel sleep inertia and am drowsy for a few hours after waking up. The only way I will take melatonin before a work day is if I have a least 7.5hrs before having to wake up. If I took melatonin to try and make me sleepy, it won't work. It typically just seems to be a benefit for keeping me asleep when I am already sleepy. One issue I have is I wake up a lot at night, melatonin added on seems to help me not wake up until closer to when I am supposed to. I've taken 10mg and have taken as much as 70mg and it doesn't seem to matter how much I take, it doesn't seem to increase the effectiveness. Some studies seem to point that we should be taking high doses of melatonin, and others say it is an issue to take often. I'm also around 240lbs. I used to be a garbage man, so the exercise seemed to keep my symptoms at bay (lifting 30 tons of garbage and running 20 KM will do that). My issues now are mostly joint and arthritis pain, so exercise isn't easy anymore. I struggle with being able to put in regular exercise as after a few consecutive days of exercise leaves me in so much pain that I can't continue and need arthritis meds. I've moved to a new job, now I can sleep much longer and am on a typical schedule (wake up at 630am on early days). My inflammation symptoms have definitely improved and am hoping to start an exercise routine as my body adjusts to the new schedule. The other thing I personally found helpful, is blue light blocking glasses. I ordered some 98% blocking glasses with full shielding and if I wear those 3-4hrs before bed, it helps a lot. Some people say they don't work, it might be in my head, whatever it is... they work for me. They do look hilarious so you won't be leaving the house in them. Good luck!
Fasting also puts you in ketosis and your blood sugar stays at a more even level. Have you tried eating a ketogenic diet to stay like that when you're not on a 72hr fast?
Does anyone else feel like they have to focus on one task and always be working on something, like obsessively working on a goal or they get very depressed. To avoid depression, working on a goal. I can't relax until i achieve that goal or at least start working on it. I was wondering if that's a adhd symptom. Sometimes I get hyper focused on things where I cant think about anything else but getting something done. Whether it's cleaning or buying something etc. It's usually one thing at a time. It helps me not procrastinate on certain things but causes me a lot of anxiety.
I am still figuring out what works for me. Lifelong process I suppose😊 I do find that focusing on one project at a time works better for me and also experience the anxiety associated when the project stalls!
I am sorry to hear you are struggling. We neurodivergents are pretty sensitive to things when society is weird and is it ever weird now! When I am struggling badly I make sure I focus on myself and not try to make everyone happy. I used to be a people pleaser but that only served to make me miserable. Not sure if this is the case for you but I hope whatever you have going on you get through and feel better. Hang in there. 😊
I have ADHD, and I love caffeine so much, especially being a high school student, but I know when I’ve taken too much because all of my symptoms of ADHD get kicked into hyperdrive and I go crazy, then crash so hard I pass out. It’s a fine line.
LOL. 3-4 cups? That's me before bedtime. 😂 Morning is 6-8. Then again, when I got started on stimulants the lowest (standard starting) dose caused me to sleep for 8 hours straight...Some brains are more neurodivergent than others, I guess... That's for the video! I always appreciate when someone takes the time to share useful information, I know how much effort goes into making these videos. Now I am wondering if the type of beans and brewing process affect the amount of caffeine in the coffee. Nerd rabbit hole, here I come!
How do you even drink that much liquid? 6-8 cups is like 2 liters unless they're some odd american cups. When i drink coffee i dont feel anything so i rather just take caffeine tablest or drink a half litre energy drink thay has 160mg of caffeine and i get a boost for a few hours.
I’m 42 and was just diagnosed with ADHD last week. I think I’m procrastination tired, always! I HAVE to have caffeine. I always have 2 cups of coffee, but I mostly drink energy drinks. I love this video. Def subbing. Thank you!!
Thank you so much. I'm currently working on my ADHD paralasis and my constant tiredness. This has helped. Liked, Subscribed and all those wonderful things
I detected my ADHD later in life too. But my son is a severe case. We have him on low dose Aderall but when he forgets to take it at a certain time he drinks a cup of coffee and he is chill and can focus. It’s funny when we have ordered coffee at a restaurant and I slide it over to my 10 year old. I sip coffee all day long and am very productive. If I miss it then I get a lost feeling. If I drink it too fast I have had the reverse effect too. Somehow I naturally gravitated to coffee. I didn’t realize I had ADHD until I was concerned about my own child. So now I’m doing my best to be a good father to him and raise him proper.
I'm on a journey of discovering (in my 40s) ADHD is the answer to ME. Your is just another topic I have been up & down about my whole life and yet ANOTHER "match" to how I function. Wow, man. Thank you. 💜
51 and just diagnosed this year. Not on meds yet for reasons, but plan to early next year. In the meantime I had gotten the advice a few months ago from my psychiatric nurse practitioner to limit my caffeine intake due to my anxiety. I took her advice to the max and quit completely. Since then I've had a ton of problems focusing at work. I was just talking to my therapist yesterday about this (who also has ADHD), and she agrees with me that it might have been a bad idea to quit altogether, so now I'm back on a moderate amount per day. The more you know...
In my experience wether i get hyper or not is completely random. Sometimes coffee does nothing while other times it makes me go ABSOLUTELY CRAZY AND INSANE AND ULTRA HYPER!!!
I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and my doctor told me nothing about it and only prescribed Ritalin. I had no idea that having ADHD could make me tired because being tired had been one of my biggest problems and medical complaints for years. This was helpful. Thanks!
I don't know if i have adhd or not, but I have schizophrenia and take (also gladly only a low dosis) antipsychotics, that work against the dopamine system... I finally understood now, why i feel so much better and more functional drinking lots of yerba mate tea during the day... like without it i feel very lethargic, sleepy and in fact most of the time sleep all day... but the caffeine doesn't make me psychotic or so... i worried i would have a caffeine addiction, but now i feel like i just selfmedicate and it's ok :3 thank you for this video!
I have late diagnosed inattentive ADHD and 2 cups of instant coffee per day (1 spoon per cup) unsweetened & 50/50 with milk help me feel normal…if I have it in the evening I get an instant rush of productivity. If I have more than 2 cups I start getting the jitters. But it’s amazing how a simple cup of coffee helps me feel INSTANTLY better. Can’t imagine what ADHD meds do if coffee makes me feel this way.
I made the mistake of asking to have my adhd treated and the psychiatrist took that as drug seeking behavior and diagnosed me with depression and i spent 2 week on dizzy spellbutrin, getting headaches. I stopped seeing that psychiatrist and now have to wait a month before the soonest in person psychiatrist appointment that i could get and I'm telling myself I've come too far in life and finally gotten a legitimate over the table job at 42 after periods of joblessness and homelessness and I just have to keep going until I can get a diagnosis and stop treating my adhd with coffee that my pediatrician recommended my mom give me since I was 7 years old. Thanks for sharing your insights.
The biases society has regarding the behavior of those of us with ADHD, especially the medical community, are rather unhelpful and misjudging. It takes so long for us to figure out what works for us! Keep the effort going and you will find more things that bring a sense of regulation!
Wishing you the best - hang in there! eventually it will come together - you will always feel "a little different," but you will also surprise yourself by what you can actually do - like, eventually, hold down a job you even like.
Caffeine does to me what most people think alcohol does for them. As someone with adhd that works in customer service, the 2 sometimes 3 monsters I chug in a day help me talk to people more confidently. However I have been feeling depersonalized , dissociated, anxious nauseated and clammy if I have too much caffeine and not much to do to expel that energy. It also makes eating actual food harder
I’m not formally diagnosed, currently active military, but I’ve noticed my heavy dependency on Caffeine and my rollercoaster relationship with motivation and focus throughout my life.
I have dylesxia and adhd and I always thought the main reason why i struggle reading so much is dyslexia, but when I tried some caffeine and suddely I was able to read so much better turns out my busy hyper active brain would try to speed read without being able to speed read but then again reading slower was extremly hard because it gives so little dopamine. Unfortunatly caffeine does also give me a big headache but I can read! (I only had 80 mg but it had a big effect)
I've noticed this too. If I try read without a coffee I essentially look at the first letter and the general shape of the word and infer what it is. Sometimes it works great but often I take longer to read because I have to keep doubling back to check words when my brain filled in the blank with something nonsensical. Coffee lets me actually read words as letters rather than shapes :')
When I was little, drinking coffee would make me feel sleepy. That changed as I get older. I used to drink a cup of Americano in the morning daily; now I rarely drink coffee. After watching your video, I discovering something about my ADHD and coffee. Normally, I feel sluggish and unmotivated daily, and negative inner talks/memories would pop-up in my mind randomly throughout the day (I struggle to snap out of these thoughts). However, this morning I had 2 shots of espresso earlier this morning, I notice I don’t have the negative talks/memories in my mind even if I try to start it. It’s like with caffeine - even if I open the gate for the negative inner talks/memories to come through, nothing would 😄. My mind is quiet, I’m hyper focus, and I’m motivated. I’m super happy to have made this realization all thanks to your video.
Caffeine makes me more productive and less groggy, however if I take too much, I get heart palpatations and it increases anxiety. I had an anxiety disorder as well, so it doesn't mix too well but I feel the benefits outweigh the negatives.
As you say everyone is different, and with ADHD we all have the basic symptoms but as with medication caffeine tends to work different in all/some of us, not only because of our disorder but because we might have different comorbid conditions or simply different bodies. For me something pretty weird happens with caffeine, If I drink even 1 cup of coffee my heart starts beating like crazy, and that has happened since I was a teen and had not even being diagnosed yet, nor knew anything about caffeine, so I don't think it's a somatic reaction, BUT if I drink a couple of colas or even 1 energy drink, which is supposed to have more mg of caffeine than an average cup of coffee, I feel better or much better in terms of my constant restlessness and and in general I feel more "awake" and attentive but calm and relaxed. I have never understood why caffeine from one source can make my heart go crazy and from another in similar or more amounts it does the opposite. I've asked this to several doctors but have found no answer. Does anyone reading this experience something similar? I can understand a possibility of feeling better being psycological (though I doubt its a placebo thing) but can't understand why my heart does not react the same, since it's something that happens to me since "EVER" , and as a kid I knew nothing about caffeine being able to raise heart beats rate or even what was caffeine, for that matter.
I have this exact same experience with caffeine as someone with ADHD and bipolar 2. I can't drink coffee because it makes my heart pound and I feel so panicky, but other forms of caffeine like caffeine pills or tea are fine. My theory is that fat may cause the caffeine to absorb differently, if you're putting milk or creamer in your coffee. I know that for cannabis, fat helps the cannabinoids absorb better so I'm super sensitive to edibles and can't take them, but just smoking it is fine. So maybe caffeine is similar in that way. Or, it could be that there are other conditions comordbid with the ADHD (like bipolar in my case) that cause reactions with certain forms of caffeine. It's interesting and I'd like to hear some input from others!
I have similar experiences. Energy drinks, regular pop, it's just fine, I can even have some before bed and not mind. Coffee and my guts are in distress then at the end of the day my sleep is poor.
Evolved to depend on caffeine, and had no suspicion I had adhd. Then diagnosed at 46... it's a shock learning this, but the dopamine hunt explains soo much. I still love caffeine it doesn't interfere with my meds - actually a coffee at 4pm makes the evening smoother. ❤
I started drinking monsters when I worked overnight years ago. I couldn’t stop energy drinks years later because of how I could focus on them. They never made me speed or bounce but if anything helped stabilize me. I hated the way it effected my health and sleep though. I finally got prescribed adhd medication and never drink monsters or Red Bulls anymore. Sleeping so much better. I do sometimes enjoy a small coffee or matcha to reminisce but too much makes me anxious now that my tolerance is low
I've been drinking coffee since I was five years old. Still do, but I don't think it's good for you. Tea is much better for caffeine intake. Coffee also contains high levels of acrylamide, especially when over roasted.
I have ADHD with anxiety (I finally accepted it bc I always thought it was made up just to label people with mental issues). I drink bang energy 300mg caffeine in the mornings and then more caffeine when I go to the gym in the evenings. I’m starting to think it causes me to be more irritable, brain fog, and a loss of focus. Sometimes it’s a complicated for me to organize my thoughts before speaking which causes me to stumble over my words or completely shut down (usually happens once I stumble - could be the anxiety or embarrassment). I have an important job that requires public speaking, I'm trying to identity the underlying problem to get better. I can literally listen to someone talk but not process what was just said to me. Any tips for that?
In ny mid 30s I've grown to love my ADHD. I've found ways to utilize its disadvantages to my advantage. I absolutely love coffee. I drink 1-3 cups, it helps me chill, sometimes it actually makes me sleepy. Which I always appreciated.
I have ASD as well as ADHD, and for some reason, I loves the process of making coffee for my dad every morning, but I did not like just how strong it was. Essentially due to that experience, I love to make coffee, but not for myself, since I am adverse to the strong taste. Additionally, taking a small sip from a Reign energy drink caused me to shake immediately, but having caffeine from pop actually relaxes me some. And just because it relaxes me, does NOT mean it improves my focus. In fact, it does the opposite: it gets my body in the "Oh cool, time to chill out" mood [which really doesn't help at school], but can be utilized to clam me down a bit before I meltdown. My exception for drinking something with coffee in it is for when I've had a rough morning or am going to a doctor's appointment. Even so, the drink while only have a pinch of caffeine since I'm more of a chocolate person. Now my friend, on the other hand, is now banned from drinking coffee during a school day because they were bouncing of the walls 10x more than usual. And that was horrific
Thank you for that info. I started to search because I thought that the coffee I take when I wake up was somehow conflicting with my medication, making me anxious, irritable, and stuck. I am pretty much addicted to coffee and I have to cut back a little. For those out there who are like me, I think it works best if I wait at least one hour after the medication kicks in to get my first coffee. Being Brazillian, that's a real challenge! Be safe and stay focused!!!
This is great to have affirmed for me, because I notice that when I have my times of excellent focus and motivation, it's when I'm having coffee throughout the day. Without some coffee, my thoughts often feel random and uncontrollable. Where I live, the health care system is practically crippled and trying to get a diagnosis is exceptionally hard, especially for neurodivergent people, so finding easy methods like this help a lot. It's not that I didn't know coffee helped before, but now I know how it's helping me. Great vid.
I’ve found that when I’m feeling really low, and my anxiety is getting to be a lot and it’s hard for me to even cope, it gives me a great boost and gets me out of bed. But when I’m feeling good and not in a slump, it doesn’t work at all.
I used to drink a lot of coffee. Until I realised it became an addiction. I noticed that I can drink maximum 3 grande americanos per day to feel its benefits - concentration and calm. If I drink 4-5 cups I become sleepy and disordered. If I drink more than 5 cups I feel anxious and can have panic attacks. Pro tip: medication+cup of coffee is great for work
i am 57 and got my diagnosed only a week ago so i am still taking it in trying to get some puzzle pieces to connect . so coffee is def one of them . tnx ill be following your channel with an open mind and to much caffeine ;)
Caffeine & L-theanine supplement ( 1 to 2 ratio ) is the bee’s knee’s. It could possibly help you avoid the pharma drugs. I was listening intently, whilst fixated on the pictures in the background. Kind of multitasking without realising😂.
I do the same thing when watching videos. I'm "paying attention" but also trying to figure out where any nature photo was taken😂. Thank you for the recommendation for the supplement!
I’m inattentive and I quit caffeine for a year I almost lost my job, I was tired all of the time. I started drinking caffeine and my life improved drastically. It’s crazy.
I've been a caffeine freak basically all my life, long before I knew I have ADHD. When I was young it was pop, mainly coke, and as I came into adulthood it became a coffee addiction. Actually I remember one summer in high school my buddy and I would get 2 big energy drinks each every day for a few weeks straight and those were mostly really chill days just shooting the breeze or playing some video games. No crazy high energy but I spaced out a lot less during our conversations with extra caffeine. Early in my adult education I had fallen behind on some homework and decided to catch up all in one saturday when I worked through 5 entire pots of coffee through the day to keep me on task. It worked. And it sucked a swamp through a straw after it was over. Now I just try to keep it under a pot a day, usually a half pot. Still trying to nail down my exact medication needs and I still need plenty of coffee to pick up the slack, but it's mostly better now.
I extensively use caffeine and other stimulants to help support my ADHD which gives me superpowers as a data analyst. Being able to harness my hyper focus into work projects is so rewarding and I have caffeine to thank for it. That said I laughed really hard whenever you said 400 mg... I need anywhere from 600 to 1200 mg of caffeine a day.
I have ADHD! I'm a 2 coffee's a day kind of guy. However, with all these replies of various opinions which i've enjoyed reading. I think looking back the best work i ever did was when having 2-3 green tea's per day. I always felt quite balanced between relaxed and focused. It has a much smaller amount of caffeine obviously. Plus... better for our guts and immune system. Hope this helps 1+ person 👍
This makes a lot of sense. I've always loved my morning coffee, partially 'cause I'm used to it and so I feel like I need it to start my day right, and partially because I genuinely enjoy a quality, fresh-ground cup. However, I've noticed that more often than not, afternoon coffee - _especially_ in any significant quantity - makes me feel way worse and ruins my focus. I've hit a point where I rarely have any more after the morning, and when I do it's usually just one cup. I also generally avoid drinks with added caffeine because I've just learned that it usually doesn't help. I also feel like it doesn't give me "energy", it's more of an evening out type of effect, and too much just makes me jittery and very uncomfortable but still tired.
My usual morning routine is - I take my adhd meds (30mg Ritalin) wait 30 minutes, drink a cup of coffee, and oh boy, that is a great way to kickstart the day! xD
Only way I could focus and relax for a bit before I got diagnosed with Adhd inattentive, all though did not always work, and messed up my stomach with how much coffee I was drinking on a daily bases, meds are a savior when used right
I seem to be discovering mid 30s that I’m adhd. I mean, I always kind of figured, but now seeing how it really impacts me. I had given up coffee, making a bunch of changes to my lifestyle and then I started having a meltdown, panic attacks daily that would go on throughout the day etc… could not focus or bring myself to the present. But I used to get jittery from drinking 4-6 cups of coffee a day… Now seeing I need the sweet spot, cuz I just feel off, like a zombie, not in touch when I wake up and throughout the day unless I get a workout in or something to get some dopamine pumping… Anyways, after watching this I’m realizing my giving up coffee is what set me off. So I just went and got one and after just a few sips I feel more myself 😂
Good advice. I've basically been doing this for 50 years now, and it works... to a point. Some days... nothing is going to function and damage control or just reminding myself that tomorrow could be better is all there is. addendum, I started on coffee at the age of ten in 1973 as an alternative to the standard of the time for 'hyperactivity' as it was called at the time.
I was diagnosed with ADD when I was 8. I was given Ritalin and I hated it. So when I got to high school I stoped taking it. I am 40, I drink a pint of coffee an hour after I wake up. I get stuff done. I learned that if I want to replay get ahead I have to harness that laser focus. I can get a weeks worth of homework done in 3 hours. And I do. I am getting my As of science and taking a whack at a radiography program. I have an IQ of 130, and ADHD. Let’s goooooooo!
I have weird memories of my parents bringing in "tutors ". My iq is in the 140s. Who cares. How has that helped. Yes I can count cards. I don't feel good about "cheating" Vegas. Wish I did I not have "morals". I'm no fun to play games with bc I always win 🥴
For me it has little effect, ADHD will always be the same level, but I like to have a nice hot drink to start my morning with. I also like the ritual of making it.
My husband used to find it bizarre that i could drink brewed coffee at any time if the day and then have one of the best naps ever. I was diagnosed with combined earlier this year. On dexamphetamin now. Still loving my coffee naps 😴❤
Oh man I joked for a bit on how caffeine single handedly made me neurotypical but listening to this... When I started drinking coffee regularly i found that overall i found more things interesting for longer amounts of time, had more wholesome emotions and thus dealt with people better, and had will enough to do one thing after the other i'm thinking of how, before i'd wonder how people found things interesting, have the will to do unbearably mundane tasks, or even that they had a "low bar" for enjoying other people's company. but on caffeine i'm suddenly able to do all these things ..
I do 2-3 cups in the morning. Try to stay to 2. Then I switch to green tea as necessary in the afternoon. I like green tea because it's more soothing, easier on the stomach and has a touch of caffeine too. Great video, thank you.
I probably have a mild version of ADHD, but my mind just goes at 1000 MPH or I'm pretty much brain dead. I learned, that drinking 1-2 cups of Coffee a day and taking 250mg of L-theanine with each cup, helps to make my mind more calm and focused. I used to spin out mentally from my 2nd coffee after lunch. With L-theanine I can think clearly and get things done. Can highly recommend it as a supplement, since its fairly cheap and at least for me has no side effects.
Thank you for sharing your experience! We are all so different that it is great to learn what works for other people. It can be overwhelming to try to find out where to start so comments like this are very helpful!
I have about 8 cups of coffee before I go to work, another 2 to 4 cups before my workday is done, 1 to 4 cups or 2 to 4 espresso at home and I operate absolutely fantastic, more than likely my focus on anything including sleep, is heightened by caffeine.
caffein is the only way i can do anything with adhd. i push myself into manic mode if possible. but if that dont work i at least feel like my brain is functioning fully 🤣 its like im in a fog till i drink it.
I have not been diagnosed yet, but I too have problems focusing on what people are telling me. Or if they ask me a question in social situations, the word just leave my brain. It is actually blank. Sometime I cant grasp a word and will have to describe it then someone will say what I’m trying to say. The upside is that I’m better than average playing catch fraise. When I’m feeling this way and being dangerous on the road I will get some coffee. It seems to help
I was diagnosed very late (53), and i always knew something was wrong, but never got around to getting a diagnosis. I'm a software engineer, and in a typical day I have 15 cups of strong coffee. I've been doing this for about 30 years with no I'll effects. I find out that i was actually 'self medicating' without even knowing it.
Psilocybin saved my life. I was addicted to heroin for 15 years and after Psilocybin treatment I will be 3 years clean in September. I have zero cravings. This is something that truly needs to be more broadly used in addiction treatment.
Thank you for sharing! psilocybin has proven VERY effective to treat PTSD symptoms of which many of us with ADHD have in droves. Ketamine has also proven to be very effective as well. Finding the right provider to receive these treatments from is vital. There are so many bad ones out there and misapplication of these tools can really make things worse. Proper application can be life changing in the best way. Watch for a video on this next month!
a few times when I drank coffee as a young teenager (13-15 y.o.) I noticed that coffee never made me energetic, on the contrary it always made sleepy. so overall I skipped drinking it at all. last year, due to war and moving to another country and being under the stress from my previous work, I actually started stress drinking coffee. at the time I also took a sedative pill and did not realized until later why have I started to feel so I’ll on the physical level, like it was giving me so much anxiety and me stupid forgot that cannot mix coffee and sedatives together. okay, if I’m drinking sedatives I def need to stop with coffee for now, health is more important. what happened like around two months later: i was sick and took a pill with paracetamol+caffeine to ease the symptoms of the cold and went to work. and as already I have been dealing with anxiety attacks for quite so time, I knew what anxiety attacks are like, especially how they manifest themselves physically. and I started having the physical symptoms of anxiety attack which made me wonder what was wrong, like was I that anxious to the point of turning it into attack? i was anxious for sure, but not that much? and I did not drank any coffee or anything. and then it hit me, there was a caffeine in the pill. and what I noticed later, that the same thing happened when I ate tiramisu. so yeah, long story short, as a teenager caffeine made me sleepy, and now as an adult being diagnosed with adhd only for a year, caffeine gives me the physical symptoms of an anxiety attack. so I skip any pills or food with caffeine in it, as well as caffeinated drinks and drink only decaf options if I really crave for the taste of coffee
Thank you for sharing your experience! Learning anxiety attack triggers and avoiding them seems "easy" but it is NOT. I am glad you are aware of how it affects you!
still trying to find my new normal. Been diagnoses ADHD and medicated about 2 years now, but Glechoma diagnosis for 1 year. I brought my eye pressure down to a tolerable level by stopping caffeine intake (save for once in a blue moon).... but I lost the focus the pairing of ADHD and caffeine provided.
Omg this video makes so much sense, adhd spin out days! Can you do a video on that? How do you manage these??? Binge eating rambling endlessly with speech on off medications, i am disciplined though got a good mind but i can not stop coffee gave up everything else
There are two types of this disorder: hyperactive and inattentive. I have the inattentive type and I feel “normal”when I have some caffeine. 💗
I don't really have hyperactivity neither innatentive, I just lack dopamine and make me no wanna leave bed, but I only do things I like so maybe I'm innatentive when I do thing I dislike, is more like that thing doesn't give me dopamine, I'm not gonna give that attention at all (my brain)
I have combined and caffeine is my lifesaver
me too
This is old news and not true. ADHD meaning "attention defficit hyperactive disorder" is a bad descriptor.
There is no ADD and ADHD it's the same too.
If caffeine makes you feel normal maybe you're addicted
I have ADHD, and I had a bunch of friends with it.
What most doctors don't talk about is the fact that caffeine works as a sedative to most of us.
It's doesn't make us concentrate better, it makes us relax.
I can drink 2 tablespoons of coffee in a cup, and then do it again, and be completely calm, with almost no heart increase.
ADHD is tricky. Where sedatives can work as stimulants instead. Like alcohol has upper properties for me, not that I drink often.
I know coffee well, and it's the only thing that can relax the mind out of any more or less natural substance.
I am glad you have found what works for you! Takes a fair amount of trial and error to get there.
@@adultingwithadhd9802 yeah, ADHD is tricky. Because it usually triggers something else in people like manic behavior or depression.
Brain chemistry is fascinating.
Yes, you are right. Often I will get up between 8 and 9 in the morning, take my 5mg Dex and drink a strong percolated coffee. I then do the retiree thing, sit in a comfortable chair, get all warm and nice and get two more hours of solid deep sleep. Wake up and feel great.
Caffeine relax my ADHD brain too. It's like warm safety blanket that help me cope with world around me. Especially in the morning when you need more dopamine in your brain.
Exactly.
I have severe ADHD and can not drink caffeine at all as it makes me feel so ill, shaky and crazy and sends me into panic attacks.
Sounds like a hard pass then! Glad you recognize what works and what is not helpful!
@@adultingwithadhd9802 thank you ❤️
i can have a couple sodas but yeah im the same way
I become relaxed and shaky
In my case wether I go crazy or not is completely random XD
I was also late diagnosed and am still in that part of the timeline when I hear someone say “ADHD is wonderful” and genuinely wonder what planet they’re on.
That part of the timeline seems to make return visits. They are less often for me now. Feels like the "wonderful" part comes at the expense of the not wonderful part.
I was also slightly late, I’m not saying it’s wonderful, but there isn’t much to do about it, so just accept, run with it, and just be proud of it ig
im 50 ive had adhd my entire life. adhd is a SUPER POWER with some real downsides,
@@jjg1501 this is true lol
What is a single benefit of adhd?
I haven’t been diagnosed with ADHD to be honest I thought it was just for hyperactive kids, but I’ve been reading up on it and at 44 the more I read the more it explains my life, and why it takes me hours to go from the thought that now would be a good time to put the washing on, to actually doing it, while my brain screams at me that it’s easy and yet I just can’t seem to make my body move. It also explains why I can’t even get started in the day without caffeine and why I can still down a red bull right before bed and still curl up and fall asleep.
get diagnosed by a doctor, get meds, its much better for your heart and bloodvessels.
It took me until age 49 to observe and accept the obvious reality that I have had adhd since childhood. Glad I am aware and accepting of it now. It's my best feature now that it is understood 😊
I was diagnosed at 42. It was an epiphany. I highly recommend you continue exploring it. I don’t use meds but just knowing it’s a dopamine deficiency and that other people understand the daily struggle has been so very valuable to me.
they dont want to prescribe me any functional meds since i was 16 :( @@The_Qcumber
these ADHD videos are getting suspiciously relatable..
I just assumed that everyone had these.
my worst ADHD symptom that causes me the most problems is not being able to "Receive" what is being said to me. It's as if someone is speaking another language, even though I can hear that it's English. And also, not being able to form a sentence in my mind and speak it. Basically, any sort of connecting with another person. It makes it completely awkward and embarrassing for me, so I avoid being in social situations, which leads to loneliness, and the loneliness leads to depression, and the depression further destroys my brain.
Many people with ADHD also have PTSD and what you are describing sounds like a combination case to me. Only a qualified therapist can make this diagnosis and I hope you have access to qualified professionals.
The scenario you described is common for people who have both and the good news is you do not have to feel like this forever.
I am recording a series of videos on this topic now and they should be uploaded over the next month or so.
Hang in there my friend 🙂
@@loviebeest Whats the discord?
You described exact problems. I also have auditory processing and speech issues and it makes jobs really difficult. I can never form the right words for a sentence and I say the wrong thing. I also struggle really bad with lectures and verbal directions
this could be audio processing disorder
I call it “the latency.” That’ll happen to me but, 2 days later, I will be able to recall the entire encounter word for word. However, in the moment, when I needed to actually listen and respond, it’s kinda the same level of lucidity as the lyrics you hear to music in your head; the lyrics are perfectly clear until you realize, you haven’t actually remembered the lyrics.
I have adhd and I only recently started drinking coffee. I am suuuper sensitive to it, so I just drink half a cup throughout the day and it works better than any meds I took
Coffee is just so good tho 😋
I have an ultra high sensitivity to it as well. Do you drink it black? If not, what do you put in it?
Just wait, you'll build up a tolerence to it. I started at 1 cup in highschool and post college i now do 4 shots of espresso daily to reach the same effect. Nearly a decade elapsed for that much tolerence though.
I'm also sensitive; typically I do mostly decaf with a little caffeine (maybe 1/4 caf) so that I can still drink satisfying quantities of coffee without getting jittery or anxious.
you may just need to lower the dose. Try drinking half the amounf of coffee you usually would, slowly over a longer course of time. ex: half a cup over the course of 1-2 hours instead of a whole cup in 10 minutes
It’s so odd how recommendations about how to deal with your ADHD, often revolve around using coordination, organization, recognition things that we struggle with. It’s kind of like curing depression with just being happy.
Like if I could coordinate and be organized I wouldn’t have this lmao
No, it's like treating depression with cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a legitimately useful approach.
You can do that stuff. I’ve had ADHD my whole life. Being organized gives you structure and it’s hard to do but it works.
well to be fair i don't expect most people to understand most of the BS i go through. I just nod and smile and change the subject
@@0987__ yes, you can be organized as someone with ADHD, the problem isn't 'being' organized, its becoming organize. I have certainly had times in my life where my disorganization was less of a problem, but thats about as durable as a paper cup in a hurricane. It takes very little for most people with ADHD to 'lose the plot' and find their former organization a squallor
I recently discovered something… discipline does not really exist… resolve does and it’s actually an emotion… that those of us with ADHD need badly to keep us on task… so I have been sleeping more and every morning after taking my kids to school I get some caffeine and focus alone in my car telling myself that resolve is a feeling I can pull out from deep inside… what has happened every time I do this is images of my life goals and the people I care about start popping into my head… then at that hot moment when the caffeine is now in my bloodstream I connect my dreams with all the things I have put off and tell myself “finishing my accounting is directly related to my dreams all of the little things I never finish are apart of this dream” so what seems to happen is thanks to the caffeine and the emotion I can now get 3 very strong hours of work done so long as I don’t look at my phone… this has changed my life
This is so amazing! Thank you for sharing! This is what I am hoping to accomplish with this channel. Hearing what works for other people in a forum that isn't doctors, therapists or any other "authority figure." Maybe something that someone else is doing might work for someone else. Maybe not. But having access to ideas of things to try might be beneficial.
That's the Ayurvedic take, I believe. Healthy Gamer GG, who is a Harvard-educated MD and a former monk trainee, had a video on that here on RUclips
Thank you for this advise. I’ve been struggling of having a routine or keeping a routine. It helps that you describe how to create this feeling of being resolved (something I was struggling to practice/getting to that feeling).
Thank you for sharing, kind stranger.
TIL a lot about myself.
In my own struggle to put the reins on procrastination in order to focus on an overwhelming project, resolve is exactly the emotion we need. I used to beat myself up for not having discipline, feeling less for "not having it." The more I've grown up, I think resolve is the tipping point we need to become the adults we know we can be in service to the dreams, goals, and people we have and care for in our lives.
Coffee helps me without a doubt. But my brother with ADHD gets anxiety and heart palpitations. It really does depend on the individual.
It really does vary from person to person! That’s one reason I love hearing comments because if something is working for someone else that I haven’t tried yet, I like to try that thing. There’s no one size fits all solution to any of this but the process of trying to learn is actually something that has become fun for me.
What helped me with anxiety and caffeine is a 0,5 - 1 Gram of L-Theanine with my caffeine consumption
@@laleloliwere you having low dopamine/motivation levels before taking caffiene and l-theanine?
What about tiredness?
@@wavesofrelaxation7926 Well my dopamine and motivation levels got a lot better because of caffeine and L-Tyrosine, but what I sometimes noticed was a heightened state of anxiousness and L-Theanine helped a lot with that.
L Tyrosine is the precursor to L-Dopa and L-Dopa is the precursor to dopamine, and gives the body more "building blocks" for dopamine and caffeine increases dopamine production, so it's a nice synergistic effect. But theanine doesn't increase dopamine, it just helps you to get in a calm state, and a focussed, energized and calm state is the best state to be productive
I get the caffeine crash instead of the neurotypical "can't wake up without caffeine" effect. The only thing that seems to negate any tiredness is finding something to hyperfixate on
Thank for your commenting! It is interesting how many people have this experience with caffeine!
Same!
Thank you
My mom wanted me to study for school giving me a sugary Gatorade and a Mountain Dew and I fell asleep in minutes
Turns out I was asleep for 5 hours
Hyper fixation is both a super power and a really bad thing. I have been fixated on something for many hours and felt that only maybe 30 mins or an hour has past. Having felt fine a second ago, all of a sudden my eyes are grainy and drooping and my body is screaming at me for food because I haven't eaten all day.
I have ADHD and caffeine has no effect on me to my knowledge, I can drink it before bed and have no problem sleeping.
You have to stop drinking coffee for two weeks after that, you will feel like you are drinking it for the first time
@@Ghala676 I have definitely taken 2 week breaks and I don't feel any difference
You may be able to fall asleep easily whilst having caffeine still in your system, however it can actually impact the quality of your sleep without you even knowing.
Definitely worth watching Matthew Walker's video on caffeine (he is a sleep scientist that wrote the popular book "why we sleep"). It's very interesting.
@@archelon64 thanks for the feedback, I'll check it out
I have this same thing happen for me lol I actually get terrible sleep if I don't drink my one cup of black coffee. I wake up more, I fidget more, I have a more difficult time falling asleep and I can't fall asleep as easily (I'm talking 5m to fall asleep w/ caffeine vs 1hr or more to fall asleep without it). I have one very small cup at night tho instead of my huge cup I usually have in the morning to 'mellow out' lol
I have ADHD and every time I drink coffee I want to lay down and sleep. It calm me down and make me focus.
This would be my ideal reaction to coffee for myself if I got to choose😊
Same it helps me sleep
I can have coffee and go to sleep too 😂
@@mybabychihuahua Same
Same. I'm hyper and jittery before my coffee.
Thanks for the video! I am coming to terms with my ADHD condition and how it affects me. My friend mentioned how he read that caffeine affects people with ADHD and I stumbled upon this video at random. I have always felt like sedatives and stimulants were reversed in their effect on me. After too much coffee i will literally have to lay down to sleep and when i drink large amounts of alcohol i stay up all night. It is cool to see so many people going through the same thing. I always thought I was weird.
I am glad you found this worthwhile. My main objective for the channel to show people they are not alone. 😊
I’m here because I’ve noticed a pattern of many people who I know are diagnosed with ADHD, having caffeine addictions. Great video!
I was diagnosed when I was a kid with ADHD and put on medication. At the time, there was only one choice of medicine and after I started exhibiting some negative side effects, my parents had me taken off of it. The doctor said to make sure I get plenty of caffeine to keep my ADHD under control. To this day, I still use caffeine to help keep me calm and focused. Caffeine actually makes me feel sleepy and relaxed. Sometimes I'll go an entire day and a half without caffeine and I'm bouncing off the walls and talk 90 miles per hour. The first thing my husband asks me is when was the last time I had caffeine. After I have some, I'm calm again.
what negative side-effects? Just curious as a person who only has one (less appetite)
I honestly wish this was my response to caffeine. There is not much by way of supplements or meds that slow me down. I have to exercise pretty intensely every day in order to be able to wind down and sleep
@@adultingwithadhd9802it's so interesting that, like water falling differently every time, we can share these diagnoses and still have such wildly different reactions. I love organic evolution and epigenetics. You could have one person cloned and they'd all have different pathways leading to different presentations.
@@The_Qcumberfor me ridalen made me aggressive when I didn't want to be. If others were not posting attention I would be angry. I asked to be on something else.
@@adultingwithadhd9802though I don't like to think of medicine as being the only solution out there, I was prescribed with agomelatine and it helps me fall asleep. Thus, my circadian rhythm is more balanced and therefore my overall well-being is better.
Diagnosed young. For several reasons I stopped taking meds at 18, mostly because they were causing huge social anxiety. I struggled with my ADHD in my 20s without meds but learned to live with it. Now I medicate with coffee, one first thing in the morning and one for the afternoon slump. Really helps when meds aren't an option.
Thank you for commenting! Everyone has such a different experience with ADHD it is helpful to see what works for other people.
I don't read much about seniors (especially women) with ADHD. Well here I am...
Over the years I've been called aunt Kaffeine by my nieces and nephews. I would have a Rock Star beverage almost every day. Either that or 2 cups of strong coffee. It makes me feel better mood wise, and I focus better. I love my "best part of waking up"!
My mother is 82 and has adhd. It has been interesting learning how to better understand her. She is mentally as active as a 20 year old so her adhd actually serves her very well.
@@adultingwithadhd9802 that's wonderful about your mom! Frustration that causes me anxiety is the only thing I really have to work on. I'm also hypermobile, and my team thinks Ehlers Danlos Syndromes and ADHD are connected sometimes. Any opinions?
Yes. EDS and ADHD are often comorbid. Loads of people sharing info on disability Twitter.
Diagnosed at 23 with ASD and 42 with combined ADHD and I am a woman
coffee and l theanine probably saved my life yesterday. doctors won't take my adhd seriously and won't prescribe for it instead just focusing on depression. of course the antidepressants just make me feel more suicidal. read about dopamine and decided to increase my coffee and tea intake along with some l theanine and what a difference. went from a 10 on a suicide scale to a 5. after that i read more about dopamine and found out adhd meds would do the same thing. now i am really angry with how the doctors aren't taking my problems seriously and they clearly don't give a crap.
Most doctors do not understand ADHD at all. I am glad you found somebody that helps you especially when you need something in a pinch
At the end of the day learning how to live with it .will beat any form of medicational threatment .trust me the side effects mostly make it worse.although having something when it does get too much never hurts but daily threatment for adhd yeah it aint great mate .
Hang in there friend! I also use caffeine as an anti depresant. Doctors are super hesitant to prescribe meds for adhd for some reason.
@@jonlough3074
And yet they prescribe benzo’s 🤷🏻♂️
Green and white teas are a good source of L-Theanine already. 👍
A very short 5 minute video - BUT - you explained so many things simply, yet thoroughly. THANK YOU ! ! !
Glad you found this worthwhile!
@@adultingwithadhd9802 I'm very happy to see that you saw that you made an impact for me. This was the first video I've seen of yours, but I've subscribed to your channel and plan to watch the rest of your videos to catch yet more of your insights and perspectives. I was born in the 1950's, so when I went to elementary and high school - they just told me I was stupid. It was in my 40's that I figured out that I was seriously Dyslexic and ADHD. I never knew what my Aptitude scores were in high school because it would be too humiliating to see in print how dumb I was. Yet - I went on from high school to be successful in my work life and went on to start my own business after that. In my late 50's, that was a reason that a doctor wanted me to take the aptitude test, but I told him I didn't want to know the score. A year later I went to a different doctor for a follow up, took the same test and told the doctor I didn't want to know the score. I was so stressed out taking the test I didn't even finish it and quit before my time was up. The doctor accidently sent me the written report and I saw the score. Since I'd seen it, I had to know how it rated me so I researched the IQ score. Average is 100. I was thinking mine might be 80. Keeping in mind I didn't even finish the test - you can't imagine my surprise in seeing my score was 132. But I wasn't celebrating that I was now considered "smart", I was ANGRY that I was labeled and thrown away and not considered as worthy of being part of the human race. The movie about Temple Grandin and the fact that she was autistic is a perfect example. She was born in the 1950's and the doctors told her mother to put her in an institution and she'd die soon. Her mother did not give up on her. She said "You're different, not less that". BECAUSE her brain is wired differently, she saw things differently. She went on to make some of the most brilliant discoveries in Large Animal Husbandry, had many discoveries that changed practices on a global scale and now lectures around the world! The world has benefited from Temple because her mother did not give up on her. I can see that many people won't give up on themselves and others because YOU make these videos to enlighten the world. And but the way - I still don't label myself as "smart", but I am glad that I know I've helped the world BECAUSE I'm "DIFFERENT".
Don’t drink coffee right after yall wake up, wait for 1-2 hours, that way you can reduce the feel of grogginess and irritability in the afternoon. That’s what my doctor (licensed psychiatrist) told me and it works better than chugging a triple espresso after waking up.
That is great advice. Thanks for sharing it!
Dude yes, I do my best to wait an hour and a half until I drink it
😂 literally doing that now as I read this comment. Triple shot of espresso.
I was diagnosed with ADHD as a kid but only read a few months ago that caffeine and other stimulant substances can do the opposite to me. That makes so much sense, because i could drink some cafe at night and go to bed immediately after that, without issues. I often tried not to drink any caffeine later than afternoon if i have am important day tomorrow to get sleepy earlier, but obviously that didnt worked. Now i really want to test if caffeine can improve my sleep-in problems before important days.
It is fascinating how different we all are. I'm glad you are trying to dial in best practices!
In my case a lower dose of caffeine in the evening does help with sleep. I have to add tho that at this point in time I have only gotten a tentative diagnosis of ADHD so please take it with a grain of salt
Caffeine is a sedative.
Sleeping pills contain caffeine, that's why you are supposed to go to bed immediately after taking them.
If you power through the initial "down" phase, they do the exact opposite and keep you awake.
So yeah, drinking a cup of coffee before bed can help (in general).
It's weird seeing how so many of us react so differently to caffeine. I've actually never had enough that it made me feel jittery or that it was simply too much. I have had over 600mg during a 9-10 hour drive before, and that was after I already had around 300mg in the morning. I do try to limit my regular intake to 3-4 cups of coffee a day. I don't want to be entirely dependent on it.
I do not know why some days a little affects me a lot and then other days a lot affects me only a little.
This Adulting thing requires some thought from time to time 😂
3-4 cups or 3-4 coffee cups?
I second this entire account. I was on ritalin as a kid, now I self-medicate with coffee as an adult. Energy drinks are different to coffee though, got other stuff in them.
@@thephoenixsystem6765 most of the other stuff is micronutrients, carbon dioxide, and sweetener. The main 'secondary active ingredient' in them is an metric asston of vitamin b12. Meanwhile, theres probably a lab breakdown of whats in that coffee bean somewhere, but you don't have access to it. Its just 'natural'... like... cyanide...
I have somewhat severe ADD, anxiety and mild Asperger's. What worked for me, and may or may not work for anyone else: One cup (not super-sized big cup, a regular cup) first thing in the morning 30 min before I have to cognitively handle anything. Then only one cup later in the day at 3pm, no more. Then I am OK and can operate until 10:30 PM, and sleep fine. If I do coffee (caffeine in any form) more than that during the day, my focus gets really messed up and I get the opposite effect than I am looking for. Adjust that 3pm coffee a bit up or back in time to match when you are planning on going to sleep if before or after 10:30pm. The thing about relying on a stimulate like coffee or anything else, is that if you forget to take it, you are in worse shape that morning or afternoon (withdrawals) than if you didn't do it all, so you can't miss the schedule. And GET SLEEP! I figured out I need 9 hours and wake naturally, before a clock would wake me up. I need the clock so I don't oversleep through work, but I go to bed (no phone) in complete darkness early enough that I wake naturally a bit before that alarm goes off. Then I have reached that part of the sleep cycle that works for waking up and functioning, otherwise I am a zombie cognitively and useless for hours. Very controlled amounts of coffee (don't creep up to a big gulp) and 9 hours of sleep with natural waking has changed my life completely. Avoiding all sugar in any form and getting some, any, exercise also made it even better after that. I wish I could have told my 20 year old self that.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! This helps all of us try to figure out what works for ourselves!
Very solid observations and advice, in my opinion. If I don't sleep properly, I simply don't function. Simple as that.
It has literally zero effect on me, except if i consume large amounts before bed, because then i can't sleep. I will have the same energy level as normal, as if i have gotten a night of sleep, and i'll only start getting tired by the time i'm going to sleep the following day.
It’s so interesting how caffeine affects us also differently. We forget that it is a drug. We think of it more as a vitamin.
Yeah I always wondered why everyone was so obsessed with coffee and caffeine. The only way I get an effect is when I drink too much of it and I get really bad heart palpitations. I remember one time I was told to try a 5 hour energy to see if it wakes me up. I took a nap 30 minutes later 😂
My favorite interaction with caffeine as someone with ADHD is actually my 5th grade science fair. At 12 years old I chugged a redbull in the morning with a heart monitor on and there was no change in my bpm. Still took another 5 years to get diagnosed but it is what it is
I love the school project idea!!!
So I've been diagnosed with ADHD recently. I could never understand how ppl stayed awake after drinking coffee, i always feel sleepy. But i just love coffee hence i only drink it in the morning when i have freshly woken up.
Couldn't that apply to at least some medications to? Anything that suppresses a function?
Just got diagnosed with ADHD at 48. I can't typically have more than one cup of coffee too quickly, like with brunch or breakfast. When I am working I take a Nespresso travel mug that holds approximately 4 cups. Slowly I will work on that one mug, it probably takes me about 5hrs or so to finish it. This will give me a slow and sustained affect. While coffee can be beneficial, at times I get more of a boost with orange pekoe tea(2 bags left in the same mug with hot water)... guessing it really depends on the individual? Other things I have had to use, and helps me personally, as I wake at 2:30am for work... is taking melatonin and limiting my light exposure at least an hour before I want to sleep. If I don't sleep, I will be overtired and often get wacky brain that won't let me sleep when I should for days. Fasting helps me as well because I am so prone to crashes in energy after meals, within 30 minutes my brain shuts off and needs a recharge. A lot of the energy issues are best with preemptive measures than reactive ones attempting stimulants. Good sleep, movement, fasting is incredible for ADHD people as it gets your body to hum as fast as your brain... especially on longer fasts of 72hrs or more. Anyway thanks for the channel, going to work my way through now.
I had a full on grief cycle happen when I got diagnosed. It helped to allow myself to feel the feelings that came along with that including and especially the shitty ones. Although no one is coming to save us, it is nice to have people with similar experiences to share what has worked and what hasn’t. We all express our adhd in different ways so it’s nice to hear other ways people are adapting.
@adultingwithadhd9802 I can relate to the immediate grief, all the feelings of possibility lost. It didn't take me long to realize that I really don't have a clue what I would have chosen to pursue, had I been able to dedicate myself enough to follow through. For me the fun is in learning, would I have been a more depressed person... only able to find success and then abandon it to attempt something new? It's not worth dwelling on what was lost, the best part of my diagnosis was learning I wasn't as broken as I thought... it isn't a character flaw. We aren't that old, not too old to move in a new direction, we can still navigate with more clarity due to our failures. If anything, going through life undiagnosed has allowed me the opportunity to know my strengths and weaknesses. You have learned something about yourself that explains the why to so many questions. Life is about the journey, experiences... nobody is perfect... we felt a little less perfect than most. Your grief is understandable, but try and remember that you are who you are... including how strong and resilient you are... because of your failures. I'm happy you had the journey you did, otherwise I wouldn't have been watching your video. Have a good one sir!
@claytononcars I got diagnosed late with inattentive adhd. Your experience as you describe it is identical to mine. I also have to wake up around 2-3 am. With melatonin, do you wake up in a bad mood if you take it the night before? Also, how much seems to work for you? FYI, I'm same age and about 240 lbs. Intermittent fasting works wonders for me. After that 3 day mark, I feel invincible. It's like a permanent "flow" state.
@75blackviking For me, melatonin is a bit of hit or miss. I don't wake up in a bad mood, but I sometimes do feel sleep inertia and am drowsy for a few hours after waking up. The only way I will take melatonin before a work day is if I have a least 7.5hrs before having to wake up. If I took melatonin to try and make me sleepy, it won't work. It typically just seems to be a benefit for keeping me asleep when I am already sleepy. One issue I have is I wake up a lot at night, melatonin added on seems to help me not wake up until closer to when I am supposed to. I've taken 10mg and have taken as much as 70mg and it doesn't seem to matter how much I take, it doesn't seem to increase the effectiveness. Some studies seem to point that we should be taking high doses of melatonin, and others say it is an issue to take often. I'm also around 240lbs. I used to be a garbage man, so the exercise seemed to keep my symptoms at bay (lifting 30 tons of garbage and running 20 KM will do that). My issues now are mostly joint and arthritis pain, so exercise isn't easy anymore. I struggle with being able to put in regular exercise as after a few consecutive days of exercise leaves me in so much pain that I can't continue and need arthritis meds. I've moved to a new job, now I can sleep much longer and am on a typical schedule (wake up at 630am on early days). My inflammation symptoms have definitely improved and am hoping to start an exercise routine as my body adjusts to the new schedule. The other thing I personally found helpful, is blue light blocking glasses. I ordered some 98% blocking glasses with full shielding and if I wear those 3-4hrs before bed, it helps a lot. Some people say they don't work, it might be in my head, whatever it is... they work for me. They do look hilarious so you won't be leaving the house in them. Good luck!
Fasting also puts you in ketosis and your blood sugar stays at a more even level. Have you tried eating a ketogenic diet to stay like that when you're not on a 72hr fast?
Does anyone else feel like they have to focus on one task and always be working on something, like obsessively working on a goal or they get very depressed. To avoid depression, working on a goal. I can't relax until i achieve that goal or at least start working on it. I was wondering if that's a adhd symptom. Sometimes I get hyper focused on things where I cant think about anything else but getting something done. Whether it's cleaning or buying something etc. It's usually one thing at a time. It helps me not procrastinate on certain things but causes me a lot of anxiety.
I am still figuring out what works for me. Lifelong process I suppose😊
I do find that focusing on one project at a time works better for me and also experience the anxiety associated when the project stalls!
I'm so happy i found your channel, I've been struggling pretty badly lately which has caused my depression to spiral. Thanks for the advice! ❤
I am sorry to hear you are struggling. We neurodivergents are pretty sensitive to things when society is weird and is it ever weird now!
When I am struggling badly I make sure I focus on myself and not try to make everyone happy. I used to be a people pleaser but that only served to make me miserable. Not sure if this is the case for you but I hope whatever you have going on you get through and feel better.
Hang in there. 😊
I have ADHD, and I love caffeine so much, especially being a high school student, but I know when I’ve taken too much because all of my symptoms of ADHD get kicked into hyperdrive and I go crazy, then crash so hard I pass out. It’s a fine line.
You don't know where the line is until you cross it 😂. Also more fun to feel good. Glad you are leaning the balance ✌️
LOL. 3-4 cups? That's me before bedtime. 😂 Morning is 6-8. Then again, when I got started on stimulants the lowest (standard starting) dose caused me to sleep for 8 hours straight...Some brains are more neurodivergent than others, I guess...
That's for the video! I always appreciate when someone takes the time to share useful information, I know how much effort goes into making these videos.
Now I am wondering if the type of beans and brewing process affect the amount of caffeine in the coffee. Nerd rabbit hole, here I come!
Rabbit holes are the best!
We are all so different it is interesting to hear what others are doing! Any more than three cups of coffee and my eye starts twitching !😂
My eye has been twitching too! Lol
How do you even drink that much liquid? 6-8 cups is like 2 liters unless they're some odd american cups. When i drink coffee i dont feel anything so i rather just take caffeine tablest or drink a half litre energy drink thay has 160mg of caffeine and i get a boost for a few hours.
I can drink multiple coffees a large energy drink and even diet cola throughout the day no problems
I’m 42 and was just diagnosed with ADHD last week. I think I’m procrastination tired, always! I HAVE to have caffeine. I always have 2 cups of coffee, but I mostly drink energy drinks. I love this video. Def subbing. Thank you!!
I am glad you found this worthwhile! And welcome to the late onset diagnosis club! ADHD is my best feature now that I understand it better 😀
@@adultingwithadhd9802 haha! Thank you!
Thank you so much. I'm currently working on my ADHD paralasis and my constant tiredness. This has helped. Liked, Subscribed and all those wonderful things
I detected my ADHD later in life too. But my son is a severe case. We have him on low dose Aderall but when he forgets to take it at a certain time he drinks a cup of coffee and he is chill and can focus. It’s funny when we have ordered coffee at a restaurant and I slide it over to my 10 year old. I sip coffee all day long and am very productive. If I miss it then I get a lost feeling. If I drink it too fast I have had the reverse effect too. Somehow I naturally gravitated to coffee. I didn’t realize I had ADHD until I was concerned about my own child. So now I’m doing my best to be a good father to him and raise him proper.
How fortunate is your son to have a parent that is aware so early! That is awesome 😊
I'm on a journey of discovering (in my 40s) ADHD is the answer to ME. Your is just another topic I have been up & down about my whole life and yet ANOTHER "match" to how I function. Wow, man. Thank you. 💜
I’m glad you found this worthwhile
51 and just diagnosed this year. Not on meds yet for reasons, but plan to early next year. In the meantime I had gotten the advice a few months ago from my psychiatric nurse practitioner to limit my caffeine intake due to my anxiety. I took her advice to the max and quit completely. Since then I've had a ton of problems focusing at work. I was just talking to my therapist yesterday about this (who also has ADHD), and she agrees with me that it might have been a bad idea to quit altogether, so now I'm back on a moderate amount per day. The more you know...
I have ADHD and I on purposely had it in overdrive. The quickness of the ACT is way more manageable when I’m even more hyperactive than normal.
Purposely taking tons of caffeine helped 😂 I got a 31 on the math portion that year
In my experience wether i get hyper or not is completely random. Sometimes coffee does nothing while other times it makes me go ABSOLUTELY CRAZY AND INSANE AND ULTRA HYPER!!!
That randomness is sure fun to deal with isn’t it 😂🙃
@@adultingwithadhd9802 ye lmao
I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and my doctor told me nothing about it and only prescribed Ritalin. I had no idea that having ADHD could make me tired because being tired had been one of my biggest problems and medical complaints for years. This was helpful. Thanks!
Tiredness is worse if you have spent more than 25 years on antidepressants which you can’t get off because you were mis diagnosed
I don't know if i have adhd or not, but I have schizophrenia and take (also gladly only a low dosis) antipsychotics, that work against the dopamine system... I finally understood now, why i feel so much better and more functional drinking lots of yerba mate tea during the day... like without it i feel very lethargic, sleepy and in fact most of the time sleep all day... but the caffeine doesn't make me psychotic or so... i worried i would have a caffeine addiction, but now i feel like i just selfmedicate and it's ok :3 thank you for this video!
I am glad you have found something that works works for you 😊
I have late diagnosed inattentive ADHD and 2 cups of instant coffee per day (1 spoon per cup) unsweetened & 50/50 with milk help me feel normal…if I have it in the evening I get an instant rush of productivity. If I have more than 2 cups I start getting the jitters. But it’s amazing how a simple cup of coffee helps me feel INSTANTLY better. Can’t imagine what ADHD meds do if coffee makes me feel this way.
That's strange. I have adhd and it makes me very sleepy.
I have never heard this before, thank you so much for sharing, this explains a lot what my experience has been with caffeine and hopefully will help.
Glad it was helpful!
I love when caffeine actually makes me concentrated for a bit but lately it just makes me dead tired. Now I undertand why. Thank you so much.
I made the mistake of asking to have my adhd treated and the psychiatrist took that as drug seeking behavior and diagnosed me with depression and i spent 2 week on dizzy spellbutrin, getting headaches. I stopped seeing that psychiatrist and now have to wait a month before the soonest in person psychiatrist appointment that i could get and I'm telling myself I've come too far in life and finally gotten a legitimate over the table job at 42 after periods of joblessness and homelessness and I just have to keep going until I can get a diagnosis and stop treating my adhd with coffee that my pediatrician recommended my mom give me since I was 7 years old. Thanks for sharing your insights.
The biases society has regarding the behavior of those of us with ADHD, especially the medical community, are rather unhelpful and misjudging. It takes so long for us to figure out what works for us! Keep the effort going and you will find more things that bring a sense of regulation!
Wishing you the best - hang in there! eventually it will come together - you will always feel "a little different," but you will also surprise yourself by what you can actually do - like, eventually, hold down a job you even like.
Most down to earth ADHD resource I’ve found from another ADHD individual
I’m glad you found this worthwhile 🙃
Caffeine does to me what most people think alcohol does for them. As someone with adhd that works in customer service, the 2 sometimes 3 monsters I chug in a day help me talk to people more confidently. However I have been feeling depersonalized , dissociated, anxious nauseated and clammy if I have too much caffeine and not much to do to expel that energy. It also makes eating actual food harder
I’m not formally diagnosed, currently active military, but I’ve noticed my heavy dependency on Caffeine and my rollercoaster relationship with motivation and focus throughout my life.
It may be some kind of stress fatigue. So don't think you have adhd or some kind of mental problem.
What branch? 4 years active duty Air Force for me 🫡
I have dylesxia and adhd and I always thought the main reason why i struggle reading so much is dyslexia, but when I tried some caffeine and suddely I was able to read so much better turns out my busy hyper active brain would try to speed read without being able to speed read but then again reading slower was extremly hard because it gives so little dopamine. Unfortunatly caffeine does also give me a big headache but I can read! (I only had 80 mg but it had a big effect)
This gives me hope I'll be able to read again one day
I've noticed this too. If I try read without a coffee I essentially look at the first letter and the general shape of the word and infer what it is. Sometimes it works great but often I take longer to read because I have to keep doubling back to check words when my brain filled in the blank with something nonsensical. Coffee lets me actually read words as letters rather than shapes :')
When I was little, drinking coffee would make me feel sleepy. That changed as I get older. I used to drink a cup of Americano in the morning daily; now I rarely drink coffee. After watching your video, I discovering something about my ADHD and coffee. Normally, I feel sluggish and unmotivated daily, and negative inner talks/memories would pop-up in my mind randomly throughout the day (I struggle to snap out of these thoughts). However, this morning I had 2 shots of espresso earlier this morning, I notice I don’t have the negative talks/memories in my mind even if I try to start it. It’s like with caffeine - even if I open the gate for the negative inner talks/memories to come through, nothing would 😄. My mind is quiet, I’m hyper focus, and I’m motivated. I’m super happy to have made this realization all thanks to your video.
You got there on your own. 😊 I'm glad the video provided something to help you work this through.
Caffeine makes me more productive and less groggy, however if I take too much, I get heart palpatations and it increases anxiety. I had an anxiety disorder as well, so it doesn't mix too well but I feel the benefits outweigh the negatives.
Thank you for sharing your experience! Because we all respond so differently it is nice to get as many perspectives as possible😊
I have six to eight cups of coffee a day. I sleep well and function well. I have ADHD. It helps me super focus at work.
As you say everyone is different, and with ADHD we all have the basic symptoms but as with medication caffeine tends to work different in all/some of us, not only because of our disorder but because we might have different comorbid conditions or simply different bodies. For me something pretty weird happens with caffeine, If I drink even 1 cup of coffee my heart starts beating like crazy, and that has happened since I was a teen and had not even being diagnosed yet, nor knew anything about caffeine, so I don't think it's a somatic reaction, BUT if I drink a couple of colas or even 1 energy drink, which is supposed to have more mg of caffeine than an average cup of coffee, I feel better or much better in terms of my constant restlessness and and in general I feel more "awake" and attentive but calm and relaxed. I have never understood why caffeine from one source can make my heart go crazy and from another in similar or more amounts it does the opposite. I've asked this to several doctors but have found no answer. Does anyone reading this experience something similar?
I can understand a possibility of feeling better being psycological (though I doubt its a placebo thing) but can't understand why my heart does not react the same, since it's something that happens to me since "EVER" , and as a kid I knew nothing about caffeine being able to raise heart beats rate or even what was caffeine, for that matter.
Great comment warranting discussion! Pinning
I have this exact same experience with caffeine as someone with ADHD and bipolar 2. I can't drink coffee because it makes my heart pound and I feel so panicky, but other forms of caffeine like caffeine pills or tea are fine. My theory is that fat may cause the caffeine to absorb differently, if you're putting milk or creamer in your coffee. I know that for cannabis, fat helps the cannabinoids absorb better so I'm super sensitive to edibles and can't take them, but just smoking it is fine. So maybe caffeine is similar in that way. Or, it could be that there are other conditions comordbid with the ADHD (like bipolar in my case) that cause reactions with certain forms of caffeine. It's interesting and I'd like to hear some input from others!
I have similar experiences. Energy drinks, regular pop, it's just fine, I can even have some before bed and not mind. Coffee and my guts are in distress then at the end of the day my sleep is poor.
Very interesting. I'll give it a try (diagnosed but not treated yet). Thank you for the information.
My caffeine intake was an indicator that I have ADHD. Prior to starting treatment for ADHD I was drinking ~1200 mg of caffeine in a day.
That's a lot of caffeine! How are things going now?
Evolved to depend on caffeine, and had no suspicion I had adhd. Then diagnosed at 46... it's a shock learning this, but the dopamine hunt explains soo much. I still love caffeine it doesn't interfere with my meds - actually a coffee at 4pm makes the evening smoother. ❤
I started drinking monsters when I worked overnight years ago. I couldn’t stop energy drinks years later because of how I could focus on them. They never made me speed or bounce but if anything helped stabilize me. I hated the way it effected my health and sleep though. I finally got prescribed adhd medication and never drink monsters or Red Bulls anymore. Sleeping so much better. I do sometimes enjoy a small coffee or matcha to reminisce but too much makes me anxious now that my tolerance is low
Thank you for sharing your experience!
THANK YOU !!!! finally someone said it! I’m so tired of people telling me it’s not healthy
I'm glad you found this worthwhile 😊
I've been drinking coffee since I was five years old. Still do, but I don't think it's good for you. Tea is much better for caffeine intake. Coffee also contains high levels of acrylamide, especially when over roasted.
I have ADHD with anxiety (I finally accepted it bc I always thought it was made up just to label people with mental issues). I drink bang energy 300mg caffeine in the mornings and then more caffeine when I go to the gym in the evenings. I’m starting to think it causes me to be more irritable, brain fog, and a loss of focus. Sometimes it’s a complicated for me to organize my thoughts before speaking which causes me to stumble over my words or completely shut down (usually happens once I stumble - could be the anxiety or embarrassment). I have an important job that requires public speaking, I'm trying to identity the underlying problem to get better. I can literally listen to someone talk but not process what was just said to me. Any tips for that?
In ny mid 30s I've grown to love my ADHD. I've found ways to utilize its disadvantages to my advantage. I absolutely love coffee. I drink 1-3 cups, it helps me chill, sometimes it actually makes me sleepy. Which I always appreciated.
I have ASD as well as ADHD, and for some reason, I loves the process of making coffee for my dad every morning, but I did not like just how strong it was. Essentially due to that experience, I love to make coffee, but not for myself, since I am adverse to the strong taste. Additionally, taking a small sip from a Reign energy drink caused me to shake immediately, but having caffeine from pop actually relaxes me some. And just because it relaxes me, does NOT mean it improves my focus. In fact, it does the opposite: it gets my body in the "Oh cool, time to chill out" mood [which really doesn't help at school], but can be utilized to clam me down a bit before I meltdown.
My exception for drinking something with coffee in it is for when I've had a rough morning or am going to a doctor's appointment. Even so, the drink while only have a pinch of caffeine since I'm more of a chocolate person.
Now my friend, on the other hand, is now banned from drinking coffee during a school day because they were bouncing of the walls 10x more than usual. And that was horrific
I grind my own beans😊
I have both ASD and combined ADHD
Thank you for that info. I started to search because I thought that the coffee I take when I wake up was somehow conflicting with my medication, making me anxious, irritable, and stuck. I am pretty much addicted to coffee and I have to cut back a little. For those out there who are like me, I think it works best if I wait at least one hour after the medication kicks in to get my first coffee. Being Brazillian, that's a real challenge! Be safe and stay focused!!!
Caffeine can certainly have addictive effects if you are on medication for adhd!!
Isn't it the common understanding that caffeine either "doesn't work" or works the "opposite" for ADHD brains?
This is great to have affirmed for me, because I notice that when I have my times of excellent focus and motivation, it's when I'm having coffee throughout the day. Without some coffee, my thoughts often feel random and uncontrollable.
Where I live, the health care system is practically crippled and trying to get a diagnosis is exceptionally hard, especially for neurodivergent people, so finding easy methods like this help a lot. It's not that I didn't know coffee helped before, but now I know how it's helping me. Great vid.
I've never gotten the jitters from coffee....or soda....or anything.
I can drink coffee before bed and sleep just fine....
.....shit.
I’ve found that when I’m feeling really low, and my anxiety is getting to be a lot and it’s hard for me to even cope, it gives me a great boost and gets me out of bed. But when I’m feeling good and not in a slump, it doesn’t work at all.
I used to drink a lot of coffee. Until I realised it became an addiction. I noticed that I can drink maximum 3 grande americanos per day to feel its benefits - concentration and calm. If I drink 4-5 cups I become sleepy and disordered. If I drink more than 5 cups I feel anxious and can have panic attacks.
Pro tip: medication+cup of coffee is great for work
i am 57 and got my diagnosed only a week ago so i am still taking it in trying to get some puzzle pieces to connect . so coffee is def one of them . tnx ill be following your channel with an open mind and to much caffeine ;)
About that “tired” part: My biggest problem is “frustration->shutdown->depression tired.” And it happens FAST.
Caffeine & L-theanine supplement ( 1 to 2 ratio ) is the bee’s knee’s. It could possibly help you avoid the pharma drugs. I was listening intently, whilst fixated on the pictures in the background. Kind of multitasking without realising😂.
I do the same thing when watching videos. I'm "paying attention" but also trying to figure out where any nature photo was taken😂. Thank you for the recommendation for the supplement!
Very cool advice. Thank you Sir.
Glad it was helpful!
And people wonder why I have a cup of coffee before bed :')
😊
I’m inattentive and I quit caffeine for a year I almost lost my job, I was tired all of the time. I started drinking caffeine and my life improved drastically. It’s crazy.
I've been a caffeine freak basically all my life, long before I knew I have ADHD. When I was young it was pop, mainly coke, and as I came into adulthood it became a coffee addiction. Actually I remember one summer in high school my buddy and I would get 2 big energy drinks each every day for a few weeks straight and those were mostly really chill days just shooting the breeze or playing some video games. No crazy high energy but I spaced out a lot less during our conversations with extra caffeine.
Early in my adult education I had fallen behind on some homework and decided to catch up all in one saturday when I worked through 5 entire pots of coffee through the day to keep me on task. It worked. And it sucked a swamp through a straw after it was over. Now I just try to keep it under a pot a day, usually a half pot.
Still trying to nail down my exact medication needs and I still need plenty of coffee to pick up the slack, but it's mostly better now.
Glad you are finding what works for you! Those days we over do it with caffeine can sure get uncomfortable!
This answer perfectly to my question and I thank you for that fair and nuanced answer 🙏
I'll have pleasure discovering the rest of your content :)
I am glad you found this worthwhile!
I extensively use caffeine and other stimulants to help support my ADHD which gives me superpowers as a data analyst. Being able to harness my hyper focus into work projects is so rewarding and I have caffeine to thank for it.
That said I laughed really hard whenever you said 400 mg... I need anywhere from 600 to 1200 mg of caffeine a day.
I have ADHD! I'm a 2 coffee's a day kind of guy. However, with all these replies of various opinions which i've enjoyed reading. I think looking back the best work i ever did was when having 2-3 green tea's per day. I always felt quite balanced between relaxed and focused. It has a much smaller amount of caffeine obviously. Plus... better for our guts and immune system. Hope this helps 1+ person 👍
Love this comment. The whole point of this channel is to facilitate discussion. Glad you found this helpful and that you want to help 😊
Coffee doesn't do anything for me.
But I might have high tolerance as I've been drinking it since I was a kid.
This makes a lot of sense. I've always loved my morning coffee, partially 'cause I'm used to it and so I feel like I need it to start my day right, and partially because I genuinely enjoy a quality, fresh-ground cup. However, I've noticed that more often than not, afternoon coffee - _especially_ in any significant quantity - makes me feel way worse and ruins my focus. I've hit a point where I rarely have any more after the morning, and when I do it's usually just one cup. I also generally avoid drinks with added caffeine because I've just learned that it usually doesn't help. I also feel like it doesn't give me "energy", it's more of an evening out type of effect, and too much just makes me jittery and very uncomfortable but still tired.
Caffeine effect runs in cycles for me which makes me think that it is more to do with me than caffeine.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
My usual morning routine is - I take my adhd meds (30mg Ritalin) wait 30 minutes, drink a cup of coffee, and oh boy, that is a great way to kickstart the day! xD
That is awesome😀
Only way I could focus and relax for a bit before I got diagnosed with Adhd inattentive, all though did not always work, and messed up my stomach with how much coffee I was drinking on a daily bases, meds are a savior when used right
I seem to be discovering mid 30s that I’m adhd. I mean, I always kind of figured, but now seeing how it really impacts me.
I had given up coffee, making a bunch of changes to my lifestyle and then I started having a meltdown, panic attacks daily that would go on throughout the day etc… could not focus or bring myself to the present.
But I used to get jittery from drinking 4-6 cups of coffee a day…
Now seeing I need the sweet spot, cuz I just feel off, like a zombie, not in touch when I wake up and throughout the day unless I get a workout in or something to get some dopamine pumping…
Anyways, after watching this I’m realizing my giving up coffee is what set me off. So I just went and got one and after just a few sips I feel more myself 😂
Good advice. I've basically been doing this for 50 years now, and it works... to a point. Some days... nothing is going to function and damage control or just reminding myself that tomorrow could be better is all there is. addendum, I started on coffee at the age of ten in 1973 as an alternative to the standard of the time for 'hyperactivity' as it was called at the time.
Get on, 3 x cups before mid day! ADHD tastic 👍(not with meds)!
Love it! I’m glad this works for you!! No shortage of caffeine out there 🙃
I was diagnosed with ADD when I was 8. I was given Ritalin and I hated it. So when I got to high school I stoped taking it. I am 40, I drink a pint of coffee an hour after I wake up. I get stuff done. I learned that if I want to replay get ahead I have to harness that laser focus. I can get a weeks worth of homework done in 3 hours. And I do. I am getting my As of science and taking a whack at a radiography program. I have an IQ of 130, and ADHD. Let’s goooooooo!
I have weird memories of my parents bringing in "tutors ". My iq is in the 140s. Who cares. How has that helped. Yes I can count cards. I don't feel good about "cheating" Vegas. Wish I did I not have "morals". I'm no fun to play games with bc I always win 🥴
For me it has little effect, ADHD will always be the same level, but I like to have a nice hot drink to start my morning with. I also like the ritual of making it.
Real coffee helps me. But I like to start the day with mint tea. Then a large coffee in my favourite cappuccino mug.
My husband used to find it bizarre that i could drink brewed coffee at any time if the day and then have one of the best naps ever.
I was diagnosed with combined earlier this year. On dexamphetamin now. Still loving my coffee naps 😴❤
Oh man I joked for a bit on how caffeine single handedly made me neurotypical but listening to this...
When I started drinking coffee regularly i found that overall i found more things interesting for longer amounts of time, had more wholesome emotions and thus dealt with people better, and had will enough to do one thing after the other
i'm thinking of how, before i'd wonder how people found things interesting, have the will to do unbearably mundane tasks, or even that they had a "low bar" for enjoying other people's company. but on caffeine i'm suddenly able to do all these things ..
I am glad you found something that works for you!
I do 2-3 cups in the morning. Try to stay to 2. Then I switch to green tea as necessary in the afternoon. I like green tea because it's more soothing, easier on the stomach and has a touch of caffeine too. Great video, thank you.
Thank you for commenting! I do a similar thing during cold months. Not sure why I don't drink tea year round
I probably have a mild version of ADHD, but my mind just goes at 1000 MPH or I'm pretty much brain dead. I learned, that drinking 1-2 cups of Coffee a day and taking 250mg of L-theanine with each cup, helps to make my mind more calm and focused. I used to spin out mentally from my 2nd coffee after lunch. With L-theanine I can think clearly and get things done. Can highly recommend it as a supplement, since its fairly cheap and at least for me has no side effects.
Thank you for sharing your experience! We are all so different that it is great to learn what works for other people. It can be overwhelming to try to find out where to start so comments like this are very helpful!
I have about 8 cups of coffee before I go to work, another 2 to 4 cups before my workday is done, 1 to 4 cups or 2 to 4 espresso at home and I operate absolutely fantastic, more than likely my focus on anything including sleep, is heightened by caffeine.
caffein is the only way i can do anything with adhd. i push myself into manic mode if possible. but if that dont work i at least feel like my brain is functioning fully 🤣 its like im in a fog till i drink it.
I have not been diagnosed yet, but I too have problems focusing on what people are telling me. Or if they ask me a question in social situations, the word just leave my brain. It is actually blank. Sometime I cant grasp a word and will have to describe it then someone will say what I’m trying to say. The upside is that I’m better than average playing catch fraise. When I’m feeling this way and being dangerous on the road I will get some coffee. It seems to help
I was diagnosed very late (53), and i always knew something was wrong, but never got around to getting a diagnosis.
I'm a software engineer, and in a typical day I have 15 cups of strong coffee. I've been doing this for about 30 years with no I'll effects.
I find out that i was actually 'self medicating' without even knowing it.
Engineered yourself a solution. Love it 😊
Psilocybin saved my life. I was addicted to heroin for 15 years and after Psilocybin treatment I will be 3 years clean in September. I have zero cravings. This is something that truly needs to be more broadly used in addiction treatment.
Thank you for sharing! psilocybin has proven VERY effective to treat PTSD symptoms of which many of us with ADHD have in droves. Ketamine has also proven to be very effective as well.
Finding the right provider to receive these treatments from is vital. There are so many bad ones out there and misapplication of these tools can really make things worse.
Proper application can be life changing in the best way.
Watch for a video on this next month!
Coffee makes me calm and I have no problem sleeping thank you for sharing thank you for sharing
Thank you for sharing your experience! We all are so different it is fascinating to learn what other people's experience is
a few times when I drank coffee as a young teenager (13-15 y.o.) I noticed that coffee never made me energetic, on the contrary it always made sleepy. so overall I skipped drinking it at all.
last year, due to war and moving to another country and being under the stress from my previous work, I actually started stress drinking coffee. at the time I also took a sedative pill and did not realized until later why have I started to feel so I’ll on the physical level, like it was giving me so much anxiety and me stupid forgot that cannot mix coffee and sedatives together. okay, if I’m drinking sedatives I def need to stop with coffee for now, health is more important.
what happened like around two months later: i was sick and took a pill with paracetamol+caffeine to ease the symptoms of the cold and went to work. and as already I have been dealing with anxiety attacks for quite so time, I knew what anxiety attacks are like, especially how they manifest themselves physically. and I started having the physical symptoms of anxiety attack which made me wonder what was wrong, like was I that anxious to the point of turning it into attack? i was anxious for sure, but not that much? and I did not drank any coffee or anything. and then it hit me, there was a caffeine in the pill. and what I noticed later, that the same thing happened when I ate tiramisu.
so yeah, long story short, as a teenager caffeine made me sleepy, and now as an adult being diagnosed with adhd only for a year, caffeine gives me the physical symptoms of an anxiety attack. so I skip any pills or food with caffeine in it, as well as caffeinated drinks and drink only decaf options if I really crave for the taste of coffee
Thank you for sharing your experience! Learning anxiety attack triggers and avoiding them seems "easy" but it is NOT. I am glad you are aware of how it affects you!
still trying to find my new normal. Been diagnoses ADHD and medicated about 2 years now, but Glechoma diagnosis for 1 year. I brought my eye pressure down to a tolerable level by stopping caffeine intake (save for once in a blue moon).... but I lost the focus the pairing of ADHD and caffeine provided.
Omg this video makes so much sense, adhd spin out days! Can you do a video on that? How do you manage these??? Binge eating rambling endlessly with speech on off medications, i am disciplined though got a good mind but i can not stop coffee gave up everything else
Great suggestion for a video! I am recording "season two" now and am planning a video on the spin out day
Some solid photography in the background there.
Took a road trip with one of my best lifelong friends up to Banff and jasper last fall. That's what these are from