Caffine and Symptoms | ADHD Information

Caffeine can effect absorbtion rate. Lessons it. Pills are 10-20 % absorbed. Liquid is 95 % absorbed rated.

Caffiene tends to have the opposite effect on ADD/ADHD. If you are hyper and have it, for me it tends to sloooow me down. So even at night if I am wide awake and drink coffee it will tire me out. Ritalin is a stimulant and when you take it to calm the hyper it slows you down, caffiene is a stimulant sooo...see

I don't understand stimulant to stimulant but that is what alot of ADD type meds do, except Strattera is a NON-stimulant which is what I take. If I don't have that I use caffiene.

ADHDadult38561.552025463

Definately a newbe,first post.I'm going thursday for depression,been off meds for almost three years, but i"ts getting harder for me and just finished(I HOPE) a depresssion. i'm going to the Dr. next thursday for smoking and depression, I definitely need to ask about ADHD as an altternative diag. (different doc.)

I just read about caffeine as a "sleep aid"and while I was in the army, i've actually taken six no-doz ,two colas and a chocolate bar,and still passed out in a millitary classroom. I had about six hours of sleep the night before class, and I Was interested in the class. Take or leave it, I used to use beer to get to sleep(more than 4 1/2 hours)but now four 12oz.ers has no effect.I used to think I could solve most problems and hope the rest would fall into place ,i've been waiting tooo long. I have children who depend on me being someone else that I haven't been able to be even for myself. I hate taking drugs because of side effects but then turn around and smoke excessively ,drink a two liter a day of coke at work to stay focused ,then drink beer to get to sleep because (GOOD QUESTION HERE)if I can't think properly I could fry myself on twenty million wattts of power with the job I have. This can melt app. 25 tons of iron in forty minutes. I have learned the skill of HYPERFOCUS to be able io ignore the risk but Ill NEVER WORK WITHOUT A SECOND PERSON TO CHECK SAFETY!!

I built my own computer(off on a tangent ) PROGRAM NOT RESPONDING . i guess its business as usual today, does bill have adhd?

anyway,im'm hoping I've figured out how to post because its taken three days (and questioning my daughter about posting)to send this . still waiting for releif,had enough beer the music in my head has stopped gonna try to get an hour inis everything upside down with you?

[QUOTE=repairman] Definately a newbe,first post.I'm going thursday for depression,been off meds for almost three years, but i"ts getting harder for me and just finished(I HOPE) a depresssion. i'm going to the Dr. next thursday for smoking and depression, I definitely need to ask about ADHD as an altternative diag. (different doc.)

I'm going thursday for depression,been off meds for almost three years, but i"ts getting harder for me and just finished(I HOPE) a depresssion. i'm going to the Dr. next thursday for smoking and depression, I definitely need to ask about ADHD as an altternative diag. (different doc.) There is a website for ADHD skilled Drs. I'll see if I can find it for you. A lot of people's experience is if the Doc doesn't know AD/HD, he'll heal you wrong, b'c his dx is wrong. Can be life messing.

I just read about caffeine as a "sleep aid"and while I was in the army, i've actually taken six no-doz ,two colas and a chocolate bar,and still passed out in a millitary classroom. This is an AD/HD symptom, as caffeine is a stimulant, and in AD/HDs stims can calm down the activity of impulse and distraction. ADrs often self medicate as a coping mechanism. ADHD meds just do it better than trimethylxanthine (caffeine), without the diuresis eliciting bathroom times.

I used to think I could solve most problems and hope the rest would fall into place typical ADHD: do what you can, and jump to conclusions.

i've been waiting tooo long. Could be procrastination, which is alleged procrastination, it just looks like procrastination, b/c sometimes AD/HDrs get distracted...

I have children who depend on me being someone else that I haven't been able to be even for myself. I hate taking drugs because of side effects What drugs, what side effects? Properly medicated, most AD/HDrs don't realize the medication is working, unless they think about it, or in retrospect when it wears off.

but then turn around and smoke excessively ,drink a two liter a day of coke at work to stay focused, How ADD of you!

then drink beer to get to sleep I eat ice cream, frosted cake, or a cheese sandwich, to go to sleep. Doc says that's "carbohydrate craving", which is a symptom of serotonin deficiency, which he said was a sypmtom of depression.

Low sleep hours and difficulty falling asleep are symptoms of depression, too.

An ADr may have co-existent other issues, known as comorbid, which may be physiologically related, or emotional consequences of AD/HD behavior (e.g. I went bankrupt b/c of ADHD behavior, and went through a season of situational depression, not necessarily a case of clinical depression).

One exacerbated the other, though, so Doc put me on an anti-D that also had some activity on ADHD. This is b/c both are sort of related, in that neurotransmitter activity in the central nervous system is different. Depression is associated with serotonin, while AD/HD is associated with norepinephrine.

because (GOOD QUESTION HERE) if I can't think properly I could fry myself on twenty million wattts of power with the job I have. This can melt app. 25 tons of iron in forty minutes. I have learned the skill of HYPERFOCUS Learned? Or refined a natural talent for some ADrs?

to be able io ignore the risk but Ill NEVER WORK WITHOUT A SECOND PERSON TO CHECK SAFETY!! This is a good thing, another coping mechanism, which is a consequence of getting burned in the past. I may commit marvelous mistakes, but I only commit them once. The reason I keep committing marvelous mistakes, is that I come up with new ones...

anonymous:

I just started ritalin and few weeks ago and am starting to think the same thing about the caffiene making things worse. Yesterday I did great at work. I was focused and was "on the ball". Today I was scatter brained and in that fog everyone talks about. The only difference was the medium ice coffee from dunkin dounuts I drank when I got to work. It's not the first time I've noticed this about caffiene making things worse. The ritalin seems to work much better for me without the caffiene. That's why I did a search on this forum to see if someone has experienced this also. Maybe it's something else, but I'm going to lay off the coffee for a while and see how it goes.

Bob -

If you take 100 people here with ADHD and check out symptoms and relief you'll get 100 slightly different answers. What works for others here - like the caffeine added to the mix for extra attention - will not work for others, like you. Some I've heard say it makes them shaky, thick headed and lacking focus. That's not the standard but enough say it to make me think that it might work for you. The nice part about caffeine is that if in drink form it's fairly harmless, and you might just get a few headaches and a bit cranky if you cut it out totally.

Ritalin might be more than enough for you. I know that the dexedrine I take is just fine - and the coffee I drink for the taste believe it or not. I've enjoyed it for a long time and drink it black because I like the taste of it.

Good luck to you on your quest for the right mix. Any improvement is good in my books!

If I have caffeine with my Ritalin, I'll just lay around feeling totally sedated. Nothing will get done, but at least I'm calm.

Sometimes I'll take a break from meds and drink a bunch of soda instead because I miss being able to enjoy my Mountain Dew.

But hey, everyone's different, right?

boredomkills38571.3774652778[QUOTE=GlenW]If you take 100 people here with ADHD and check out symptoms and relief you'll get 100 slightly different answers. What works for others here - like the caffeine added to the mix for extra attention - will not work for others, like you. [/QUOTE]

Yeah, what you said man.

A lot of the discussion here seems to be people searching for "yeah, me too!" types of moments, and I mean a LOT of the discussion.

I'm not knocking it, I do it as much as anyone. But everyone isn't the same. Maybe we have some similar processes or um, constructions in our brains, but we ain't no clones.

I freaking LOVE caffeine, love it, love it, love it. I like to be so cranked on it I feel like a burning Roman candle.

Ritalin makes me speedy sometimes still, and I love that. Works different ways on different days. Some days I feel speedily calm like I want to run AND doze. HAH!

[QUOTE=GlenW]What works for others here - like the caffeine added to the mix for extra attention - [/QUOTE]
Don't let my wife hear that! She thinks I already get enough attention-

I can't say I've seen that happen with ADHD yet. Could be something but I don' t have the foggiest how?

Caffeine may be interacting with your meds though. Remember Adderal is an amphetamine - speed per se. Caffeine reacts poorly with some people when using an amphetamine. can cause jumpiness, jitters, altered thoughts (scattered), sleep disorder, tremors, and other speed-like symptoms. could just be you, your meds and coffee can't stand each other together like that. I laid off coffee when I first started dexedrine - just in case but found that my usual couple of cups during the day didn't hurt the dexedrine or me - just made me pee for a while after as the dexedrine is already a diuretic. It meant I had to chug more water before returning to my work or I'd get dry fast.

As with anything to do with meds I'd say can't hurt to go cautious and skip the cup if you feel you must. I'd prefer myself to have my cake and eat it too but then it hasn't affected me so I'm ok. You should go with your instincts and see what happens. Tell your doc too as they should be keeping you monitored until they know how you take adderal to begin with (bp, heart rate and weight once a week or more is recommended HIGHLY).

Good luck and hope you are symptom free soon!

When I started taking Ritalin I gave up drinking coffee altogether. I needed the caffeine to self medicate. I was drinking at least 8 cups or more a day, I still can't give up soda

Man, I love diet coke. I find though that the diuretic effect of my meds cause me to be a human sprinkler when I combo with pop - causing me pretty much to have to choose between my job and hobbies or spending all day pants down in the bathroom enjoying my pop and sanity together. My bladder just seems to fill at high speed when I drink any caffeinated beverage - with the pop hitting the top water draining list.

When I drink extra water before I say go to coffee break to have one good cup of coffee - I do find the effect is slightly less.

The coffee thankfully just adds to my alertness about 10 percent over dexedrine alone - shake and tremor free but the peeing just is too much for all the time!

It's a good thing I don't have that problem when I drink soda, I would be one Bi**hy woman. LOL! Oh wait a minute I am anyway

eh - it's a small price for me. If I had the two to pick from - dexedrine - freedom from the confusion, fog and clumsy funny-walk of life, or coffee and pop - with the er, taste and well that's it. Hmmmmm. I get way more out of life than coffee. But I do get to have both - just have to plan my peak hours on dexedrine so I'm not locked into anything I can't run from for about a minute or two - now and then thankfully!anonymous: I can't be certain, but I seem to have noticed the same thing. I have pretty much dropped coffee until the evening (it has no affect on my sleep) when the adderall wears off anyway. I gave up caffiene when I started taking ritalin a few weeks ago. Caffiene with the ritalin makes me too jumpy and fidgety. I don't even drink caffiene when I'm off the meds.

hello everyone im new to the forum and about 5 days in on a treatment that finaly works(adderall). in the short time iv been "normal" iv noticed that my symptoms return when i drink caffine and they go away in the time after the caffine has worn off and the meds are still working. needless to say iv given up caffine completely.

I was wondering if anyone else has noticed this. Ironically all through junior high and highschool i would drink loads of caffine before class thinking it would help me focus.

At the risk of being redundant, I copy paste the following: [There is a mention of Coffeetalin in there, one of the repertoire of medRx combos that seems to balance meeeeeeeeee.... not to mention, make me peeeeeeeeeeee.... (like GlennW), and if too much, go WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!]

From what I understand about AD/HDers is that our ability to produce a neurochemical for thought transmission is either subdued, in that we do not produce enough, or our metabolism is too active, breaking down the neurotransmitter too fast, or we don't have enough neuroreceivers, or there's an abudnce of neuroagonists that defray our neuros, or any of a bunch of combinations of these thises. BTW, does anyone know the exchange rate for Neuros? I'm thinking of investing in them...

Why a stimulant works to calm us is becuase it does really stimulate our cells, but in our case it stimulates the processes that either produce the neurotransmitter, or the metabolism of the neurotransmitteragonist, or the production of the neruoreceptor, or the antagonist of the neurotranagonist, etc. The end result is we have more neuros transmitted, and therefore approach societal norms, and are therefore accepted as having been adequately or succesfuly treated.

A normal that takes an AD/HD Rx/Mx is going to overproduce his neurothingies, and overstimulate his/herself. We, as AD/HDers can experience similar overstimulation just by watching TV (just kidding), by overdosing with our stims, or in tank mixing our coping mechanisms (such as Ritalian + Coffee + SushiRoot = one hyper day). I judge my hyperstim by the shakes of my hands.

One of the newer meds on the way, and you all should be hollering for this one, is a histamine known as Provigil. It has subtle 12 hour legs, AND can be turned off by one of the most common OTCs in the world: antihistamines. Therefore, it has an off switch. Problem is insurance companies don't like it, as it is still under Patent Law, so costs ~4.00 per pill. My doc got the InsCo to pay, and I take 2per. ADDed to my 60mg Rit, plus a pint of coffee, I'm about normal. The other drawback with Provigil is that it is currently accepted as a Narcolepsy treatment only, although the manufacturer is trying to push it for other uses, including AD/HD. BTW, our military uses it as stayawakes, haven proven its effectiveness during the 100 hour Gulf War I.

On a final note, I do not rely soley on mxs/rxs to take advantage of my ADHD gifts. I also employ a slew of inorganic mechanisms such as computer technology, gadgetology, sleep, and delegation. I read in another forum about "you know when your'e AD/HD when"... and he was talking about where to put the sticky notes, but didn't include: on your nosebob, forehead, or under the rim of your baseball cap like a cigarette behind your ear. Thing is, I loose my glasses there, too....