caffeine is an actual miracle

A lot of us don’t drink caffeine because it has the opposite effect.

For me personally. One cup in a morning helps. Anymore and I get super tired and jittery and that’s without meds involved.

Glad it works for you.

Edit: I should have read past just the title 🤦‍♂️. I’m glad you’re happy OP but perhaps caffeine ain’t the answer. It gives me an intense peak and then long ugly crash, which could be what you’re experiencing. With coffee what goes up must come down ime

I am absolutely addicted to caffeine as it’s the only thing that gets my unmedicated ADHD butt through work. And to answer your question I don’t think there is a way to drink 400mg of caffeine without crashing

I've heard some people with ADHD say caffeine doesn't do anything for them. But personally it's the only thing that helps me when the Adderall starts wearing off.

Caffeine and any purported relationship to ADHD is a myth. Caffeine and ADHD meds are nothing alike in anyway. Caffeine works by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain which just stops the signal which would say your tired, it also causes the adrenaline glands to release adrenaline, the fight or flight hormone. It has no impact on dopamine or norepinephrine levels which are the neurotransmitters ADHD meds effect. Many people with ADHD says caffeine helps them, many also say it makes them sleepy, many also say it makes them anxious, many also say it does nothing to them.

If caffeine helps you then that’s good and I’m not trying to take that away from you, but realistically you’ve most likely just been given energy from the caffeine the same ways as everyone else and your having some placebo effect where you think it’s helping you therefore it’s helping you, but long term it won’t make any difference. In fact it’s likely to make your ADHD worse due to disrupting your sleep.

If you have ADHD that’s severe enough that you can’t work you need to get medication from a specialist doctor, this will be 10x safer than taking high doses of caffeine and 1000x more effective.

The days I take adderral I have no caffeine cravings. The 2-3 days I don’t take it, I’m powered by caffeine

I drink tea all day, so I'm constantly getting a low dose of caffeine. I also take Adderall.

Before medication, I was leaning heavily on the caffeine to help get my brain started and give me enough energy to focus somewhat. I was struggling to make it through and was absolutely useless in the evening after work.

With medication, I'm not "dancing". In fact, the constant music in my brain goes away and all the barriers that kept me from doing things are gone. So i just do the things, whether that's entering data on a spreadsheet or putting away the dishes from the night before. I'm also a lot calmer and can handle my emotions better. I can listen better, and I don't talk in an excitable, rapid manner either.

I'm also trying a new schedule, where I'm in bed around 11 pm and up at 7 am. This gives me a whole hour and a half to wake up, get ready, take my meds, and head to work. I have been getting SO much more done and am a whole lot less stressed just by keeping a regular sleep schedule and giving myself that extra time.

So long story short, no. What OP described is not what ADHD meds do. The saying "it's like putting on glasses for your brain" is a lot more accurate. ADHD meds are so much more helpful than caffeine. 😉

Caffeine is a nightmare for me. So unpredictable. Before ADD meds it would help, only by pushing my anxiety to the point of 'must act'. Once on meds, I can barely take caffeine at all.

Different strokes!

Hi u/cycloban and thanks for posting on r/ADHD!

If you haven't already, please take a minute to read our rules - we will remove your post if it breaks one - and also check out our list of official megathreads here. If your post fits into one of them, it is likely to be removed; if you think this might happen you can delete your post here and resubmit it there instead.

Thank you!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Caffeine does nothing to me.

Just as a little warning: you can and will get used to caffeine and this effect will wear off. This will work for a few weeks and then you can consume as much caffeine as you physically can and it won't do anything... So use this very sparingly if at all.

Coffee puts me to sleep or gives me the shakes. Nothing above or in between, unfortunately.

I find that black tea extends my meds by like 1 hr 30 minutes if I drink it two hours before it's suppose to ware off

I found out that caffiene + ADHD meds gives me “superpowers”. My ACT test score jumped from a 24 to a 35 just from the combo.

I just started Adderall today and didn't drink any caffeine based on what my doctor said and reading. I was surprised I was awake and alert as if I had coffee.

Before that I drink coffee daily and maybe a redbull in the afternoon. I can't really do much without it.

Medication is alot stronger Different for everyone But 1 reckon 1 pill = 6 shots of coffee

Idk about caffeine…. I drink coffee and bang energy drinks purely because I like the taste. Not because it “gets me going.” I’m 34 and was just diagnosed with ADD (not hyperactive) two months ago. I went MY WHOLE LIFE not having a level playing field because “I done good in school and could sit still”…. I’ve never actually studied for a test, despite having a bachelors degree and fixing to start my masters. I can’t concentrate to study. I’m on 10 mg of adderall twice a day and when it “kicks in” I have to fight the urge to nap SO HARD. But once I fight that for about 30 minutes I can finally finish whatever task I have already established to work on. Idk how it works on anyone else but stimulants put me to sleep just as easy as giving me “energy”.