First off: I am still undiagnosed. I’ve followed the ADHD topic for more than a year now since I seem to match a whole lot of symptoms and behavior patterns. An official diagnosis will most probably still take another year. I live in Germany.
One thing that got me wondering was caffeine. As I’ve heard, drinking coffee will make ADHD folks not feel any more awake, maybe even a little tired.
While it doesn’t make me feel awake as well, I very vividly remember my first coffee a long time ago that caused a massive outburst of productivity when all of the time I was known for being ‘lazy’ and distracted. However the effect quickly diminished with each subsequent coffee over the next year.
Isn’t this a contradiction though? If I actually had ADHD, why did coffee have this awakening effect on me back then?
Diagnosed. Coffe gives me energy, keeps me awake. ADHD meds give me energy and ability to actually do things. They also make me feel normal.
So the calmong sleepy thing not universal. Its also not used for diagnoses, similar to “talking lots” is not in itself a diagnoses.
FYI Ridalin makes me crash in the middle of the day, and if I forget to take it at noon I’m ADHD brain awake by night. Vyvance is much better at riding it out all day and then just crashing.