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?
The tired effect coffee has is because your brain calms down and can rest. You just used that calmness to actually get things done. I have ADHD and coffee keeps me up for hours if I have too much. It’s definitely not a concrete rule, more just an indicator that you may have ADHD if coffee affects you differently. It’s not a concrete determining factor either way. Good luck on your diagnosis journey!