As someone diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, my first response is “wait, did we not already know this?”
Seriously, reliance on a lot of caffeine is such a typical way for ADHD folks to self-medicate, especially prior to being diagnosed.
Have you ever drank so much coffee it feels like you’re medicated?
A few months ago I had a 250ml energy drink (78mg caffeine) to power through a lab report after avoiding caffeine for a few years and it honestly felt like a more anxious and jittery version of the dexamphetamine I used recreationally a few times back in '18
Oh boy. I have such a terrible relationship with energy drinks. At one point last summer I was drinking like 4 Rockstar’s and working 10-14hrs a day.
One day I got home after a long stint of 12hr days (11 in a row?) Shotgunned a beer and almost immediately fainted. My roommate saw me go down and get clotheslined on a lawn chair. He rushed out and got me off the chair. I came to with him standing over me with a very concerned look on his face asking me what happened. (Still very out of it) I said, very dismissively and half pissed off, idk man, I was dreaming!
Fun times. Sore neck.
I used to use nicotine patches + coffee and it was basically like being in Ritalin.
If I can drink 1L of coffee inside an hour I’m in the zone
If I can drink 1L of coffee I’m in the bathroom.
AKA: The Zone
Pot’o’Zone
I self medicate with caffeine and have known it for years. Though changing my diet has worked better for controlling my ADHD than anything except pharmaceuticals. I’m in my late 40’s and have been diagnosed ADD / ADHD since the 1980’s. A low carb diet works decently for me. It’s not 100% like being on Adderall or Ritalin but I am more focused and able to stop spinning my wheels most days.
Unfortunately, for some of us, caffeine calms us down enough that it puts us straight to sleep. I drink caffeine at night if I’m having trouble sleeping. I get the stimulant effect when I’ve already taken my meds - it definitely sharpens my focus then, but sans actual stimulants, it puts me to sleep better than Benadryl.
Same here. Nothing can cure my insomnia quicker than a cup of coffee!
Agree that caffeine is “more yes than no” as a means of self medicating. My focus is basically dogshit without caffeine unless I’m hyper-fixating. It’s great until I have a ton of caffeine, then the negatives start to outweigh the positives and my anxiety overtakes me.
But no one in the study actually received Adderall? If I’m understanding this right they cannot claim caffeine is as effective as Adderall. All their study shows is that caffeine is as or more effective than an Adderall placebo.
That makes sense. I had assumed that the participants had used adderall in the past but that might not be true upon further inspection
Awful article that completely misrepresents the study.
Adderall doesn’t replace caffeine sorry.
A basic Google search will tell you the mechanisms of action for these drugs are totally different.
A basic Google search will give you plenty of anecdotal experiences from people who actually use these drugs explaining that no they are different.
I use both, they are very different. Caffiene doesn’t make me focus, it just makes me less drowsy. Adderall makes me focused and motivated. Caffiene cannot replace Adderall for me.
It seems that this study was conducted for NT people (I would hope they controlled for attentional issues), so I kinda get that. It would make a lot more sense tho to compare - caffeine, Adderall, and placebo.
Side note, as someone with ADHD, Adderall is the fucking devil. It makes me jittery and bitchy, and it was only formulated so Shire could have something to sell under a patent after the Dexedrine patent ran out. I wish it would go away.
My vyvanse definitely helps me focus and get shit done, but I am so irritable and I get that awful jittery feeling too. Plus it’s so stupidly expensive.
That’s interesting. Adderall is the only medication that helps with my ADHD. It has its side effects that I’m not always a fan of, but I’ve titrated down to a low enough dose that those don’t really bother me anymore. Vivance on the other hand was awful, I hated being on that.
Years of experimenting on myself would disagree. Caffeine makes me jittery, scattered, and kind of an a-hole in regular amounts. When it comes to coffee, my sweet spot is a single mug of 1/10 caf.
Not all stimulants are the same. If they were, Ritalin and Adderall would be interchangeable. But many people, including me, find that only one of those two prescription stims works.
I’m really curious whether the any of the study participants actually had ADHD. I’m gonna bet they were all NTs.
It seems like this study doesn’t say anything about ADHD or Adderall. All they gave out was caffeine or placebo and they either told the participants they were getting caffeine or Adderall. So all the study really concluded is that if (a neurotypical) college student was fooled into thinking they took Adderall where they really took caffeine they’d perform better than someone who just took caffeine. Which just seems like proving the placebo effect.
Similar experience here, I drink decaf espresso and more than 1 cup even of decaf in the morning can leave me jittery and clammy for most of the day. So I try to limit it to 1 per day and skip days as well to ward off headaches. I’ve tried adding L-theanine on occasion (which for some seems to steer the effects of coffee more towards tea) and it might help some for me but not by much.
L-theanine was such a disappointment for me. I’d heard it was supposed to take the jitters out of coffee, but instead I end up jittery, drowsy, and spacey all at the same time.
Yeah. I can’t stand myself on Adderall or Ritalin - only dextroamphetamine works (and my lil brother is the same way). Caffeine is a sedative for me and does nothing for my dad - he can drink it at any time of the day and not have issues with sleeping or anxiety. There are definitely some metabolism issues that probably affect everyone but are particularly problematic for people who need stimulants of one form or another to function in society.
I have similar experiences. I find the Levoamphetamine in Adderall is less helpful that just pure dextroamphetamine
Adderall is a mixture of amphetamine salts, which have different chiralities (left handed vs right handed) Levoamphetamine is the left handed version and dextroamphetamine is the right handed version.
Dextro is the main one and the more active of the two. When I take formulations with levo i seem to have more side effects and headaches.
It’s funny that this is presented as a revelation. Also the implication that adderall is a gateway drug to caffeine is hilarious.
This is a weird study, or at least article on the study. Basically, “over the counter stimulant still works as a stimulant,” was their conclusion, which-- yeah? That’s-- that’s what stimulants do? Or maybe I’m misunderstanding it here.
If the study aims to get less people to misuse Adderall, great, but I don’t know that recommending that folks take caffeine supplements (which are poorly regulated as both supplements and food additives) as a ‘safe and effective alternative’ is a good idea.
That’s a good point. I mainly thought it was interesting that people discount caffeine. It can be a very powerful stimulant and even for some people I know who are diagnosed with adhd an alternative to adderall. I’d only heard it from them though and never seen anything about it.
Caffeine supplements can be dangerous when misused but so can lots of other things. I would argue that promoting coffee and tea as a natural source of caffeine is much better than supplements
The issue is simply that, because of the unregulated nature of it, caffeine is working its way into tons of things one might not think to find it. From fruity drinks to candy bars to simple snacks. They’re doing this because, as a stimulant, you feel ‘good’ from consuming it, and it has addictive properties.
But coming from so many sources, many of whom are putting dangerous levels of caffeine in their products (such as Panera Bread with their ~400mg of caffeine in a single large lemonade!! for comparison, a cup of coffee has only ~90mg) with little to no warning or labeling, is literally going to kill people from heart arrhythmia if they have undiagnosed issues or aren’t given proper warning.
Eh the charged lemonade issue isn’t all that big I would say. 30 oz of liquid is a lot and 400 mg of caffeine is only like 2 energy drinks which. The warning part is misleading though I agree. I drank quite a few of them before I realized they were caffeinated. They should be way more transparent about what’s in their drinks
400mg is the upper limit of what a healthy adult should consume in a 4hr period. I can easily crush a Trenta Pink Drink from Starbucks in like, 25mins if I’m thirsty. But not all adults are healthy, in fact, most aren’t. If you read my linked article, those drinks alone can cause caffeine toxicity in really short order. Especially for people using Panera to telework or study in a place with decent food, wifi, and free refills who just keep going back for more, unknowing of the danger they’re putting themselves in.
It’s insidious too, because while stimmed up on caffeine, they’ll find they ‘work better’ when they’re in a Panera, thus creating the wholly intentional feedback loop of wanting to work/study there more often.
Hmm that’s a good point, however the article you linked said that they are unlikely to be lethal even if probably unsafe for part of the population. It is essentially an energy drink and should be seen as such
The study I posted in my initial comment notes how easy it is to reach near lethal levels for a healthy adult (second article, as well as myself, notes that most folks aren’t healthy) with the current trend of supplements, powders, and additives in other foods. Other studies have noted that high/toxic levels of caffeine can and does lead to varying types of death, including suicide, but also major cardiovascular issues.
We don’t take it seriously enough, but we’ve always done this. Used to put cocaine in cola too. Regulations just haven’t caught up with it yet.
Por que no los dos?
No it can’t
I had stomach issues my entire life from the massive amounts of energy drinks I needed to drink to get my work done. It got so bad I started complaining to my doctor who realized I was probably self medicating, she had me tested for ADHD and got me on Adderall. Life has been so much better since, just suffering now due to the shortages and needing to ration.
Cocaine too
I literally can’t function without coffee; I’ve been drinking it since I turned 5. Actually I even drink coffee before going to sleep.
