here is a post from the adhd $ub containing a couple thousand annecdotes showing that it either makes us tired, or has no effect for most people with adhd:
(link in comments else aut0m0d flags this as being about r3dd!t drama)
one of the top comments was a guy saying he drank it to sleep at night,
and i personally wanted to test this on myself, i dont consume much caffeine regularly, i usualy have one cup of coke containing 30mg per day, but today i drank two cups of coffee (the first two of my life it, was fucking disqusting) and 3 energy drinks. i got 8.5 hours of sleep last night, and its 6pm, i feel incredibly tired, and have done all day, the most awake i felt today was in the morning just before my first cup. my heart rate is 58bpm as writing this, which is the same as usual, maybe a tiny bit more. despite me consuming about 350mg, and about half of that was chugged about 45 minutes ago, this is the most tired i’ve felt today.
i’m interested in the science behind why this happens to adhd people?
In: Biology
People with ADHD respond to stimulants in the same way as neurotypical brains although it should be noted that people have differing responses to caffeine with or without ADHD. As a general rule, people with ADHD experience the same effects from stimulants as people without ADHD.
People with ADHD have a hypoactive prefrontal cortex. This structure is associated with executive function, or the ability to exert control over the brain’s activity. Focus, if you will. ADHD is sometimes referred to as “executive function disorder.”
Stimulants, including caffeine, will increase activity across the entire brain. In people with ADHD, stimulant caused increased activity in the hypoactive prefrontal cortex allows it to function closer to that of a neurotypical brain. Because stimulants allow for executive function closer to a neurotypical brain, stimulants have the effect of mitigating ADHD symptoms!
Because there is a lot of overlap between ADHD symptoms, which are mitigated with stimulant use, and stimulant effects, which are caused by stimulant use, people with ADHD often incorrectly believe that stimulants don’t affect their brains in the same way. What’s really happening is that the ADHD symptoms are mitigated to a degree that the stimulant effects are masked or difficult to observe.
People with ADHD learn to self medicate with caffeine and are more likely to consume a lot of caffeine and consequently have high tolerance. This is why you hear a lot of a stories of people with ADHD having coffee and then sleeping.
The posts that suggest ADHD is caused by a dopamine deficit are referencing a theory that has been rejected for quite a while now. ADHD is tightly related to dopamine, so much that dopaminergic drugs treat ADHD symptoms, but the idea that ADHD is caused by a deficit in baseline dopamine has been disproven.
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