Image not quite for ADHPeeps but I feel this sort of thing happens regularly for us as well.
This is caffeine acting on brain and unlikely any change in blood pressure per se. You can try measuring bp a few time before and after chugging red bull to see how much it changes.
Oh it does change, it’s still a stimulant. AFAIK basically all stimulants increase blood pressure. The degree varies of coarse…
I used to be the one weirdo who could shoot an 8 ball of coke and be perfectly calm, at least for a few minutes until it started to wear off. That was a long time ago, and I was just diagnosed a couple years ago.
So much fucking coffee. My god it was too much.
My dad still swears it was the red bull and snickers and not the medical …
Wild that someone would think the Red Bull and Snickers are doing it directly without going through the some-ingredients-in-these-products-are-affecting-your-body route.
ADHD, self-medicating behaviour from childhood in the form of candy seeking. Impossible impulse to control and occurs when experiencing a dip in concentration/boredom. It helped me focus for very brief moments.
I was put on bupropion for depression and, while it didn’t work perfectly, it worked far better than the other antidepressants I had been on. Then I found out that it’s frequently used off label to treat ADHD and I started to have some suspicions. Long story short, now I’m diagnosed and on a stimulant and it’s amazing.
Mini thins (gas station speed) and Red Bull. At least that’s what I did in the 90s before I was diagnosed. Oh and pulling all nighters since my tired brain worked more like a normal brain.
When I was a kid I read that mint flavorings can help the blood vessels in your head dilate, increasing the amount of blood flow to your brain and therefore helping you do better on studying and tests.
Whenever I have a test to study for or to take, I made it a point to keep some sort of mint flavored candy around, and consistently across the board I have always done better on tests than my peers.
That being said, it is entirely plausible that this is a placebo effect, but I like my placebo and it works for me. Perhaps it will work for you as well.
I’ve heard that chewing a specific flavor of gum while studying for a test, and then chewing the same flavor while taking the test, tricks your brain into recall by association.
this is how i justified going to exams stoned back in my undergrad days. i studied high, figured i better test high.
It was incredibly common at my school for teachers to hand out lifesaver mints before standardized tests.
I always start chewing gum before a licensing exam. Minty gum and not fruit gum. It also helps me concentrate and eat less. When I was skinny skinny I chewed gum like a candy kid and worked retail.
I became a pothead because it made the cacophony of thoughts in my head stfu. I didn’t realize that my thoughts were like that because of ADHD, since I was only diagnosed in my 30’s (started smoking weed when I was 19).
This seems sooo extremely common among software engineers.
Snap
I think I got this from lemmy?
Look, as long as I can convince myself to go to sleep and not hyperfocus on whatever is in front of me I’ll be fine. Problem is, it’s a 50/50 toss up whether or not I can ignore my brain on any given night.
What if caffeine doesnt work on me?
I got 10 hours of sleep last night, drank a coffee at noon. Still crashed at 130 and had to take an afternoon nap like normal.
I believe it’s common for ADHD folks that caffeine doesn’t energize you, but it might help you concentrate better. Or it might not. I don’t know, really. I drink copious amounts of coffee and energy drinks and still have trouble concentrating.
Caffeine’s problem and virtue as a common stimulant is that bodies adapt to it readily and become dependent. Blood pressure doesn’t spike when you’re used to it, sleep is less effected, etc.
Caffeine’s problem as self medication for ADHD is that as a result it’s more of an addiction than a self-medication. The short and long term benefits are minimal and it’s more of a comforting habit than treatment. Maybe ADHD peeps are chasing that initial benefit, or maybe we just use it because it’s legal and we’re tired from staying up late.
I dont see how I can concentrate if im passed out in the middle of the day lol.
That’s fair
I’m in the middle of diagnosis. I do have Bipolar and have been medicated for 4 years or so. My shrink and I suspect that ADHD is there. It seems to be a common comorbidity. I was self-medicating with alcohol, until I got to a very bad place.
Both bipolar and ADHD have a frightening percentage of substance abuse, often as a form of self medication.
I went to the shrink around the time when I got sober. Quitting drinking and meds literally saved my life.
BTW, I got sober thanks to SMART Recovery. SMART is science based and behavior oriented, so even if you don’t have an addiction problem (substances and/or behaviors), You can learn a lot of stuff applicable to behavioral problems. Much of the program is based on Cognitive Behavioral therapies, no higher power required. Confidential. Free.
Holy shit! This post gave me an epiphany.
I was a cartoonist for the student newspaper, and drawing a funny comic strip every day was grueling. But I did better when I drank a Coca Cola before I started to brainstorm. Later, guess what - diagnosed ADHD.
Anyway, I probably took 2-3 hours on each comic, and was paid $5 per strip. And spent some of that on soda. So, it was a labor of love and foolishness. Also, I was semi-famous on campus for edgy cartoons that were occasionally funny, most of which I am embarrassed about in middle age.
Alcohol. Before getting formally diagnosed and medicated, drinking was the only thing that would quiet the inner restlessness. It worked but it’s not a healthy lifestyle at all.
This is something I like to bring up to people who are hesitant to medicate their kids. Yeah, I know you think Timmy is fine because he’s not completely failing in school, but you should at least show Timmy that he has options and that it’s OK to talk to a doctor and take medication if he needs it. He doesn’t have to rely on Jack Daniels and Folgers to eek his way through life.
This one surprised me, too.
I had a nasty habit of waiting until the evening to do my papers in college, because that was when it was acceptable to have some wine or whiskey while I wrote. But it was amazing just how much easier it was to stay on task after having a drink, and during finals - or after college when i was on deadline - i would alternate between liters of coffee in the morning and several drinks in the evening.
Now that I’m medicated both coffee and alcohol are just occasional indulgences… well, alcohol is at least. But I didn’t expect it to help curb my impulsive consumption habits like it has- it’s been a game-changer.
Neurotypicals think they have this superior discipline and attitude to “get on the task”, and I believed them, too! Now, medicated, I realise that they only work on these constant dopamine micro rewards in their prefrontal cortex. Which I now get, too.
I’ve been cutting back on caffeine finally because I thought it was my medicine giving me anxiety, and I’m pretty sure it’s the caffeine. Now I’m usually at about two cups of coffee in the morning (the mug I have is American large, and I always seem to fill it up).
Reminds me of when people find out I do cocaine and Adderall.
“Oh Michael likes to get high”
No, Michael doesn’t have health insurance and has very severe adhd. I can’t live a normal life without stimulants and drug dealers are cheaper than doctors. welcome to America.
Cocaine bad for mental health. Even with ADHD cocaine is so cut and stepped on its not reliable enough to get anything done.
It falls into the “better than nothing” category for me. I’m aware it’s absolutely not a good idea.
I’m sorry your government failed you so badly. That’s a tough place to be in.
Thank you Mr poopybutthole
Damn mate, that’s really rough. I did see recently how US companies are taking advantage of the made-up scarcity to scalp people with ADHD to the point where the black market is more affordable. I only you know what you’re doing vis-a-vis risks from tainted batches.
It’s a problem with the categorization. They’re treated like oxy legally so they aren’t allowed to manufacture over a certain amount.
I do worry about getting a hot batch and dying but that’s just the state of America today. Women will be getting dangerous back ally abortions as well soon.
Why the combination? I have no idea about either.
It’s not a combination. I’d try to buy Adderall which is what a doctor would prescribe but there is an Adderall shortage because… Well because people sell their meds to drug dealers so the FDA clamped down.
So if Adderall isn’t available or too expensive I buy cocaine and use small amounts to combat my condition.
pseudoephedrine
my Adderall script is in USA insurance purgatory and pseudoephedrine is probably the only thing keeping me employed tbh
Same, was taking a few Advil Cold and Sinus pills a week which are sold on the shelf in Canada till I recently got a Strattera prescription (which is causing constipation unfortunately)
here in Freedom Land we gotta show ID to get the pseudoephedrine and promise not to be naughty and make meth with it lmao
oof. sorry to hear you got such an unpleasant side effect :[ i can’t recommend psyllium husk enough. i don’t know how ancient humans who didn’t live near psyllium plants managed to survive 💀
I was about to say same!
Accidentally, though.
The story is roughly like this: I had bad allergies and fucked up sinuses - I thought. Got sinus headaches every day during bad periods. Lots of sinus infections. Went on for like 10-15 years through periods of being intense and focused and stressed with sinus issues and periods of checking out, being aloof and dippy without sinus issues.
In 2019, sinus rinses, pseudoephedrine, nose sprays, and pain killers weren’t doing it. Resigned myself to having to get the sinus roto-rooter, where they scrape out your sinuses to make it easier for all that junk to drain off. So I went to my doctor to get that in motion. Doctor sent me to an immunologist, who sent me to an ENT, who sent me to a neurologist, who looked at my records for 30 seconds, declared that I had migraines, and sent me on my way with a preventative script.
I was so fucking mad. Didn’t think he could possibly be right. But he was. And then Covid hit and by the time things got normal again, I realized I wasn’t able to work like I was before. So I got got tested for ADHD, and… here I am, rambling.o/
We got you.
Pseudoephedrine has been my thing lately when I need that extra focus for work. Out of curiosity, what dosage do you take?
started with 30 mg but now need 60 (sometimes 90 on bad days…) but I try my damndest to not take them unless I feel like I’m genuinely going to fuck shit up at work. Taking cold medication off label makes me feel guilty 😞
I also tried the 12 hour extended release (120 mg) but that fucked up my sleep which is already precarious
I fucking hate that half the days at work I’m constantly sniffing from the runny nose it induces. Makes me paranoid that my coworkers will think I’m hiding being sick (or worse, a coke habit…)
