ADD / Stimulants?

[InaneCathode]

I was, for lack of a better term, diagnosed with add/adhd when i was younger. I had alot of problems in school and developed a strong aversion to homework and generally anything anyone wanted me to do. If they want me to do it I wont do it because of that.

 

Of course that's all pretty much ironed out (except for when my gf is pouring her heart out to me and i can't stop watching explosions on the tv). My question involves a peculular reaction i've developed to caffiene.

 

Small amounts dont affect me, i can sleep with a can of coke. Larger amounts get me in a better mood, affect sleep patterns. Very large amounts (2-3 cups of black coffee) of course affect sleep patterns, make me a bit more jittery/sweaty/horny you name it, however it also focuses my mind like a fricken laser beam.

 

Of course i dont care much for the jitters, but i'm not exagerating when i say laser beam mind focus. Normally when, say, i'm cleaning my room i gloss over alot of stuff i cant be bothered with. I sit down, lounge around, forget where i put things and generally take a long time. After a huge amount of coffee i'll spend 30 minutes cleaning my computer monitor until every single atom sparkles, i'll spend 2 hours cleaning my room and not how i normally do it, i can bounce around from one area to the other orginizing several different types of items, yet remembering what they are and where they went with perfect clarity. Again, not exagerating when i say every single square inch of my living space is perfectly clean.

 

When i'm reading or studying and i've taken large amounts of caffiene it's like someone has put a clamp on my brain. I find it almost psychologically impossible to destract myself. What i'm doing has to be done, and has to be done completely with no interruption. If i'm interrupted i get upset. This is totally oppisite of how i normally go about things. Normally i welcome interruptions and get upset if i'm forced to do reading or studying.

 

That's all fun and useful, but there's more weird things. I get emotionally distraught if my books arent *perfectly* straight. If there's a single paper out of order, a cd that's not rotated the right way with the rest of them, a penny that's not heads up like the rest of them it freaks me out. Hard to explain, but it makes me anxious and upset.

 

Is this reaction to caffiene normal? Is there anyone else out there who reacts this way to it or am i alone in my freakishness?

[Hope75]

You are not weird. Ritalin is a stimulant. That is the typical medication that they use for ADD treatment. They think it works by increasing the amount of the neurotransmitter dopamine, in your brain, allowing you to concentrate better.

 

link removed

 

Since caffeine is also a stimulant, it is not so unusual that you may feel similar effects from it. Just be careful, because too much caffeine actually increases your heart rate and raises your blood pressure, as well as can dehydrate you, since caffeine is also a diuretic. Over time this can be damaging. It's best not to drink caffeine within 5 hours of going to bed, sometimes more, depending on how it affects you individually. Try to limit your intake to no more than 2-3 servings a day if you can.

[Ians Mommy]

I had alot of problems in school and developed a strong aversion to homework and generally anything anyone wanted me to do. If they want me to do it I wont do it because of that.

 

Wow I seriously thought I was the only one like that. It's weird.

 

Are you the same where if a teacher asks to write 2 paragraphs, I procrastinate until the very last second or not do it at all but if I feel like writing, I'll write 10 pages?

[southerngirl]

I just made a post about this yesterday.. Ive been told I have ADD and I dont know what to think of it.

 

I can do the same thing too. I can hyper focus on something and ignore everything else and turn something like washing the dishes that probally takes a normal person less than an hour I can make a whole day of organizing the kitcean....

 

or whatever task.. Im researching online, there was quite a bit of info to be found. link removed was one and the other I read was the Centers for Deseise control symptoms link removed

 

I definatly have struggled with impulse control and thats one side of it.. your not alone.. Now what do I do from here? I have no clue..

[HealingHandsWarmHeart]

Hey Inane-

 

Black coffee- (no milk no sugar) is actually proven to be beneficial for those with ADD. I don't know the reasoning (scientifically) but it does help.

 

btw- oddly enough today is ADD day...lol

[InaneCathode]

I dont know what my deal is with work. I could blame the people in my past and be all melodramatic about it. But, really, i think i'm just lazy lol.

Anyway

2 cups of coffee about 10 minutes ago...

ZOOM!

Cleaning my car, my room, my other car, the front yard. In an hour

[HealingHandsWarmHeart]

I dont know what my deal is with work. I could blame the people in my past and be all melodramatic about it. But, really, i think i'm just lazy lol.

 

 

Why do you think you are lazy?

[RelaxByWater84]

I have ADD as well so I try to keep up with the latest studies and all about it. A recent article came out and it said that people with ADD/ADHD have slower running brains and that caffeine helps the brain move faster. I forget where I found that article, I just remember the information.

 

Don't worry about getting bothered by books and that sort of stuff. In my churches library if I see books in a series are out of order, I have to put them in order. Gosh I can't stand that.

[InaneCathode]

Why do you think you are lazy?

 

If they'res work to do, especially tedious work i firstly don't want to do it. Secondly once i'm doing it, each progressing minute doubles that feeling.

 

I dunno... I define lazy as having an aversion to hard work, in which case i'm rather lazy.

[HealingHandsWarmHeart]

oooh i know exactly what you mean!!!!!! omg ... yes! lol

 

i think that's because tedious work is (yawn) boring work and our minds need to be stimulated more....I get bored very easily.

 

someone will be having a conversation with me...and i'll be looking around at other things.... my attention gets redirected very easily ... but it's not like i'm not paying attention!! i can tell you word for word what the person was saying!! lol

[RelaxByWater84]

A characterist of ADD/ADHD is that we need a constant challenge to engage our minds. Like when teachers had us do the same concept over and over and over again, we lose interest cuz we know the concept already. We want new stuff all the time. If anything is tedious are too detailed I lose interest early on.