submitted 10 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I find this really weird. My doc says it's normal for those who have ADHD... my caffeine intake is quite a lot. I can down 3 monster zero sugar energy drinks and just be awake and not buzzing.

This is with my Concerta in me too.

Is this weird or just the ADHD experience?

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[-] [email protected] 9 points 7 hours ago

That's quite frequent. My Not-a-doctor, simplified understanding is:

Caffeine doesn't target processes related to dopamine but it's a stimulant. Outside of hyperfocus mode, ADHD brains are constantly understimulated because the lack of dopamine makes things not feel engaging and interesting. This is why our thoughts race, our brain is struggling to find ALL THE THINGS (thoughts, hobbies, worries, plans, memories) that might give it the stimulation it needs.

Since coffee is a stimulant, the brain gets what it's looking for and doesn't need to race through all the possible thoughts, it's happy. The two main problems are:

Coffee doesn't have a controlled release or amount of caffeine, so the effects can be at points unpredictable (peaks, crashes, jitteriness, sudden releases).
Since it doesn't affect dopamine production/intake/etc, it doesn't help with the "uuuughhhh I can't be bothered to do this" that happens when the brain can't see/understand there is a reward.

this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2025

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