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My partner thinks she has ADHD (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/adhd@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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How can she get preliminary tested if we can't at the moment afford professional testing / two opinions? I tried looking into it myself but the only good tests I find online seem to be expensive ones as well

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[–] 7 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I'm not expert, but a very cheap way to tell is to drink a cup of coffee late at night. If despite the caffeine she can easily go to sleep that's a strong indicator. Stimulants have sort of the opposite effect on people with ADHD.

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  • [–] 17 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    That's a misrepresentation.

    Unmedicated ADHD people have a stimulation deficit and the reason why they're hyperactive, either mentally or physically, is because their brains are struggling to become stimulated enough.

    Regarding coffee: this is the unmedicated ADHDer's friend. It can calm people down. But others, like me, who have a formal diagnosis, are heavily affected by caffeine and it will keep me up.

    Meanwhile, my partner does not have ADHD and she can drink coffee and sleep fine.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago*

    I definitely have both ADHD and caffeine makes my symptoms worse. Even a single cup of coffee will have my eye twitching and I'll be anxious. The other day I accidentally drank two mugs of caffeinated coffee and I kept feeling like there was a being standing behind me all day at work just out of sight even though I was in an empty room.

    It also makes it impossible to focus on anything. I'll be clenching my jaw racing from a painting to a sewing project to violin practice to work and then I'll be out in the yard gardening and back inside trying to organize a shelf. That time with the two mugs I also couldn't stop obsessing over growing bonsai trees as an investment opportunity, and how I'd setup an automatic watering system for the 200+ bonsai I was going to start from cuttings from a tree in my yard. Good times

    So yeah caffeine is not great for my brain. What helps is plenty of sleep, journaling, meditation, eating plenty of fiber, and quitting alcohol and caffeine.

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