☕ Whenever I drink #coffee it just makes me TIRED.
Yet I inexplicably keep trying...hoping for that mythical "energy boost" I've heard tell of.
Any other #ADHD #AuDHD #ActuallyAutistic #neurodivergent folks out there experience this with #caffeine ?
It’s official. As with almost everything about being #neurodiverse, #caffeine is a “mixed bag”
I think us #ActuallyAutistic & #ActuallyADHD folks know better than to make a poll with only Yes/No options. 🙃
@EmilyMoranBarwick @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd
I'm in the "it helps me concentrate in moderation, it wrecks me in excess" camp.
My body has all kinds of opinions about other drugs, including alcohol.
When I was aimlessly studying biochemistry, one thing stuck with me:
On its own, caffeine does nothing.
What Caffeine does is, it blocks the deactivation of the signal that adrenaline lights up.
So, in order to get "energy" out of coffeine, get yourself an adrenaline boost while it's in your system.
I have a method, I can share if there is interest.
OF COURSE I see your reply and start (once again) looking into how caffeine affects the brain...instead of working...
...and already have 11 tabs open to various studies...
...and I used to doubt I was #ActuallyADHD 🙃
I think there also might be something about stimulants having unpredictable effects on some autists - I never experienced Ritalin-type drugs to be stimulants.
@androcat @EmilyMoranBarwick @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd
Really?!!! Do you happen to have some accessible source material you can point me to - I would love to learn more about how caffeine operates.
@GTMLosAngeles Well balls...I did a bulk-closing of tabs to try and get myself back to "work focus" (ha!)
But I can re-dig. When you say "accessible source material", what do you mean? Like fulltext? Written at a more lay-audience level? Etc?
I can re-investigate & aim more specifically for what you're meaning. Then can private message you the links later.
I don't have a link to the specific bit (it was in a textbook, and it's been 20 years) - here is a link to something like it : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4373791/#:~:text=Caffeine%20binds%20to%20a%20site,the%20one%20blocked%20by%20ryanodine.
The method for producing an adrenaline spike on demand that I use requires a strong wall (like a brick wall or load-bearing wall).
Stand with your back to the wall at a distance of like 20 cm (experiment, ymmv), close your eyes, and then let yourself fall backwards towards the wall.
[Edited to add:Obviously, you should aim to catch your fall on the widest part of the upper back/shoulder area, not your head or your neck. It ought to come naturally to do it that way, but one never knows.]
You will experience a split-second of free-fall before the wall stops you, and your brain will release adrenaline, which again raises the Cyclical-AMP flag, and Coffeine stops the C-AMP flag from being lowered unti it wears off.
Let me know if its useful, it's a hack I developed ages ago, and I haven't needed to pull any all-nighters for a long time, so haven't used it in an equally long time.
@EmilyMoranBarwick @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd
The behavioral effects of caffeine appear likely to be due in large measure to antagonism of the action of endogenous adenosine at A[1] - and A[2a] -receptors in the central nervous system. Other biochemical mechanisms of action of caffeine, such as release ...
@androcat @GTMLosAngeles @EmilyMoranBarwick @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd
Makes me wonder about the old trick of falling asleep 😴 with a glass in your hand.. only to let it hit the floor when you fall asleep. May want a heavy glass mug for this experiment…
Thanks for sharing the information… cheers have a wonderful week!
@androcat @GTMLosAngeles @EmilyMoranBarwick @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd
Hmm - I always drink decaf because regular coffee gives me a too strong & sickening & jittery a rush. BUT ... the most memorably awful occasions have always been when having coffee whilst visiting humans (i.e. flight or fight mode activating).
But now & then I've needed to drink a cup of regular coffee in a quiet space & haven't been as badly affected.
This sounds like a potential explanation as to why.
Unrelated to your reply...I just want to express deep appreciation for your username.
It has brought me much joy.
@EmilyMoranBarwick @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd
I can’t remember tbh. I’ll go make some coffee. But I did find this site as well https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-metabolism here’s another tab…
“As soon as the caffeine enters the bloodstream the liver begins to metabolize caffeine and break down the molecule into theophylline, theobromine, and paraxanthine”
Seriously, my open tab count is almost always an issue...
...when it gets to so many that all you can see are the website favicons...
..AND have to horizontally scroll to reach the ones on the end...
...I have a real problem 😂
@EmilyMoranBarwick @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd
lol, if your bad…
I must be considered Mad as a hatter..430 tabs, I just closed it down before the weekend…I 🤔😅🤣🥰
@EmilyMoranBarwick @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd I don't get this kind of energy boost, but it doesn't make me tired either. I will feel very warm. If I drink coffee too late in the afternoon, I might have trouble falling asleep, even though I'm very tired.
I only drink "good" coffee. It's sth I want to enjoy.
If I really need to be awake and alert, I'd rather go into ketosis.
@EmilyMoranBarwick @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd
Yes, it makes me able to concentrate, which is work, so logically I get tired.
Hope that helps.
@EmilyMoranBarwick @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd
Caffeine can occasionally be soporific for me, but generally? It either does nothing for me OR, if I drink something like a (sugar-free) energy drink when I damn well *know* I should have a meal first/instead? I'll get the shakes. Feels like being low-blood sugar (and... probably is).
@EmilyMoranBarwick @actuallyautistic @actuallyadhd
Sometimes caffeine (like from an energy drink) actually makes me sleepy, if I keep drinking it after this, I enter a state of mental clarity, and my brain seems more enlivened. I have had weird panic attack like symptoms before though, after being jet lagged and trying to stay awake using energy drinks.
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