Might need some cigs too...

I drink coffee daily, it gives me zero energy. I drink it for the taste and in the winter for the warmth. I'm exhausted at all times 😎🤙
- Same, but for tea and maté. Though sometimes if I crank too much mate too quickly, I’ll get hyper anxious for the rest of the day. Not buzzed or jittery, just the sense that everything I’ve been working towards is about to come crashing down upon me… and still exhausted.
- Lmao same. Though it’s also become a bit of a work ritual. I’ll have anywhere between 2-6 cups over the course of a workday when I’m in the office.

The unfortunate corrolary to this is that if you are fueling your tasks with anger and caffeine, letting go of that anger can be supremely demotivating. Trying to be a healthier person to be around can turn around and sap your will for your efforts. At least that is how my experience has been.
- So you're saying substitute more caffeine, or are we gonna try a different emotion?
  How about envy? Pick one person to be really jealous of and let that drive you to new heights. Or become a Sith.
  
  I vote lust. Develop an intense fetish for your own ability to focus and be productive.
  
  Personally I have been microdoseing anxiety for years. Sure, it's a bad solution but it is a "functioning" solution.
  
  Or just do insane amounts of Adderall. (You can also always sell it fast if ya need to)
- Maybe the upgrade to this can be righteous anger, like an anime hero, lots of screaming and yelling but it's out of raw determination rather than hatred for all things lol.

I found that once I had my life on track, being diagnosed in my late thirties, it was easier to tackle life without medication. Because methylphenidate is not an easy drug to take. I would swear profusely even when not doing anything and it killed my appetite, which was bad because I rarely ate anyway. It’s just I was hungry but it made me feel sick to eat.
When there are more negatives than the problems it’s fixing I had to make a choice to rawdog life. It just means I have no control over whether I do something. Want to play Minecraft so bad but can’t find the drive, guess we just watching YouTube until Monday then being sad it’s back to work.
- It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. You just described my life, but without the diagnosis or trying meds.
- Atomoxetine joins the chat. In cases where drugs with focus on dopamine don't work, such for noradrenaline usually do.
  
  .
- You sound like somebody I could glean a few good nuggets of wisdom from.
  
  Ask away my friend, I’ll do my best.
- Haha it took me a long time to figure out you meant "sweat." I was busy trying to wrap my head around excessive swearing as a symptom lol

caffeine weed and anger
chefs kiss triceratopseleventy
- My neurologist told me to give up caffeine, been 1 month so far. Genuinely haven't noticed a difference in my life yet, turns out in the short term I was addicted to the taste of redbull, not the caffeine.
  I'm thinking I'll have to give up weed too since I've started getting hyperemesis every other time I smoke. (I'm prescribed a thc oil but I genuinely feel nothing when I take it, even if I take 10x the dose, so 🤷 )
  And if I'm giving up weed I might as well give up cigarettes too...
  Not nicotine though, you'll pry nicotine from my cold, stroke induce dead hands. I'll be chewing on this gum till the noise in my head stops.
  
  Any chance that thc oil contains THCA and needs to be decarbed? Seems weird to feel nothing, unless your prescription was minuscule to begin with.

Before getting diagnosed I would routinely drink at least a pot (maybe two) of coffee throughout the day to stay motivated and probably three mixed drinks at the minimum after dinner to slow down the "inner restlessness."
Not a healthy lifestyle at all.
- slow down the "inner restlessness."
  Is that possible‽
- I watched my undiagnosed mother self medicate with a 2-3 pot per day habit for decades. Fortunately she was able to quit, but not before she retired -- and not before developing a heart arrhythmia. Fuck anyone who thinks this isn't a serious condition.
- Yeah maybe, but you were staying hydrated.

I've been told I have ADHD by my friends with ADHD, so apparently I'm spec'd deep into anger. Kids, it works!

Jokes on you, my ADHD makes caffeine do absolutely nothing to me. I can drink two energy drinks and then take a nap.
- I nap regularly anymore and drink a lot of coffee. Now this has me questioning if I have ADHD, yet my OCD keeps me in check.
- Caffeine is so relaxing, you get funny looks if you doze off at work after chugging an energy drink tho
  
  I quit caffeine a month ago (my neurologist is convinced my redbull "addiction" was causing the migraines I've been having since I was 6) and it's no skin off my back to quit for 6 months to prove him wrong.
  Only the insomnia!
  I used to have a red bull right before bed to help me relax and sleep soundly, now I've got nothing (weed makes me want to clean my house then throw up)
  I haven't had any caffeine cravings, but I have started hallucinating from the sleep deprivation. I was told caffeine withdrawals usually only last 2 weeks so I'm wondering if this is just my natural sleep cycle shining through.
  I've got a sublingual melatonin tincture that I need to remember to use because it helps somewhat, but despite multiple alarms and post it notes near my bed I completely forget I have it as an option.

I'm over here doing both AND while medicated. Though most of the rage comes from bumping heads with people that don't have ADHD and keep pulling my attention away from shit. Sometimes the normal "hey check this out real quick shit is funny" or to dump a different problem/task on me. Because I am unfortunately the person that has fixed enough weird shit and they seem to refuse to remember stuff I have shown them (time after time after time). Which means I get stuck having to rush all the shit I was doing before the interruptions and end up staying later than everyone else to not forget what I need to do the next day.
I have begun giving a "me warning" to new folks to let them know that I might come across as an absolute asshole and very short with them at times. But that they should just be aware that I am not actually mad at them personally, and to be direct with me right back if I go too far and say something (like "too far man" or similar) as I will actually try to correct myself.
- Ripping me out of my forced hyperfocus absolutely infuriates me. I worked very very very very very very hard to get into a mindset that will allow me to work, and it is so fragile.. please do not interrupt if I ask you not to.
- I suffered a job exactly like this for almost a decade. Public facing, helpdesk kind of work. Obviously I was also assigned office-like busywork as well.
  So the entire job was just having my brain ripped between "What was I doing?" And "Excuse me fix my problem sir, but let me ramble about how frustrated it makes me for like 20 minutes first because you're cheaper than a therapist!"
  I'm still trying to undo how much that place screwed me up.
  
  cries in high school teacher
  I'm trying to get out of the field but it isn't easy. I chose the wrong career 😆 🤣 😂

With caffeine and anger, I've found that dysfunction is possible.
I'm terrified to think of where I'd be without either.
- I mean, the caffeine is scientifically proven to be completely ineffective self medication with worse long term health effects than the literal amphetamines that are actually effective.
  On the other hand, it doesn't need a prescription, so
  
  is scientifically proven
  Sorry, what?
  At what doses?
  Yeah if someone's self-medicating with like 18 cups of coffee per day they're gonna have a bad time, but like 2 cups shouldn't wreck somebody. I feel like this needs more specificity.
  (Although more than 4 cups per day will start leeching calcium from your bones, so watch out for that)
  
  tbf I'd be dosing on caffeine even if I didn't have ADHD

Are two 64oz mugs a day, a sign I might have ADHD? 🤔 I feel like I get nothing from it, but nice warm feeling.
- Man that's a lot of weed

Yup, I drink 12 cups of a coffee a day. So, there.
- gotta get those numbers up
  
  Lmao. Working on it.
- That was me when I worked in an office with a fancy coffee maker. Current place I'm down to maybe 2 cups (well, they're XL, but there's only 2 of them!)

I cant imagine rawdogging life

All the comments about caffeine doing nothing... I used to have that problem, until I tried NOS. Not sure what the fuck it really does different than, like, Red Bull or Monster or Rockstar, but it perks me up and allows me to harness the power of hyperfocus on anything and not just things I like.
It doesn't say it has meth in it but... 🤔
- Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar are all relatively low on caffeine as far as energy drinks go. Typical is 200-300mg for a can for average ones.
  
  It's got the same 320mg for a tall can as Monster does. The one ingredient I can see on the label that NOS has that the others don't is something called "inositol." Which sounds like something they made up.
  Could just be pladebo effect or a mood difference because I actually like the taste more. I got sick of guarana flavor back when Bawls was still around.

I go through phases... I'll drink tons of coffee then end up not touching it for days or even weeks at a time. (Right now it's been nearly a week.)
- I’ve managed to get myself into just one in the morning then rotate between water and tea for the rest of the day. I always crave coffee but it makes me feel shit and tired.
  
  Ya coffee doesn't do anything for me, but I do like the taste. It's mainly about just having something warm to drink, whether it's coffee, tea or hot chocolate for me.

Yup! By the latter quarter of my time in college I was up to 10 cups of strong af black coffee before midday, and a quarter pack of cigarettes. Then the pandemic hit and it was harder than ever getting cigs and was forced to quit cold turkey when I got infected. Not dealing with traffic also made the anxiety I got from coffee not managable and had to tone that down too.
I've managed to reduce my coffee intake to once a day at most, early in the AM. Mostly for the flavour. A good shot of espresso with condensed milk does wonders, but will leave me somewhat jittery since my resistance has dropped so much.
I kinda miss drinking coffee from 6am to 10pm.
- decaf! it has saved my entire cardiac system lol
  
  Oh, does decaf make good espresso? I got pretty spoiled with my taste, living in a coffee producing country, lol.

caffeine just makes me shake uncontrollably and clench my jaw really hard. so far meds have just fucked me up badly. FML

What's the deal with the shopped on safety gear?
- No idea
- for me personally, walking into door frames and accidentally breaking ceramic and glass objects

Just a raw dogging life, One puff at a time thc nicotine sometimes a cup of caffeine.

I genuinely don't know what my other options are

This is me for sure. I need to make an appointment
Update: my primary care physician refuses to give any patient adhd meds or painkillers for any reason.
- How about a referred to a psychiatrist, then.

I'm fuelled purely by anger.
And hard drugs.

Has anyone tried switching from coffee to caffeine pills and was it the same, better, or worse?
- When I was working an early morning shift getting up at 3:30 I found them to be really helpful. It's a lot more effective in my experience than other methods of caffeine. Though I would recommend the 100mg versus the 200 because popping 400 at once had me feeling like I was gonna die on a few occasions. 300 seems like a solid shot in the arm dose I never experienced. It was either 200 or 400 for me baby, on top of my Adderall. Which basically does nothing for me now.
  
  I shouldn't probably just try anti-depressants one of these days, that's why I want so much caffeine lately. It helps.
- I was doing half a 200mg when I woke up because otherwise I’d sit in bed for 2 hours before getting up and making coffee. That 100mg helped in that way and stains teeth less than coffee. Not sure yet about comparing

Suddenly a lot of my life makes sense.

the truth shall set you freeeeeeeee

not mention ashwaghanda, citicholine, alphagpc, tyrosine, theanine....

Might need some cigs too
So the aliens in The Orville had ADHD?

Can someone explain the anger part to me, because I feel like it resonates with me, but can't say why.
- impulsiveness/less control over strong emotions
  
  it aint easy being mean
  
  Weird...I was diagnosed as an adult and was pretty chill prior to starting meds (especially Adderall). Now that I'm used to my Vyvanse I've mellowed back out again.
  I smoke a lot of weed though.
- Fuck me, if I'm angry about something my productivity increased about 10x. This meme is me right now 🥲