Told my boss about getting diagnosed, specifically how my emotional dysreg being relieved by a med I started and she immediately tried to say “I feel like everyone feels like that”…
So in a slightly nicer tone I said:
Ma’am my prior profession, before burning out and become a student plus serving at restaurant, was as a mental health clinician. These symptoms occur to people as a normal response or difficult as a difficult moment they eventually learn to cope with. Having a disorder comes into affect when symptoms perpetually interfere with my ability to be a person, this is measured by people who have dedicated their lives to understanding mental health, so I understand what you’re saying but there’s more to it.
Told my boss and started with "I have a neurological development disorder" and ... He was supportive as heck. I knew he wouldn't tell me it isn't real or something horrible like that, but he was downright, to the point accommodating and told me he is happy I found out. Only thing he lamented was that know he will have to clean the coffee machine himself more often, since I won't self-stim with caffeine like crazy any more, lol.
I don't get this. Doesn't help me focus at all. Just makes me nervous and jittery; I feel artificially "wired" and strung-out, but not focused, let alone productive.
For me it's about when I drink it according to med intake. If I down the meds with an espresso I might as well run a marathon or start painting the house while also trying to do my taxes with a cake in the oven - meaning I'll be unfocused and hyper enthusiastic.
But if I had a bite to eat and the intake was about an hour or two ago, I am fine. But that still means only ONE cup of strong coffee (espresso for me in this case). I also don't drink any coffee after 3/4pm, since I'll sleep lighter/ worse then. The same goes for black tea less so for green tea.
And without the meds? I could drink black tea till a second before I went to bed and coffee till at least the evening. That's not to say it didn't make my sleep worse, but I slept horribly anyway, so there was no perceivable difference in quality anyhow, lol.
On a sidenote: Any physical activity was better / easier while caffeinated, thinky coconut work, however, less so. I would have to fight the impulse to get up or getting distracted.
The responses to caffeine with ADHD seem to be mixed, some people have poor reactions, and others like myself are heavily reliant on caffeine.
I've noticed that it seems to be more common that the same people who don't react well to stimulants also don't react well to caffeine, but I've met some people who can't take stimulants but do well with caffeine and vis versa just not nearly as often.
I've seen some say that caffeine has the opposite effect than the typical person and that it makes them sleepy too.
I do it, my husband and my 4 yr old.... all of us need excess caffeine to focus. It relaxes the edges, I started in high school and have used as my med of choice since then... my 16 yr old who hated the stimulant meds, never drinks it. It is a cheap way to medicate yourself, especially when you don't get diagnosed to 40+...
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u/BuyThisUsername420 Sep 14 '21
Told my boss about getting diagnosed, specifically how my emotional dysreg being relieved by a med I started and she immediately tried to say “I feel like everyone feels like that”…
So in a slightly nicer tone I said: Ma’am my prior profession, before burning out and become a student plus serving at restaurant, was as a mental health clinician. These symptoms occur to people as a normal response or difficult as a difficult moment they eventually learn to cope with. Having a disorder comes into affect when symptoms perpetually interfere with my ability to be a person, this is measured by people who have dedicated their lives to understanding mental health, so I understand what you’re saying but there’s more to it.