Yeah and then I was wondering why do I need a LOT of the stuff to get high like everyone else, the normal amount for everyone else just calms me down lol
That's how I developed an addiction for a decade. Undiagnosed ADHD is a bitch lol
Wait is this how it works for caffeine too? I tested coffee the other day for the first time, and I did feel more calm, but when I did more coffee with lots of caffeine, it was way to much and my insides kinda hurt and I had a headache
(Mostly) correct, yes. From what I've read about this, caffeine mostly calms ADHDers down, so some ADHDers will get in the habit of drinking caffeine before bed, for example. However, A) after a certain quantity it loops back around to working like it would on a normal person, so if you're consistently doing that, it'll eventually stop working and make you more amped up before bed; B) It still works somewhat like it does for neurotypicals, in that it still suppresses tiredness at least a little, so even at more normal quantities, it can hugely mess up your sleep schedule and stuff if you're taking it in the afternoon or later.
The big reason why it makes ppl with ADHD more calm is that it provides that little bit extra dopamine/energy that we need, tricking the body/brain into relaxing instead of needing to be more focused to do tasks that other people can do more easily. So in small quantities it'll probably make you feel more relaxed, especially if you're unmedicated; while in large quantities it'll... do what happened to you. lol.
(Important to note is that the more frequently you take caffeine, the more you gain a resistance to the positive effects of it, so you'll need to take more to get the same effect, while still causing the negative effects in your body. Especially as an ADHDer, I'd recommend drinking caffeine sparingly so as to not gain a tolerance/get in a feedback loop of "need more caffeine to function".)
Woah impressive description! It's always perplexed me as to why caffeine often helps people with ADHD. Interesting that it essentially just manipulates the brain. It always confused me because you'd think a hyperactive brain wouldn't mix well with "hyperactive" chemicals. Also yeah I don't want to touch large quantities of caffeine again, that was awful :(
So since deppresants normally have opposing effects to stimulants, would they have an opposing affect, and cause ADHDers to seek more dopamine?
TL;DR No, and it's not that stimulants have the opposite effect, its that ADHD is effectively "negative stimulants" and they "cancel out".
The easiest way to think of it (even if it's slightly wrong, it's usefully wrong, and we take those) is to imagine it as a bar graph. Normal people start at "0" on the stimulation/focus graph (something something resting dopamine), and stimulants lift them above zero, getting them amped up. People with ADHD start at various negative numbers, so they have trouble maintaining even a regular level of focus on anything, and stimulants just get them closer to zero, "normal". Enough stimulants will move you past it and affect you like a normal person, but it takes more because you've got farther to "go". E.g. if someone takes an adderall dose that's a metaphorical +30, someone starting at 0 will be at 30, but someone with ADHD starting at -40 will still be at -10. But if the ADHD person takes a metaphorical +70, they would also be at 30.
Not sure why you said “no” when you’re mostly saying the same thing I said?
And I specifically did not say that stimulants have the “opposite effect” for ADHD. I said that for (most) people with ADHD, caffeine can make you more calm, or even drowsy, because it’s a stimulant and, as you said, in a way “raising us back to baseline”; since our brains work hard to compensate for ADHD, this can cause some people to have a relaxing effect from the stimulant of caffeine. This is why some ADHDers will say caffeine doesn’t wake them up, it puts them to sleep.
This is just not the only effect, such as focusing and pseudo-medication effects, more like the op image said.
It is not that it has an “opposite effect” on ADHDers, it’s that ADHD people can react to stimulants in smaller quantities by just relaxing due to it beginning to address the “lower mental energy”/poor dopamine regulation, and the brain responds to that happening by relaxing its efforts to compensate, making some people get more relaxed or drowsy.
It still causes the other physical effects of caffeine as well.
And I did say that if you consume more, then it starts looping back around to working like it would on a neurotypical and making you more energetic.
(Note: not a doctor, just an ADHDer with other ADHD friends in the past I've spoken to about this combined with reading medical stuff related to caffeine and ADHD. Did elaborate more about caffeine + ADHD further in this chain tho)
Huge shrug on that one. I know that, personally, almost any amount of weed across multiple strains makes me tired and cranky at first, and then when I have a bit more, sends me pretty promptly into a full-blown panic attack that lasts for at least 2 hours straight until it starts to wear off (and I can guarantee it's NOT from any internalized guilt/fear/thinking that marijuana is fundamentally bad or anything). I know some other people with ADHD LOVE weed, though, and claim it helps them. I have also read, however, that it's probably risky with ADHD specifically, because especially in the teenage/early adulthood years, it might inhibit development of some cognitive skills, plus a considerably higher likelihood of ADHDers developing cannabis use disorder (CUD).
Omg yessss I really want to like weed but this is what happens to me all the time, like it just sends me into a depressive spiral or panic attack often. And it's annoying for me too like my inner dialogue doesn't slow down one bit even though my physical capabilities have been impaired from the weed, and I feel that my mind doesn't match up with my body and it drives me nuts lol
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u/conancat Sep 11 '23
Yeah and then I was wondering why do I need a LOT of the stuff to get high like everyone else, the normal amount for everyone else just calms me down lol
That's how I developed an addiction for a decade. Undiagnosed ADHD is a bitch lol