Coffee & ADHD
I was diagnosed with ADHD at 8 years old. Prior to that I was in a public school for the first grade and the school I was attending was lake Myrtle elementary in land o'lakes Florida. They weren't working with me to help me succeed and just pushed me to the second without me barely knowing how to read or write. So my parents found a special ed school Morning Star school which is still around to this day. I went their through the 9th grade.
I noticed I was passing my grades and learning but still had a rough time focusing so my mom did some research and found that caffeine helps with ADHD and help stimulate kids and adults with ADHD. So she had me try it with half a cup of coffee and the rest milk a little bit of sugar. And it was working great we noticed a change within a week. I stayed on a.d.d medication through high school so I can focus and with the coffee. But the down side of medication the medicine I was on for a.d.d started causing depression when I 16 years old and it got to the point where I didn't want to go outside and socialize and I didn't was depressed everyday but I was passing all my tests and making good grades and this went on til the end of high school. And I finally got myself off ADD medication and my depression and feeling down all the time went away...And I just maintained drinking coffee.
As I got older I started getting addicted to coffee and drinking more because I love the calmness effect it has on me. So I kept drinking to the point where I was up to almost two pots of coffee a day when I was 18. I stayed that way for a long time til about 36 years old. And I started cutting back. I'm down to about 12 cups a day. 6 cups last me from 6:30am til about 4:00pm. Then when I get home I make another 6 cups and that last from 5:00pm to about 11:00pm so that's like a cup and a half an hour. For me, I love the feeling coffee does for me and yes it's a lot of coffee but it works. It doesn't affect my heart at all. My heart is stronger than ever. So if someone sees me at work without my coffee Tumblr they stay back a little because I'm edgy as hell and jittery. So that's why I drink stupid amounts of coffee...if I don't, I go crazy.
Oh, and if I forget my coffee I eat chocolate to calm me down with the help of caffeine from chocolate so I never run out of sources of caffeine because it's everywhere.
Click below for an interesting article looking more into the scientific side of this subject:
I hope you enjoyed this read about the effects of coffee on a CHD patient with ADHD like myself. To hear this story in more detail, watch or listen to CHD Conversations on YouTube where Stephanie Romer interviews me about my life with coffee. Cheers!
CHD Advocate
37 yrs old
Tampa, FL