ADHD and Caffeine: A Treatment Option?

[misty]

This is a section from An ADHD newsletter I get in my email regularly.

Caffeine is a mild CNS stimulant that can be used with ADHD children, teens, and adults, if used purposefully and in moderation. All stimulants are vaso-dilators, meaning that they allow the blood vessels to increase in size and increase the blood flow in the brain. One of the primary physiological problems causing ADHD seems to be a lack of blood flow to certain regions of the brain, and stimulants help to improve blood flow and reduce symptoms caused by this problem, at least temporarily.

It is estimated that 100 mg of caffeine is equivalent to 5 mg of Ritalin, which is the lowest therapeutic dose, and the usual starting dose for children. It is similar to Ritalin in that caffeine is absorbed and begins working in about 45 minutes, and the benefits wear off after about three to four hours. And, of course, caffeine can have the same kinds of side effects as other stimulants.........

Read the rest online at:

newideas.net/adhd/adhd-diet/caffeine

[charliegirl]

I knew caffein worked for me and with my son to an extent but I didn't know what the comparison to ritalin is. Thats pretty cool.

[notellin]

I tried caffeine on my eight year old (I figured what the heck, I've tried everything else under the sun) twice. He bounced off the walls and become HYPER. It did nothing for focus, following directions, or anything else. He was just himself, but high as a kite. Oh, and then he crashed when it wore off and was just miserable to be around.

[islandmom]

I tried coffee with my 8yo too. It did absolutely nothing for her, no worse....but no better.

[katiekat]

I tried it as well-nothing.

[jj]

Too bad it didn't work for either you KK, Notellin or Island Mom. I know oodles of Mom's that use caffeine all the time for their hyper kids and they swear by it. But each kid can react totally different with meds so I guess it wouldn't be any different with caffine.

I've even heard speculation that if it doesn't work then you may not be looking at ADHD but I don't have data to back that up.

Interesting info.

[katiekat]

Well I'm pretty sure that I am looking at several other things in addition to the ADHD.

[lcdc1]

I don't know about how it affects kids, but when I was trying to figure out why I could not sleep at night, my physc and doctor talked and they thought the ADHD was the issue and that my meds wore off so early that I might need a low dose of ritalin. While they were talking about it back and forth, my physc told me to drink 2 cups of coffee in the evening, it worked for a time until I started the ritalin at night.

The problem with caffiene is that you have to use coffee, other forms such as soda are "dirty" and too much can have other types of effects. So for me if my meds do not seem to work so well, I will subliment once in ahwile with caffiene, most of the time on concerta and night time ritalin though, I don't want the coffee anymore!

[jj]

Ritalin...coffee...ritalin....coffee....hmmmm. Which is worse?

So LC, you are saying it did work and then it quit and then you started the Ritalin or you just stopped the coffee to change to the Ritalin. Just curious.

[lcdc1]

jj said:

Ritalin...coffee...ritalin....coffee....hmmmm. Which is worse?

So LC, you are saying it did work and then it quit and then you started the Ritalin or you just stopped the coffee to change to the Ritalin. Just curious.

The coffee worked, but the doc and physc wanted me to do the ritalin thing, the coffee was an interm in other issues I had going on with drinking alchohol and getting a grip on that, it was like an expirment thing. I was drinking a lot (I won't share all the details cause they are not pretty) and the physc and I figured it was a crutch because I could not turn my ADHD mind off at night when the concerta wore off. when I did the coffee thing, I drank less and was calmer and actually slept those nights. With caffiene I seemed to be hitting the stages of sleep I needed, with alchohol I was missing some important stage of sleep.

I wish I could explain it better for you, but cannot, I am not a doctor, just worked in my case. As you know I was not sleeping and it was progressively getting worse, lack of sleep compounded the ADHD symptoms and made them worse. It was to the point that it felt like the concerta I was on for 18 months was not working when it was actually a side effect of lack of sleep. When I started sleeping more normally, it was like the concerta was working again? Strange and hard to explain, but I seem to be one of those that has to rely on these medications to stay sane!