Drinking a stimulant and being able to just fall asleep seems so absurd to me. I really don’t understand it as it doesn’t jive with my concept of caffeine literally being a wakefulness agent as its primary effect. Thoughts? Takes? 2 cents?
It makes my ADHD pals sleepy
Ellis said:
It makes my ADHD pals sleepy
Me! Me! Me!
Remy said:
Ellis said:
It makes my ADHD pals sleepy
Me! Me! Me!
Hey pal!
Yep, really weird isn’t it. I have a few other ‘oppositional reactions’ to a few other medications. Like Vicodin, an opiate which normally makes a person sleepy. Vicodin makes me WIRED. I had a small surgery, a lumpectomy in a breast, and received Vicodin as pain relief. I took one in the afternoon and was fine, then took another before bed. I was still wide awake at TWO AM and could not sit still. To allow my children and my husband to sleep I found the quietest activity I could to keep myself busy. My husband found me at 2 a.m. with my arm in a sling, a toothbrush in my hand so I could scrub the grout in my bathroom shower. CRAZY, RIGHT? I’ve never taken that medication again.
@Remy
ADHD here and NyQuil makes me feel totally wired
Ellis said:
It makes my ADHD pals sleepy
This is me. My prescribed stimulant is also taken on a schedule so that falling asleep coincides with the tail end of my second dose of the day. This is not uncommon with neurodivergent folks.
Ellis said:
It makes my ADHD pals sleepy
How?
Ellis said:
It makes my ADHD pals sleepy
My Dr knew she finally gave me the correct diagnosis when first prescribing me a stimulant and my complaint was ‘it’s not working, I’m so sleepy I’m falling asleep at work’. Every time I deny the diagnosis to myself I remember how tired small doses of Adderall makes me. I personally can’t imagine what the other half of the population experiences when they take it.
Ellis said:
It makes my ADHD pals sleepy
So that’s why it keeps failing me when I need to instant re-up.
Ellis said:
It makes my ADHD pals sleepy
This is true - but it’s also due to the fact I’m up late every other night and I don’t have sleep banked away at all. I can sleep with coffee, but it does affect the quality.
Ellis said:
It makes my ADHD pals sleepy
Yup, then my ASD kicks in and then I’m wired. Then I inevitably crash, and I crash hard. But I NEED MY CAFFEINE!
CYP1A2 gene is more active in certain variants in some people. It metabolizes caffeine.
Zuri said:
CYP1A2 gene is more active in certain variants in some people. It metabolizes caffeine.
That must be it because I’m one of those people caffeine has no effect on me.
Zuri said:
CYP1A2 gene is more active in certain variants in some people. It metabolizes caffeine.
Are there any large studies or genetic maps on this? Pretty interesting. Another comment mentioned Portugal - and I was friends with some Portuguese-American people that drank coffee late at night before bed. It seems totally insane to me. If I drink coffee after noon it seems like a risky move. Though I did not grow up drinking caffeine and usually only have 1 or 2 cups in the morning and am also a bit of a natural insomniac.
@Tully
If you have access to your raw genome data from 23andMe or one of the others, you can search for SNP rs762551 on the CYP1A2 gene. If it’s AA, you’re a fast metabolizer of caffeine. If it’s AC or CC you’re a slow metabolizer. Interestingly, coffee is also an inducer of CYP1A2. I couldn’t find info on ethnicities regarding this SNP. It also appears that women who are slow caffeine metabolizers AND who drink coffee are protected from breast cancer. Lots of studies on this. It was also found that women with slow caffeine metabolism who drink more than three cups a day were found to have smaller breasts, but more importantly, a significantly lower risk of breast cancer. There are studies coming out every day that show coffee to be incredibly healthy. There are fascinating interactions between the CYP1A2 gene, this SNP, and a variety of hormones, including melatonin, testosterone, estrogen, insulin, SHBG, etc. It’s quite a rabbit hole to go down.
@Tully
Yes. It’s a genetic thing. 23 and me will tell ya if you have caffeine effect.
Zuri said:
CYP1A2 gene is more active in certain variants in some people. It metabolizes caffeine.
I have the rs762551 polymorphism of this gene and it’s absolutely true for me. Coffee has a very strong effect, but it passes extremely quickly, it’s kind of amazing. I usually have my last coffee around 6pm and it doesn’t seem to impact my sleep at all.
@Lennon
Can I ask how you found out you have this gene?