Posted by ryedaddy on January 11, 2004, at 13:03:08
I am a 25-year-old student who was diagnosed with ADD when I was 15. I started taking dexedrine while in high school and immediately noticed it helped with focusing on tasks in the school and social environment. I stayed on the medication until until I was around 20 years old, then decided I would try and start my adult life without the hellp of the drug.
Without really conscioulsy realizing it, I began to use coffee in place of the dexedrine when faced with college papers or exams, and continued to regularly consume a cup of coffee in the morning daily, as well as one coke during lunch during the day---so that was the extent of daily usage.
This went on for five years and I never had an adverse reaction or problem sleeping or feeling anxious with the caffeine, until I decided to radically change my diet around this past November.
For a period of about five weeks I stopped all caffeine intake (coffee & soda) as well as alcohol (I am a frequent drinker)with some wierd idea I got in my head to cleanse my body. THis happened to coincide with the first real job I have ever had in my life (a freelancer for bar and restaurant review--very stressful for non-self starters..ie ADD)as well as a very rough realization that I was caught in a dysfunctional relationship with my girlfriend, with no real friends of my own, and I fell apart at the seams--couldn't concentrate on anything long enough to understand a conversation or read a sentence, which was the scariest thing I have ever had to deal with in my life.
The result was a sudden thought of suicide which came out of nowhere, followed by panic attacks as to why these feeling were coming on so strong, as I have never had any problems being down on myself ever in the past.
Trying to sum this up---- I am now in the middle of my fourth week on Wellbutrin XL, and while trouble sleeping has been a major side effect for me, I am begining to feel like myself again and thankful for that. I also take Busbar twice daily for anxiety, and this is a huge help as well.
The problem (and reason for this post)is that I still have major attention problems (probably even worse now than in my adolescence) and I think it has to do with the caffeine and alcohol balance that I messed with, which is still causing major problems.
Where caffeine always use to help me concentrate in the past, it now seems to have the opposite effect. When I have a coke in the middle of the day I either get a racing heartbeat and anxiety, or just a feeling like my brain is completely haywire, with a tendancy to forget things all togehter.
Also, when I was at my worst during the start and middle of the depression onset, caffeine would cause a sensation in the back of my head, along with feeling of extreme anxiety and restlessness.
I need to start a medication for my attention problems, but I am concerned it will have the same effect on me as the caffeine because they are both stimulants. I also am not sure if I should stop caffeine all together again. So I continue to consume it, even though the anxiety continues.
Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Will my body eventually be able to handle caffeine again? Is it a question of tolerance?
poster:ryedaddy
thread:299430
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040109/msgs/299430.html