I certainly wasn’t saying caffeine is, or should be, a substitute for Ritalin. Far from it. I was simply saying that caffeine, taken under certain conditions and in certain amounts, can mimick the effects of Ritalin and similar drugs that address ADHD.
The interesting part of this, to me anyways, is the idea of prescribing a stimulant to a kid or adult that, on the surface, seems over-stimulated to begin with. Kinda interesting treatment, if you ask me.
[[The interesting part of this, to me anyways, is the idea of prescribing a stimulant to a kid or adult that, on the surface, seems over-stimulated to begin with. Kinda interesting treatment, if you ask me.]]
We’ve been over this before, but here’s my simplistic take on it:
People with ADHD have a piece of their brain that is understimulated (it’s in the frontal lobe, I think). So they set about trying to stimulate it in order to feel normal, by engaging all of their senses - moving, touching, talking, etc. With a stimulant like Ritalin, that part of the brain is stimulated, as it normally is in people without ADHD. So they are able to be normal.
To be honest with you, I didn’t know we’d been through this before- I must have missed that day. Maybe I was in the principals office being lectured on the evils of being disruptive in class.
The whole point of my post was simply to point out that the response that the OP’er had seen in that kid is not that uncommon with what people that have ADHD see when they take in certain amounts of caffeine.
In my case, tons of caffeine. It calms me much like the cups of coffee calmed the OP’ers kid.
To me, anyways, it seemed the OP’er was surprised by the reaction the kid had had to the caffeine, especially since the kid was hyper before the cups of coffee. I was pointing out that the incredulous treatment of treating kids with stimulation problems with stimulants is often the basis for drugs like Ritalin and the like.
My nephew Greg has been drinking coffee since he was 3 or so, about 12 years. Doesn’t seem to have had any bad effects on him, he’s not stunted and he’s really intelligent, probably a better guitar player than I will ever be.