More information than I usually share, and with all disclaimers in place that nobody’s participation in this thread is to be considered medical advice and all that, but-
Brief background: I have a lifelong problem with sleepiness. It’s gotten worse in middle age. I’ve had sleep studies- I had some apnea, wasn’t profound- and I was diagnosed with a form of narcolepsy some years ago (not the kind where you’re driving down the road and drive off, but more a continual low grade drowsiness and difficulty waking up).
Coffee has never had the effect on me it has on other people. I drink it primarily because I like the taste, but I can drink two cups and go straight to bed and sleep just fine. (My sister has this too- she isn’t as eternally sleepy as I am and is something of a coffee-holic, so perhaps it’s just immunity, but coffee doesn’t leave her jittery or keep her up.)
Recently my doctor prescribed me speed. I won’t identify the medicine other than to say it’s not Adderall (which I would like to try) but it is a controlled substance and does have a street value and is an amphetamine. I took it for a month and felt some side effects (particularly dry mouth and occasional heart palpitations) but none of the extra stimulation or focus it was supposed to bring (it’s a medicine used for both narcolepsy and ADHD). When I told him this he upped the dosage to 1.5x what I was taking; I’ve been on it about two weeks now and am just as sleepy as before- could take a nap now in fact and this is written in morning after more than 8 hours of sleep last night.
I smoked for many years- gave it up 5 years ago- and I do believe that nicotine gave me a slight boost. I don’t seem to remember being AS sleepy when I used them, though I was sleepy, but obviously smoking had enough other effects they weren’t worth any stimulation (e.g. I can breathe now, and as several members of my family have died due to tobacco so we certainly aren’t immune to the side effects).
So I’m curious: is there anybody else who seems relatively unaffected by stimulants? Has anybody been unaffected by one pharmaceutical stimulant but another one worked fine (i.e. is there a chance Adderall might work better than the one I’m on)?
Speaking of smoking, my grandfather was one of those people everybody knows or at least knows of who was a heavy smoker for 60 years and never had an ill day’s health because of it. He quit only because it got expensive and he was tired of burning holes in his clothing when his eyesight dimmed, and he died in his late 80s from a cause of death not generally related to smoking. Two of his children died significantly younger than he did of smoking related cancer (they even smoked the same brand- unfiltered Pall Mall) as did several of his other relatives, while his surviving daughter quit smoking in her 60s and is healthy in her 90s. I mention this because of the same substance affecting different people completely differently.
Likewise, I have high cholesterol. My mother ate more meat than I do and had low cholesterol. I’m wondering if I have something that “turns off” stimulants the way my grandfather had something that curbed the bad effects of smoking and my mother had something that wasn’t affected by cholesterol.
I don’t either, especially caffeine. I never understood the appeal of it at all. I don’t get any extra energy from stimulants. The most I have ever gotten is slightly jittery but I don’t consider that to be a pleasant effect because being tired with hand tremors is worse than just being sleepy. Needless to say, I am not a regular coffee drinker because I don’t see the point. I drink soft drinks sometimes but not for the caffeine. It would never even occur to me to try one of the more potent stimulants because I don’t have any mental reference points for desirable effects.
A factor with caffeine is that it’s very easy for your body to build up an immunity to it. If you consume the same amount on a daily basis, your body will adjust to that level of caffeine and it will have a minimal effect.
In general, stuff just doesn’t have an effect on me. Stimulants, painkillers, sleepy medicine, whatever. If you’re giving me something that’s supposed to make me feel a certain way, either don’t bother it or give me a lot of it.
And it’s not like I’ve built up a tolerance for caffeine. Coffee is something I occasionally drink because I’m bored at work because going to the kitchen gives me something to do, but I am an almost complete abstainer, and still those once every few months coffee breaks do nothing for me. Neither does 5 Hour Energy, Red Bull, or whatever else you got. I took 2 or 3 NoDoz once, felt no effect, and then went to sleep.
I don’t bother with Advil or whatever because it’s a waste of time. Last time I went to the dentist, she was taken aback by how much Novocaine was required to have an effect on me. After the second dosage she suggested maybe we just wait a little while, as perhaps it was taking a bit to kick in. Nope. Lady, you gotta give me enough to numb a horse.
My body just doesn’t respond to stuff because it doesn’t like me.
Even in my illegal drug days stimulants never had much appeal to me. I won’t say they have no effect but they don’t seem to have the common desired effects. I do notice being in a bad mood when they are wearing off but have never really felt much while they were supposedly active.
Depressants seem to have an exaggerated effect on me. Anti anxiety medications the same thing very strong affects.
I can’t sleep *without *coffee. If I don’t drink any at all in the evening, I will usually wake up in the small hours with the beginning of a headache.
I heard that having ADD can cause stimulants to have the opposite effects. I certainly must have it because I’ve never been able to stay awake from coffee and if I do its because I suffer intense stomach problems from an increase in acid. Even caffeine tablets cause the same problem.
Red Bull and other energy drinks actually make me groggy and I decided to stop taking some because they taste like ‘lightened cough syrup’.
I would say, as others have alluded to, that you may have a form of ADD. Your body processes stimulants differently. Yes, a different form of stimulant, like Adderall, or even another a medicine in a completely different class may be more effective for you.
Unlike you though, I don’t feel tired without it. I just don’t get energized on it. I can’t tell if you’re saying that you need it to stay awake, which would be a different problem.
Benedryl makes me sleepy the first night or two I take it (for hives/allergies). After that it WIRES ME UP. Apparently this is fairly common; maybe you ought to try some, Sampiro, if you haven’t, since it’s over-the-counter.
I’m also someone with ADHD, but I have ADHD-PI (Predominantly Inattentive), so I don’t have any twitchy for the Adderall to calm down. It mostly helps me concentrate, and keeps me from zoning out. Well, keeps me from zoning out as much. I was diagnosed late in life and I have a lot of habits that work against me.
With ADHD-PI, keeping track of what’s going on around you can be wearying, which can lead to an urge to nap in order to get the energy to keep up. I’m on more than the normal dose of generic Adderall and while it doesn’t keep me awake, it does help me stay more alert.
A lot of doctors aren’t aware that there’s a kind of ADHD that doesn’t make people bounce around. Rather than being the loudest kid in the class, we’re the quietest. You might want to look into it, just in case.
Benadryl, and its associated iterations (such as sleeping pills sold OTC) DO NOT WORK. Its unfortunate. I have ADD (but no H) and I have tried a lot of drugs. I have been prescribed Ritalin, Provigil, Adderall, Vyvanse… None of them wire me like benadryl does. Caffeine has no effect on me at all. I smoke, but I find that if I vape, I get a minor boost, but that;s about it. About a million years ago, I abused the hell out of meth. And it wired me, in large enough doses. But it took a lot, much more than others, even before a tolerance was developed.
If you have ADD, stimulants don’t have the same effect.
My husband is like this too. He’ll go to bed and attempt sleep but it’ll elude him. He ends up staying up all night and will crash sometime in the early morning after drinking a couple of mugs of very strong (as in 3/4ths espresso to 1/4 regular) coffee.
Most OTC medications don’t affect him either. Ditto prescription painkillers. He once had oral surgery and the Percocet or whatever-it-was he was given, to him, was equal to a placebo. Needless to say he hasn’t had oral surgery nor any kind of pain-inducting medical procedure since.
Dad drank nuclear-strength coffee, but the one time he took an anfetamine he fell asleep for 24h. He and other members of the family have been known to have all kinds of atypical reactions to both stimulants and depressors.
