This is me too.
I likes my alcohol. I don’t drink every night, but when I do, I consume copious amounts of it.
My theory is, a little pill of whatever isn’t going to make a blip on my radar when you consider the fact that I can put away a 12 pack and still be coherent enough to speak intelligently and with out slurring my words.
The ADHD / stimulant thing isn’t so much because of a paradoxical reaction, as I understand it, but because it stimulates the part of the brain that lets you focus.
Caffeine: If I’m tired (i.e., all the time), it has little noticeable effect, though if I’m what passes for well rested it may make it a titch harder for me to fall asleep at night.
I do have other sleep issues - Restless Legs Syndrome, moderate apnea; both are adequately treated but I’m tired all the time anyway, so they gave me Nuvigil for it. Sampiro, I seem to recall you tried something along those lines a while back, does it help at all?
It may be worth repeating the sleep study, if it’s been a few years. Apnea can worsen as you age, and weight gain (if that’s happened since you quit smoking) won’t help either.
Me and other stimulants: Well, the Provigil or Nuvigil makes me less sleepy, so I guess I do react to them. I also have a very small stash of Ritalin to use when driving on a long trip, and it does keep me more alert.
People react weirdly to medications sometimes. Some of it has to do with metabolism; most common medications are metabolized by one of two liver enzymes, and if you have a whole lot/too little of one of them, it can really throw you off. Redheads are notorious for needing extra-high doses of painkillers. And for reasons no one has yet worked out, people with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome often get crazy side-effects or no effect at all from a lot of common drugs.
Lucky me, I’m in all three categories. Stimulants are hellish, allergy pills make the walls crawl, and NSAIDs are the only analgesics that work as advertised. Topical numbing agents work only while they are in direct contact with the tissue in question, and I am effectively immune to opioids. Fun times. I get through migraines and dental work with tons of naproxen and massive amounts of dextromethorphan. I imagine it’s not great for me, but neither is being in constant pain.
It’s entirely possible for you to react weirdly to caffeine and amphetamines, although they work differently, so it might not be for the same reason. If you’re diagnosed as narcoleptic, you probably know about non-amphetamine stimulants, but if it’s not come up yet, ask about modafinil (Provigil). It has an alternate mechanism of action that may work where ATP-blockers and adrenergic agents fail.
In my limited experience with prescription drugs…
First,“pain killers” don’t do shit for me…
Second…said “pain killers” give me SEVERE vertigo…which is WAY worse than any actual pain…
Third…if I ever actually ever need such things…well…I’m screwed…
There seems to be conflicting evidence on the degree of “tolerance” exhibited by people who drink coffee, and whether this only affects heavy coffee drinkers.*
There’s pretty good data showing that a “fast” and “slow” gene/allele affect the speed with which caffeine is metabolized, and that people may have one or two copies of either gene.
*I drink the equivalent of two cups of coffee most mornings (have done so for many years), and it never fails to give me enough buzz to jump-start my a.m. tasks.
Caffeine definitely perks me up. Marijuana never had any noticeable effect on me. When I was older and told people it did nothing for me, they’d tell me the stuff available in the nineties would. Nope, it really didn’t. The scoffers agreed that it really didn’t seem to.