How do stimulants/caffeine affect you?

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I feel like the effect has changed for me recently. Before about 3 months ago, things like caffeine seemed to calm me, so I self medicated with caffeine often. It helped improved my moods, and it never really had the effect it seems to have on most (alertness, hyperactivity etc.)

I started taking Adderall about 4 months ago, and at first it was extremely helpful. It was like someone turning on a light in my head, and I could suddenly think. I didn't realize how terribly my mind had been working until then, because I never experienced anything else. I originally was taking it for ADD, which is what I thought I had. Maybe I really do, but I noticed that I had almost no improvement in any areas of my life, even though I was trying. I still had all the same problems pretty much, minus severe mood swings/depression. If anything it was harder, because I couldn't get myself to apply that thinking power to anything other than my interests. It made it very hard to do anything other than things related to my interests, and made me even more lost in my own world all the time. I couldn't eat, not because of a lack of appetite, but because I simply could not pull away from what I was doing while I was on it.

The fact that I was able to think is actually what led me to realize, looking back on my life, that my problem was probably something other than just ADD, so I started doing research about all my "odd" behaviors as a child and wound up reading about autism.

Weird thing is, now stimulants more often make me feel hyper for a while, and then afterwards I feel much more sensitive to everything, and I am a lot more likely to get extremely overwhelmed by sensory things during this time, to the point that I often can't function at all, which isn't common for me. It no longer seems to have the calming/clearing effect.

Has anyone had similar experiences with caffeine or other stimulants?

Caffeine helps me think a little more clearly, yes. Probably the same effect that other people get, but for me it makes more of a difference. I also get a psychological effect--a placebo effect--when I drink coffee. I know this because I can feel better and more focused even when I drink decaf. I've essentially taught myself that when I drink coffee I should expect to be more focused, and so even decaf has a lesser--but still measurable--effect.

ADHD and autism are very often found together. The major feature they both have is executive dysfunction, and stimulants tend to help your brain with that.

Self-medicating with caffeine is okay if it's all you can get, but if caffeine helps, then it's likely that more targeted stimulants will help too. They're better because they don't give you the physical jitters and nervous feeling you get on caffeine if you have to drink a lot of coffee, and they are less addictive (yes, really; caffeine has a higher chance and will cause more severe withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking it--though they are just headaches and tiredness, they can still be annoying).

I wouldn't say that ADHD stimulants will help every autistic person, or even most, but if you do have those ADHD-like executive functioning problems, and caffeine helps, then that's a hint that you may be one of the ones who will benefit from stimulants. They are contraindicated if you have heart problems or high blood pressure, and they can make anxiety disorders worse; after all, they're medication and no medication is perfectly safe. But yeah, I don't think it's unusual at all for autistic people to find that they think better on stimulants. Just make sure you get a dose that's low enough that you can still sleep well, and try extended-release if you get that "zombie" feeling when you first take the pills. It's the "zombie" feeling people actually go for when they try to get high on those things, but trust me, it will not help you function to have too much of an ADHD stimulant in your system.

I can't have any caffeine or too much sugar, I get a bad reaction to them both. With caffeine my heart rate freaks me out, which then turns into a panic attack. With too much sugar I get internal trembling.

Caffeine makes me drowsy.

Caffeine= heart palpitations, anxiety & panic attacks. I avoid it as much as possible and have for years.

I don't have much caffeine I just drink tea, I mean in comparison to people who drink energy drinks. Caffeine calms me down if I'm anxious, it's like the two anxiety causing things cross each other out.

Neither caffeine nor sugar affects me.

Caffeine makes me too wired, especially if I drink pekoe or orange pekoe tea.

I'm diabetic, so I try to avoid sugar (and lately, not very successfully).

Caffeine makes me feel dizzy and sleepy right away. I think it may even help during my insomnia. I always wonder how it keeps other people stay up through the night.

Modest amounts are okay with me. Although, large amounts of very strong coffee have triggered panic attacks for me. I certainly don't do that anymore. Although I actually like strong coffee very much -

I drink coffee every day, it isn't bad unless I drink too much with too much sugar. Then it just makes me completely super hyper and unable to concentrate.

Caffeine gives me that wired feeling. It also prevents me from going to sleep at night, so I've cut down on drinking caffeine anymore and switched to decaf coke zero instead of regular. It doesn't help that my Concerta, extended release, keeps me from sleeping regularly either. D:

Caffiene effects me the way its spose to. Wakes me up, focuses me.

Start the workday with coffee.

Decaf coffee doesnt do it. Gotta be the real thing.

Coffee, or Mountain Dew, are good for driving long distance at night when ice tea or colas dont cut it.

Energy drinks are a bit much though.

It depends. It used to calm me down, but now it makes me hyper and a better musician.

Caffeine in a normal like dosages doesn't affect me much. But after about 5 cups of coffee in less than an hour. (Well, not TOO strong. And yes I've drank that much before and it was recent. I know it was very unwise) that is when I start having heart palpitations... Same goes after drinking more than 1 liter of cola in less than 20 minutes. (Which is much more often than drinking coffee.)

Oddly enough, even I ate too much sweets, my blood sugar remains below normal.
I haven't tried any energy drinks before... I haven't thought of it yet. I'm 19, and lucky enough not to inherit my dad's entire family diabetic history. Yet I'm still, in question, if I'm more likely to become diabetic sooner even with precautions...

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