Coffee makes me sleepy- what about you?

I don't drink a lot of coffee, and often forget it's effects on me, so forget to ask for decaf. For some reason (something to do with being adhd and not treated according to my mother) the more coffee I drink, the sleepier I get. I drank a couple cups of my aunts coffee while visiting with family over breakfast before heading home yesterday and couldn't make myself keep my eyes open by the time we got in the car and crashed out the whole trip home.

Anyways, anyone else have anything like that, not necessarily coffee, but i was just curious as to what were things that maybe effected you way different from the mainstream.

HAHA, I couldn't possibly be further away from you on that point.

I have very consciously tried to keep myself to one cup of coffee per work day because I don't want to become TOO dependent on it, but caffiene definitely works on me.

Back when I was competing as a gymnast, on days when I was ridiculously sore and tired, I would drink a Red Bull and be ready to rock (at least for a few hours.) I can't claim that it's healthy, but to answer your question, coffee definitely keeps me up.

(As I sit here sipping on my coffee....)

I can't say that drinking coffee makes me sleepy...but it certainly doesn't always perk me up.  I got a pretty bad caffeine habit one summer when I was teaching 5th grade summer school...think two very large cups of coffee per day.  Well, when I tried to cut back, ooff...I was not feeling so good.  Since that experience, I've done pretty well at limiting my in-take.  But there have been days when I forget and drink more than one cup...then I just feel sick.

Does caffeinated tea make you sleepy too?

good question, hmm... I assume it would. I am not sure, I mianly drink chamomile tea, and sometimes chai, but the chai I get is always decaffinated. I will have to try it out sometime. maybe some night when i can't sleep.... ;-)

is there anything that does effect you non-mainstream. I was just wondering if there was other stuff out there for other people, sort of like how coffee effects me differently, maybe alcohal makes some people hyper, or something lol- I don't know. Just a random thought I had, wondering if there was more stuff like that then we realise. Since chemistry can be so very different from one person to another.

 YES a lot of things effect me differently.  caffeine doesn't really have any effect -- i could drink coffee or diet coke right before bed and have no problem.  the downside is that there isn't a reliable source to wake me up if i need it.  a lot of times over the counter stuff doesn't have what i would expect to be its full impact on me, either (eg. i don't get sleepy from standard adult dosages of stuff i take to knock me out on long flights).

 Mmm...coffee. =)

Since I work nights, I tend to partake of probably too much coffee.  I like coffee :-)  ...no stuff added to it either - but an occasional Starbucks type is nice.  I can typically sleep with no problem unless I have had like 4 cups - and then I find my eyes are open, but my brain is quite foggy.  If I need to be up for a drive or something I typically grab some type of energy drink.

There are other things - my twins don't do well with kids "night time" formulas for cold medicines.  They have the trait that gives them the opposite effect and they are hyper all night if they have it.  Most Pediatritians warn new parents to try out a dose on the kids if they need it and see if they stay up for hours.  If so, just give them the "day time" formulas from that point onward no matter what time of day.  Simplifies the medicine cabinet some...

Not any more.  But at one time it did make me sleepy.

When I was working and going to school full time, caffeine became a diet staple for me.  I ended up having 5-6 cups from 8 am - 12 pm and then switched to soda & sweet tea after 12:00 pm...countless amount of soda & sweet tea.  I just kept it going all day.  In December of 2003 I had been feeling really sick...really fatigued and shaky all the time.  Turned out that I had something called Reactive Hypoglycemia...due mostly in part to my out-of-control sugar consumption but caffeine was also a huge contributor as well.  Basically, in reaction to my sugar and caffeine consumption, my body was over-reacting by producing too much insulin thus crashing my blood sugar fast and hard...leaving me with the constant lethargic feeling.  Over time, if I kept up the same diet habits my pancreas would have burnt out and stopped producing insulin, thus leading to diabetes.  Diabetes runs in my family and the doctor basically said I needed to get my diet under control because that's the direction I was heading.  So I made drastic diet changes and went through a period of extreme moodiness and migraines (coming off the caffeine and sugar).   I have not had a regular soda since Dec. 2003 (and I have not had any diet soda since October 2004...aspartame is worse than sugar...in terms of health).

Anyways, I gradually added caffeine back into my diet and now I can enjoy my coffee each morning and it gives me the boost I need.  I avoid it in the early and late evenings because it will keep me from getting restful sleep.

I think I'm similar to you.  Caffeine has always made me sleepy and my mom too.  We live in the South, so we were always drinking sweet tea at dinner.  And we always were getting really tired afterward. 

When my mom was younger though, she was getting a little drowsy on a long car trip and stopped at a gas station to pick up some No-Doz (caffeine pills).  At the time she had no idea that caffeine could make her tired.  When she got out on the road she almost fell asleep at the wheel because it made her so tired.  Ever since then, she experimented with non-caffeine drinks and discovered that she didn't get tired with those.

Long story short, I'm the same way.  I can't ever drink any sort of caffeine without crashing as soon as it hits my bloodstream.  The only caffeine I take is in Midol.  I have no choice with that, since Midol is the only drug that works for me during that time. I wish there was some way to get Midol without the caffeine, since taking it makes me useless all day.  Also I notice that when the concentrated caffeine in Midol hits my bloodstream it makes me tired, yes, but also jittery at the same time.  It doesn't last too long, but for that time my hands shake and I feel jumpy but also exhausted like I haven't slept in three days.  It's a really weird combination.

I've never had any MD formally diagnose me.  For the longest time, when I was much younger, no one would take my mom seriously when she said that caffeine put her to sleep.  No one thought it was possible.  Now whenever I tell someone that caffeine has that effect on me, they assume that I'm ADD or ADHD, which is very wrong.  I've never had any attention disorder, no trouble in school, etc.  But apparently, many people who are ADD or  ADHD have a similar condition to me. *shrug*  I just wish I knew better what was going on with my weird body.

Night time midol contains no caffeine...