Auties/Aspies and caffeine

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Hi guys,

I was wondering if people had any stories to contribute about the link between caffeine and autism and/or mood.
I find that if I don't have caffeine during the day my mood is very severely affected and in fact I find it very VERY comforting and relaxing to drink coffee for example. My mood improves dramatically when I take in caffeine in some way: coffee, tea, chocolate, caffeine pills. I also find that it helps get rid of aches and pains- a bit extreme perhaps but a surprisingly simple fix I think.
My family thinks it is strange though so they try and discourage it. However, I find it quite vital to my mental health.

Any similar experiences?

I don't usually get into contact with caffeine.

However there was a time when I would drink it every morning as a way to get out of bed at all: I would prepare some black tea the night before and place it next to my bed. Then when the bell would ring I would get up as fast as possible, drink my cup of black tea and go back to sleep until the caffeine activates.
I do realize that this is not the best way to take caffeine, but I used it as a way to "energize" myself. Not anymore however, because I don't want to depend on it since addiciton isn't all that great.

When I take caffeine and it's not regularly I get all the usual effects very intensely like faster heart beat, racing thoughts, but less accurate thaoughts, shallow wakefulness... etc.
I don't often drink coffee at family gatherings, but one time I did and kinda owned the place, I was so outgoing, lol.
I wouldn't recommend to make it a habit though because it's like any other drug, you need more and get withdrawal symptoms after a while.

I have to take in a tremendous amount of caffeine before I feel negative side effects.

I don't *need*, I like it. Every night, I sleep 5-6 hours and wake up without an alarm clock. I don't need coffee to wake-up, and I rarely feel tired during the day. (Not sure if that is from caffeine or not, since I do drink regular coffee.) Sometimes, I will be up at 5 and not have my first cup of coffee until 6:30.

(The 5/6 hrs of sleep a night and early morning rising started when I was 13 or earlier, years before I started drinking coffee, so it's not the caffeine that causes it - I am just that way.)

I only *need* caffeine when my allergies are really bad, or if I have a *tremendous* amount going on and get tired, or if for some reason I get less than 5hrs of sleep (that happens sometimes.) Caffeine helps my allergies A LOT. My sinuses clear up some, and the brain fog diminishes.

When I am really tired, though, a 5-10 minute nap works better for me than a cup of coffee.

The caffeine in soda doesn't help. Only coffee and tea have any benefit for me.

^ Same here. Soda gives me sugar crash.

I usually try to avoid it, I don't drink too much caffeine so when I do it really has an effect on me and its something that can keep me up all night if I drink it too late and am not careful. Jittery, anxiety, I don't enjoy it. I do like coffee tho, in the morning maybe I can handle it once in a blue moon.

I try to stay away from caffeine these days, especially when it's in Mountain Dew. It's energy boost screws up my ability to sleep and if I stop taking it after long periods of ingesting it I get headaches.

I'm drinking sugary soda right now and will soon pay the price.

Wise choice to stay off it if you don't need.
I like to keep it as a last resort, because if I drink it for like a week straight the effect feels much weaker.

Caffeine doesn't seem to have an effect on me.

OK so I happned to have an energy drink in the house and did only sleep for like 6 hours with some waking up in between. I didn't want to go back to sleep so I got up, walked around then drank that stuff and now my mind is like RRRR-RRRR-RRRR-RRRR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqU5wWuv-Po (turn down your volume before you click).

There are times when I wished I wasn't caffeine intolerant, I tend to stay away from beverages high in caffeine. A simple cup of coffee makes me pretty sick and when that fever starts I tend to fall asleep. Tea & soda I can handle, but anything beyond that and it'll knock me out within half an hour.

I avoid drinking anything with caffiene about five to six hours pryor to bedtime (which is generally 4AM to 5AM), and BTW, I can only drink cold beverages due to my SPD. When I wake up (usually around 12 noon), I'll take my meds with Coke or Dr. Pepper as the combination of caffiene and sugar gets me going. Once in a while I'll buy Rockstars or AMP/Full Throttle energy drinks when they go on sale at the stores for $1 or less. These hyper-caffenated cans work really well for treating hangovers. Once in a while I'll make ICED coffee with extra sugar or Spenda and no milk whatsoever to perk me up, but I definatly prefer carbonated drinks.