What Role Does Caffeine Play in Your Life?

[Bob1]

A little bit of caffeine is ok for me, but I need to stay aware of how it is affecting me. Some caffeine is good in the mornings (I'm not a morning person), but too much puts me on edge. I also get a mid-afternoon lull with too much caffeine in the morning. A cup of coffee can be too much at times so I'll drink caffeinated tea instead.

 

[Nam]

I love coffee. When I was having anxiety attacks left and right, I didn't do much caffeine, just at five in the morning when it's so hard to stay awake working the night shift. Usually it was in the form of a soda.

Now, I drink coffee all the time. I just had a cup not that long ago and it's almost....well, late. My hubs just bought an espresso machine and oh my, do I LOVE lattes. It's nice having a barista in the house! As for weaning myself, I doubt anytime soon. I love the taste of coffee. The additional "kick" is a nice side effect. Am I addicted? Absolutely. I have headaches if I don't have any caffeine for more than twenty four hours. But for right now, I'm content to have this addiction. I'm pretty sure I can kick it if I start having serious health complications from it.

 

[Grama-Herc]

It was when I was put in the hospital and caffeine was NOT available, that I discovered just exactly how much damage it was doing to me.

After the 3rd day of cold turkey withdrawal from caffeine I had the worst headache the world has ever seen and kept it for 5 days. The other folks at the hospital just laughed at me cuz I could not figure out why I had the H/A. They knew. They had been through it. With all the drugs being given to all of us, the interaction was just to difficult to deal with. None of us were suppose to have any caffeine. EVER!

I did really well for a long time, but must admit I missed it in the a.m. with my cigs. Well, I quit the cigs so I went to what is called "lite" coffee! only 1/2 the caffeine.

It is a proven fact that we should not be ingesting caffeine. It really plays hell with not only our meds but our systems and our nerves and causes all sorts of side affects we don't need to deal with.

There, my 2 cents is in. But I still do enjoy my 2 mugs of Maxwell House Lite every morning

 

[Olly]

Think i abuse caffeine.
I can easily go up to several energy drinks a day as standard,
and normally start with a really strong coffee in the morning
My friends always comment on how much i have
But i use it almost as a form of support - like to get me through the day

 

[Acer]

I was a daily coffee/latte/espresso drinker. I love espresso but we just had coffee at home. I really don't like coffee daily, it gets nasty tasting fast. Recently, about 3 months ago, I just started having teas and haven't had coffee more than twice since. Not coincidentally, my breasts don't hurt before my period anymore, which was a major problem for me. A regular black tea has 1/3 the caffeine coffee does (well, I drink mine pretty super strong for taste so I am not so sure about that) and green teas have even less. I have greens in the afternoon. I have also started sipping yerba mate, and that tastes pretty good!

 

[Deleted member 93]

It hurts me. Until my doctor said no more did I see it kicked me in the teethe. Go a few weeks without and then go back, ouch... It is nasty, way worse than booze or smokes for me. I have quit smoking and rarely drink too.

 

[cypher]

Interesting thread! I have never been a coffe drinker, but soda, I drink all the time. About 5 or 6 months ago it was all I drank, Mountain Dew, Pepsi mostly. I drank a bunch of energy drinks as well, mostly Red Bull. Then I started to back off it, take a break, try something else like water, gatorade, milk, stuff like that. But I've slowly worked my way back into loads and loads of caffiene. I know it's not a healthy choice, but, heck, I'm hooked. Regardless, I'm still trying to taper it off and try to do something to be healthier. As I think what you eat, and drink I suppose affects health, physical and mental.

 

[captrn1]

Wow I will feel as the odd one out here. I drink about a six pack of diet coke in the morning with about 3-4 little cigars (pipe tobacco). I can easily go thru a 12 pk a day and about 10 cigars here lately with the death of my husband two weeks ago.

All I can say is that I am glad that it is diet coke and not beer......I have been there.

I am sure when things start settling down a little with probate and getting the freeloaders out of my life that my consumption will decrease. I still try to drink at least 32 oz of water a day....but I would rather have a diet coke especially when I am sitting around the house.....Outside I am mostly on water and gatorade.
Staying off the booze..

 

[insomnia]

Well I don't drink coffee or soda and try not to eat sweets or else it's even harder for me to sleep. But I smoke and I'm not sure if that has caffeine in it.

 

[dhawkins78412]

Seems not too many peope have replied in a while. I was and still am addicted to caffeine. It started when I had a headache and my stepfather suggested I take some excedrin. It had an affect that I liked. I drank some coffee; not many sodas. What got me was taking vivarin tabs. I was taking one when I awoke. Two hours later I'd take another. Then I'd take one around lunch time. And one after lunch, then I'd stop for the day. Mostly because it made me urinate so much.

I did drink a lot of water. After all these years I think caffeine is not good for you. I agree with the others-it exasperates anxiety attacks. Then I found this web site I really like-world health online and there are programs to get you off caffeine. I tried it and actually off of it for a year or two. My fiance drinks a pepsi a day and ice tea. So it got me back into getting caffeine. I started drinking sodas mainly which I hadn't done before. I'll get a coffee from starbucks every so often. I usually order decaf.

I've started and stopped and have done this a couple times now. Presently I'm getting off of it right now. The grocery store started selling these 7 oz size and I thought that will help me out. If I have caffeine I only drink about half of the can and tell myself that is it for the day. Lately I've went days w/o caffeine.

i feel better when I'm off the caffeine. It wires me up and I get irritable and generally feel bad.

I was addicted for years. The reason I took is was b/c I thought I couldn't make it thru the day w/o it. One counseler suggested I might have been using it to treat my depression.

 

[Iam]

DH, I can see it alleviating depression just in the fact that it gives you energy which is exactly what depression robs us of. My T told me that because of the anxiety attacks I am experiencing that I shouldn't have any more than 2 cups of coffee or 1 soda a day. I don't drink soda except on a rare occassion. I do drink a travel mug, 16 oz, of coffee every day and sometimes more. I was starting to get into the habit of drinking more but am substituting water now which is a lot easier for me to do when the weather is hot. I was taking diet pills too and I have no doubt that it was exacerbating the anxiety attacks.

Something else my T suggested was to take a calcium/magnesium supplement (both of which caffiene depletes our bodies of.) Proper nutrition is so important especially when our bodies are stressed because of our condition.

 

[kers]

Before I was diagnosed, my caffeine intake was excessive. Since I wasn't sleeping well, I was exhausted during the day and drank coffee/'energy drinks' all day long to keep myself going. These, I am sure, made the sleeping problems worse.

Now that I am in treatment and take a med to help me sleep, I have 1-2 mugs of coffee in the morning. I definitely need the pick-me-up it provides, but I don't depend on it to get through the day, just to get my eyes open early in the morning! I think my intake is now completely normal, and my body is better for it.