**Caffeine and a major "freak out"**

[BRKLYNBORNGURL]

Hi -
I hope I am posting this in the right place.
Is anyone extremely sensitive to caffeine?? I always knew that I can only have a small amount of coffee if I think I need to perk up. But even then, I get horrible knots in my stomach that just do not go away for a long time. But today I was drinking an iced coffee on the way to the grocery store. I made it myself and forgot that I made it too strong and wound up drinking all of it (like the size of a Venti or Large cup at Starbucks). Soon I started feeling paranoid and very nervous. A feeling like I just did something very wrong. It just escalated on my way to the next store. Driving, I felt like I had just robbed a freaking bank and was driving away. That's the best way to explain it. Every cop car I saw, I just freaked. It was difficult to drive because my mind was racing and I couldn't focus as I should be.
8(
When I leave the next store, I am now shaking like a leaf!! I get home quickly and like bolt the door with the feeling someone is after me. By this point, I thought I had lost my mind!! I called my fiancé and he said "it'll pass. Try to relax." Huh!! I couldn't be still. The only thing that made me feel better was to clean our apartment. It kept me focused and moving. And by this point all I had to eat was yogurt and strawberries at 8 this morning!! No appetite whatsoever! 8(

Ok. So now obviously I am "coming down" because I can sit at the computer and write this. But now it feels like I am coming off of coke!! If anyone understands - you feel like the whole world is ending and so are you.

So question is....has ANYone out there experienced this?? And if so, do you just assume you're way too sensitive to caffeine and to truly try to avoid it.
But seriously people...all that after an iced coffee??? You'd think there was crack in it!!!
Thanks for listening and any responses would be appreciated.

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

I've heard some people can be very sensitive to caffeine. The only time I got remotely close to what you describing was when I was up for a couple days and on a shit ton of coffee. I was very twitchy, I could hardly stop moving and when I did manage to stop moving my body would shake. My body felt very tense and everything seemed pressured.

If coffee can cause you to have full blown panic attacks that include paranoia it's probably just not for you. Caffeine is a stimulant and in high doses stimulants will make you go fucking crazy. Also next time try eating a full meal with or before your coffee, it might help.

 

[Crankinit]

If coffee can cause you to have full blown panic attacks that include paranoia it's probably just not for you. Caffeine is a stimulant and in high doses stimulants will make you go fucking crazy.

This. It sounds like you're prone to anxiety and should avoid stims in general. There's another thread here http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/726230-Drug-to-Overcome-Panic-Attacks where a guy describes years of panic attacks trigger by champix of all things. Some good suggestions for dealing with it in there. Just avoid caffeine and definitely avoid coke, at least for the time being.