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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

caffeine contributing to anxiety!

Anon54

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 11, 2010
Messages
861
sorry mods i deleted this post out of the DS as i thought it may be better here

Ive just discovered lately when i dont drink alot of caffeine my anxiety including tremors settles down.
the guidelines on the interent say not to drink more than 250mg a day. that's only 2.5 cups of coffee of regualar coffee (not strong cappuccino like u buy when ya out) .

now alot of ppl smoke (i havnt had one for a while because im quitting) & coffee goes hand in hand. but id just like to warn ppl that to much coffee maybe what's causing u ppl here a bit more anxiety on top of what u already have. Coffee causes dehydration, remember that too.

I was drinking 4 cups a day. Ive only drank 2 today in the morning & i feel alot more calmer. my shaking & tremors have reduced.

Remember caffeine stays in ya system for 12 hrs so dont drink energy drinks of coffee after 3:00pm & insomnia should decrease. I'm serious caffeine can be quite strong at stopping ya from going to sleep. At a point it's not like it wakes ya up. its more like it just stop ya from easily getting to sleep

Another thing. Make sure put the coffee on the tea spoon so its level not over otherwise u'll be going over 100mg. You could also try swapping to tea which only has 50mg if u NEED more after 2 cups. but 2 strong cups of coffee is already hitting the max dose u should in a day. You should try to aim to at most 200mg if ya susceptible to anxiety

Im cutting down from 400mg of caffeine to the max recommended 250mg as of tomorrow. Ive had 2 cups of coffee today & i might have a cup of tea now.

So im going to do an experiment starting tomorrow where i only drink 2 cups of coffee just in the morning & see if i feel more settled.

I hope this helps ppl suffering from anxiety. Try to cut back the smokes top. u'll notice the less anxious u are the less u'll smoke anyway & smoking adds to ya anxiety.

ppl forget about caffeine cuz its legal & must be safe. But i feel alot calmer today cuz i havnt drank to much coffee & wanted to share my experience for other ppl who are sensitive to anxiety.

anyways ive had 150mg valium, 400mg codeine & 380mg of dhc so im doing alright.
(dont make any comments about this. I feel fine. i have a tolerance to benzos & opiates. I was actually more effected by drinking 4 strong cups of coffee yesterday.

This is just a reminder. ppl who suffer from anxiety have probably realized the coffee doesnt help but may have forgotten that. Im just trying to help. try cutting down to enough that u dont get a w/d. & it genially makes ya feel alot calmer. Just give it a try.

NO MORE THAN 250MG MAX. 5 tea bags. 2 strong coffees. of 3 fairly weak coffees. & be careful about energy drinks. ive seen some that have almost 200mg in one can. way to much.

heres some info for ya u might not know. i once read in a book at the library. Beleive it or not children often have more caffeine in the system than adults. Because the're alot smaller. a can of coke which contains 50mg would be like an adult drinking 200mg or more of caffeine because we weigh over 4 times than they would. They like chocolate to us it's a tiny amount of caffeine but to them it would be like drinking 1-2 cups of coffee if they eat enough. Might explain why kids are so hyperactive. Infact a study showed that generally kids have more caffeine in there body than what adults do. hard to believe ah.
 
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Good luck cutting back! Just remember, anxiety is also a side effect of caffeine withdrawal, so things might get a bit worse before they get better.
 
Aye, good luck cutting it down. People are so accustomed to coffee and caffeine that they forget that it is a stimulant drug like any other.
 
so things might get a bit worse before they get better.

This is what I was thinking, you may not be feeling too good tomorrow but when the caffiene withdrawals are done you should be feeling much better. As your not completely stopping you should be pretty ok.
 
caffeine and coffee are dirty feeling to me.

taper down and cut it out for good. ciggs/nicotine can also contribute to your anxiety aswell
 
I used to be a total coffee addict! 10 cups a day was only an average and this sparked my anxiety so much that one day I decided to stop cold turkey... Not such a great idea =D Anyway, after a day or 2 feeling pretty bad I had less anxiety in the morning and my stomach was much more settled. After a few months I started to drink 1 (max 2) cup of fairly weak coffee a day and a few cups of tea. Since then my stomach issues have subsided mostly, except in times of bad anxiety, and my morning anxiety went way down.

Also, taking a benzo and then drinking coffee is a bad idea.
 
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^^i dont understand. when i take benzos esp valium it reduces the jitters. ive had 150mg today :\
380mg dhc & 400mg of codeine.

unlike temazepam which isnt a muscle relaxant it seems like benzos that would be a good idea before drinking a strong cup of coffee. it only helps when u take benzos that are muscle relaxants too. temaze MAY help but its more a hypnotic. i only notice reduction of tremors with valium
 
Yeah but I mean that taking a benzo to ease your anxiety and then drinking coffee which sparks your anxiety is just a bad therapeutic combo. Caffeine cancels the efficiency of the benzo out a little.
 
Caffeine is not the only stimulant in coffee. Try an alternate source of caffeine. I found that coffee would give me a really strong rush followed by a crash. 0 carb energy drinks are like coffee XR for me. No crash, no anxiousness.
 
well ive only been having 2 cups a day & i feel alot calmer. my tremors have reduces about 50%. I havnt been making them strong either.
i dont know if i mentioned it already but i have generalized anxiety disorder & it doesnt take much for me to feel anxious.

i feel so much better that i just wanted to share this with other ppl that may have anxiety.
remember 250mg should be the limit. 2 strong cups of coffee a day. or 4-5 cups of tea.

ive also noticed when i dosed my 400mg of codeine today it worked alot better. the caffeine must reduce the effects of the codeine. i had valium yesterday & felt alot calmer as well than if i was to have had my usual 4 strong cups. im sure that coffee reduces the effects of alot of downers. id have to check the drugs interactions. what's that website called again where u check drug interactions?
dont worry i'll find it again & try to make a list of drugs caffeine reduces the effects of.

i hope someone who reads this gives it a try. it would be interesting to see how much my anxiety would go down if i just drank 1 strong cup of coffee in the morning. I might try that for a week & see how i feel. Remember caffeine stays in ya system for 12 hrs & causes dehydration. so if u wanna go to bed at 10:30 u shouldnt really drink coffee after 12:00.

im just amazed at how calmer i feel just from halving my caffeine intake.
 
For some its an issue, for me I seem impervious to its effects, I think years and years of very heavy coffee drinking especially when I smoked has left me able to drink quite stupid amounts with little effect. That said I don't drink coffee after 3pm, just to ensure it doesn't add to any sleep issues and I don't have an espresso machine at home anymore, not for along time.

I know some people who are literally shaking after one cup, I'll get up and have 3 very strong black coffees in a row and feel fine and I suffer with GAD YMMV.

The dehydration theory has been largely dis proven over the last few years:-

Caffeine is a diuretic but the most recent studies have shown that although caffeine causes a mild diuresis, it is similar to that of water. “In the 10 studies reviewed, consumption of a caffeinated beverage resulted in 0 to 84 percent retention of the initial volume ingested, whereas consumption of water resulted in 0 to 81 percent retention.” Additionally, regular consumption of caffeine reduces the diuretic effect unless consumed in large quantities (500-600 mg/day).

Dig about and you'll find the official studies but it only seems to be the case if you rarely consume, the diuretic effect soon goes away with regular use. Just a very quick rummage will lead toy to further info that this view of water loss is now believed not to be accurate:-

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/559762_2

Don't get me wrong if you have an anxiety issue then you should definitely try stopping caffeine altogether IMO, to see if it helps at all as it is a stimulant and can make some people very edgy and they don't connect the 2 but it isn't the case for all, I guess it's rare to find something that is :\
 
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well i just came up with a brilliant idea. i went to the shop & i bought a bottle of decaf. problems soled. i can drink regular in the morning & than when i feel like another one in the arvo i can drink decaf instead. tastes the same & i wont have problems sleeping :)
 
I'm glad you can't tell the difference, I drink my coffee black without sugar and am quite fussy about what coffee I like, decaf just doesn't cut it for me at all and I have tried it a few times.

I'd rather drink no coffee than decaf, its a bit like alcohol free beer for me, I can taste the difference (well at least I could I gave up the booze last year !)

Glad you've found a good simple soltuion
 
I don't drink an ass ton of coffee everyday, but if i go a day without having atleast one cup i get rediculous migraines and i either feel dead or delusional (laughing at everything for no reason). Neither are fun. I look like a crackhead, lol. props to you for cutting back, i wish i could say the same!
 
well i relapsed today. i had 3 fairly weak coffees in the morning before 10:00. by 4 in the arvo i was so tried i had to lay down. So i made myself a strong cup & i was back to my normal self again. i'll try again tomorrow. i wanna cut back to no more than 300mg a day even though some websites recommend no more than 250mg.
its amazing how ppl dont realize how addicted they are to caffeine until they try to quit.
i might have mentioned it before but i read an interesting fact. that children actually have more caffeine in there system than adults. probably why they're so hypo. because they weigh like a quarter the weight it only takes a 1/4 the amount of caffeine to get a buzz. & theres enough caffeine in chocolate to equal the same amount adults would get from a few cups of coffee. plus theres coke. 1 can equals 50mg. if they weigh only a quarter the size as an adult drinking a coke would be the same as having 2 cups of coffee. interesting stuff.
well im drinking decaf atm & it tastes the same. but i NEED caffeine in the morning
 
^Erowid Caffeine Dosages:

Oral Caffeine Dosages
Threshold 10 - 20 mg
Common 50 - 150 mg
Strong 150 - 400 mg
Heavy 400 + mg

Personally, I find that a dose of 15-30mg every 1.5-2 hours is good as a mild CNS stimulant without causing anxiety. It's when people treat coffee as just another beverage, not a drug delivery mechanism, that problems occur.
 
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