Misc Caffeine Pills are Weird

[cue55]

Why do coffee and caffeine pills seem like two completely different drugs?

I've been drinking coffee for a long time, always works for me and helps with my depression. Occasionally I've taken an unintentional tolerance break for a couple days, but I've never really had problems with increased tolerance. 200mg of caffeine or so feels nice and has for years. Never really feel anxious or get bad comedowns though of course withdrawal sucks, tired, headache, depression.

Decided to try 200mg caffeine pills a couple months ago. And the first time I take one after a couple days of no pills (but maybe some coffee) it feels normal good and like the coffee equivalent of 200mg. By the second or third consecutive day of taking a pill I feel something, but not much, not like coffee. Generally after four days in a row I basically feel nothing, so I'm taking 400mg or more at once to get the same effects I'd get from like two cups of coffee. Then there's the tweaking, which happens invariably about five hours after taking. Feels like a bad flu complete with paranoia and complete hopelessness. I'll just be completely fucked up until the next morning. Used to dabble a bit in meth and the caffeine pill comedown reminds me of a much milder version of the meth comedown. The withdrawal's also way worse than coffee.

So I know this seems weird, but I suppose I'm wondering if anyone knows why coffee and caffeine pills seem to act so differently. Seriously they seem like completely different things, like a green (indica) v Xanax high where both drugs have the same general depressant effect but one's a lot less gentle, more fucked up high, and builds tolerance way quicker.

Really appreciate any thoughts or ideas




First post and new account but I've been checking Bluelight for ages - savvy users and some insightful discussions, thank you.

 

[negrogesic]

I don't drink coffee but I take caffeine pills daily (200mg-500mg), so unfortunately I can't compare the effects to coffee. That said, coffee had various alkaloids whereas the pills contain just caffeine....

 

[emkee_reinvented]

Why does Guarana feel as a benign and lasting Xanthine and Coffee not ?

Why can I get high on a OD of Green Tea/ Gun Powder super long brew ?
And Coffee feels like the Coke of Xanthine s, South America.
They got a good replacement of Coffee eqeal 'Caffeine' content Mate.
Africa has one, Cola nut. Both miss the Coffee/ Caffeine effect.

I don t get why. But Coffee is akin to Red Bull and Caffeine pills imo.
All 3 Coke like Xanthines in fast up. Deep low s.

Negrogesic right Coffee more alkaloids, ao a GABA antagonist. Cant tell if its true,
folklore science long ago once read. Wonder if that was true ?

 

[paracetaminophen]

Coffee has a bunch of other things in it that help calm the high a little. Energy drinks have this too. Look up l-theanine, it's commonly used in combination of caffine in a 2:1 ratio iirc. I don't know if energy drinks have it, but they have taurine, guarana, and the like. Meanwhile, caffeine pills are just caffeine.

 

[emkee_reinvented]

Coffee has a bunch of other things in it that help calm the high a little. Energy drinks have this too. Look up l-theanine, it's commonly used in combination of caffine in a 2:1 ratio iirc. I don't know if energy drinks have it, but they have taurine, guarana, and the like. Meanwhile, caffeine pills are just caffeine.

Guarana based energy drinks became rare and seldomly found, as one containing a decent l-Theanine ammount.
All are like Red-Bull, copycats so big load of sugar, Coffee extracted caffein and a gram of l-Taurine. All taste excact the same.
'Tutti el Frutty' disgusting drinks imo, the artificial sweetened ones the worst, tastewise.

Better brew strong Green Tea for that, or/ and buy the overpriced supplement L-Theanine.
A pot of Guarana pills and there yu have the best of caffein thrills. Btw Mate good better too.
Solely as Coffee replacement. And cheaper.

edit : Caffein stimulates Glutamine [stress] and lower GABA [lowers stress]
So it gains the high, imo negatively. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1319016420300359

But imo most in coffee, energy-drinks and pure Caffein.

 

[cue55]

Sorry, been busy with uni. Thanks for the ideas.

Guarana based energy drinks became rare and seldomly found, as one containing a decent l-Theanine ammount.
All are like Red-Bull, copycats so big load of sugar, Coffee extracted caffein and a gram of l-Taurine. All taste excact the same.
'Tutti el Frutty' disgusting drinks imo, the artificial sweetened ones the worst, tastewise.

Better brew strong Green Tea for that, or/ and buy the overpriced supplement L-Theanine.
A pot of Guarana pills and there yu have the best of caffein thrills. Btw Mate good better too.
Solely as Coffee replacement. And cheaper.

edit : Caffein stimulates Glutamine [stress] and lower GABA [lowers stress]
So it gains the high, imo negatively. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1319016420300359

But imo most in coffee, energy-drinks and pure Caffein.

So basically l-theanine (and maybe other positive compounds) are in coffee and some energy drinks but probably not in caffeine pills, hence the cheaper high?

I wonder if you could drink green tea with the pills and end up with basically the feeling of strong coffee? I know adding pieces of a compound back together doesn't always work, like turmeric won't really get absorbed without piperine. Any thoughts if that would curb the tolerance too? Would seem strange but not a sci major here, my bio experience is pretty much limited to speedballs and the like

 

[Dreamflyer]

Coffee contains a ton of different chemical compounds (Wikipedia claims over 1,000), so I imagine that some alter the effects of caffeine. Just like green tea contains l-theanine and chocolate contains theobromine.

 

[TheFunkeeJunkee]

It's pretty likely the coffee you are drinking has a lot less caffeine then a 200mg pill. It varies from brand to brand, but a teaspoon of instant coffee contains around 35mg of caffeine. You're just taking a bigger dose.

 

[emkee_reinvented]

Sorry, been busy with uni. Thanks for the ideas.



So basically l-theanine (and maybe other positive compounds) are in coffee and some energy drinks but probably not in caffeine pills, hence the cheaper high?

I wonder if you could drink green tea with the pills and end up with basically the feeling of strong coffee? I know adding pieces of a compound back together doesn't always work, like turmeric won't really get absorbed without piperine. Any thoughts if that would curb the tolerance too? Would seem strange but not a sci major here, my bio experience is pretty much limited to speedballs and the like

L-TEA/ Theanine is mostly found in Green/ Yellow/ White Tea/ Camelia Sinenses. Not Coffee beans afaik.

Wow Latin that doesn t sound like a curse but sounds as a love offer. " Camelia Sinenses " Bit of topic .

edit: only Coffee and Red Bull alikes give me heart thumps. Never had them on the other natural ones

 

[cue55]

L-TEA/ Theanine is mostly found in Green/ Yellow/ White Tea/ Camelia Sinenses. Not Coffee beans afaik.

Wow Latin that doesn t sound like a curse but sounds as a love offer. " Camelia Sinenses " Bit of topic .

edit: only Coffee and Red Bull alikes give me heart thumps. Never had them on the other natural ones

In search of the particular magical compounds in coffee that make caffeine nice. Sounds like a podcast. And haha yes a lovely name.

It's pretty likely the coffee you are drinking has a lot less caffeine then a 200mg pill. It varies from brand to brand, but a teaspoon of instant coffee contains around 35mg of caffeine. You're just taking a bigger dose.

Nah, though I agree it's hard to know the exact caffeine dosage via coffee. A double espresso at Costa (my standard being from the UK) has around 200mg of caffeine. Might be 10mgs more or less but not enough to change anything.