Depression after coffee?

[probablyanxious]

Hello all,

I was hoping someone could help me understand what I’m experiencing.

Almost all my adult life I have been a big coffee drinker. When I started tapering from a high dose, very longtime clonazepam taper, I started getting panic attacks right after drinking coffee. Nothing unusual there.

I responded by cutting my intake, gradually, to 1 cup of half-caff. At the end of July I made the jump off clonazepam.

I no longer get any anxiety from the coffee. However I’ve been experiencing depression at times almost immediately after. It feels like the deep depression I get that is related to the cessation of clonazepam.

Can anyone shed some light on whether and why caffeine from 1 half-caffeine cup of coffee would send me into a depression?

Is this the normal up and down from benzo withdrawal? Am I playing with fire by consuming any caffeine at all?

 

[placebonaut]

This might be benzo PAWS if you've been on clonazepam for sometime, iirc caffeine can make it worse

not related to you but I had some meds previously which made me hyper sensitive to caffeine, I went from having 4 double shots per day to only being able to manage a single shot, had to go to the dr. and they changed my meds to something else and now I'm fine.

if you were prescribed benzos talk to your dr. about it, certainly reduce your caffeine intake to help manage it. might be an idea to cut it out altogether for a while and see if you still get the depression without it

 

[probablyanxious]

This might be benzo PAWS if you've been on clonazepam for sometime, iirc caffeine can make it worse

not related to you but I had some meds previously which made me hyper sensitive to caffeine, I went from having 4 double shots per day to only being able to manage a single shot, had to go to the dr. and they changed my meds to something else and now I'm fine.

if you were prescribed benzos talk to your dr. about it, certainly reduce your caffeine intake to help manage it. might be an idea to cut it out altogether for a while and see if you still get the depression without it

Thank you for your response. May I ask what medication you were taking and what kind of mechanism of action it had?

I think you are correct that this is Benzo PAWs. What puzzles me is why would the caffeine no longer give me anxiety, but would lead to depression at times. It does not happen all the time, but enough to be concerning. The correlation of drinking coffee followed by depression, while not iron clad proof, is so closely related temporally and in intensity, that it seems the caffeine consumption is a contributing factor.

What I do know about caffeine is it is a full antagonist to adenosine. My sleep has been so abysmal since I jumped 5ish weeks ago that I am practically a dead man walking when it is time to wake up for work/get my son ready for school. Is the stuff making me so alert to my plight in life that depression follows? Does it contribute to the rumination I often find myself in by increasing my cognition?

This was indeed prescribed clonazepam. The type of doctor described in the pro-patient Benzo literature (like the Benzo Information Center) who seems to reject any notion of protracted withdrawal because it doesn't show up on brain scans. And the same doctor who when I asked for a taper, went from 3mg to 2mg, then to 1mg, then to 0.5mg, and then 0.25mg. He wanted that all to occur within 1-3 months.

I recently had an appointment with him, and when listing my symptoms of Benzo PAWS looked at me with incredulity. I only presented the symptoms and not a diagnosis. When I started out on the taper, I did not know much at all about this and assumed, foolishly, that it would be safe to follow the guidance of a psychiatrist. This is a big part of my problem I believe, the erratic and violent taper. So somewhat early on in the 14 month taper, I realized I had to be my own doctor sort to speak.

Good things did come out of that, such as finding these forums, and learning a lot about medications/drugs. It also taught me to advocate for myself in the face of the medical community, and I was able to influence the tapering later on in the process.

 

[placebonaut]

Thank you for your response. May I ask what medication you were taking and what kind of mechanism of action it had?

I can't remember which was the cause but it was a blood pressure or cholesterol I think

I think you are correct that this is Benzo PAWs. What puzzles me is why would the caffeine no longer give me anxiety, but would lead to depression at times.

Because the caffeine isn't the direct cause, it's magnifying the PAWS

It does not happen all the time, but enough to be concerning. The correlation of drinking coffee followed by depression, while not iron clad proof, is so closely related temporally and in intensity, that it seems the caffeine consumption is a contributing factor.

I'm no expert here, others will have a better view, but in my head it might just be that simple i.e. caffeine is enough to tip you over the edge and make the symptoms noticeable.

My sleep has been so abysmal since I jumped 5ish weeks ago that I am practically a dead man walking when it is time to wake up for work/get my son ready for school.

there are non-benzo options worth considering if you have sleep issues, if you're not already trying them nootropics like camomile, magnolia, and lemon balm work pretty well. I tend to rotate 2 out of 3 of these, but if I take them all together I can't keep my eyes open

This was indeed prescribed clonazepam. The type of doctor described in the pro-patient Benzo literature (like the Benzo Information Center) who seems to reject any notion of protracted withdrawal because it doesn't show up on brain scans. And the same doctor who when I asked for a taper, went from 3mg to 2mg, then to 1mg, then to 0.5mg, and then 0.25mg. He wanted that all to occur within 1-3 months.

I guess it depends on how long you've been on benzos for, if it's been short term this shouldn't be too much of an issue, but if it's been long term then a 1 month taper could be pretty brutal!

I recently had an appointment with him, and when listing my symptoms of Benzo PAWS looked at me with incredulity. I only presented the symptoms and not a diagnosis. When I started out on the taper, I did not know much at all about this and assumed, foolishly, that it would be safe to follow the guidance of a psychiatrist. This is a big part of my problem I believe, the erratic and violent taper. So somewhat early on in the 14 month taper, I realized I had to be my own doctor sort to speak.

he should know fucking better tbh! bit shit to have to put up with that, glad you're fighting your corner though, hopefully it helps.

I've never been prescribed benzos or had to go through a taper, hopefully someone else might be able to give you some good advice on how to handle the doc