Stimulants Very unnerving coffee side effects

[Redington]

I rarely drink coffee nowadays, but still, when I do I hope to get focus and elevated energy levels from it. Thats the whole point. And mostly it gets the job done but sometimes It gets me very lazy and kinda depressed, and the worst of it, a feeling like having sand stuck behind my eyes, like having extremely dry eyes for a couple hours or so. Has anyone else experienced this while NOT being a heavy coffee drinker?

It comes as a surprise to me, since I usually get to enjoy coffee with no side effects but when it wants to mess with you it really does, even at a low intake.

 

[G_Chem]

I get the lazy depressed thing often with it yet my addict mind still craves it for those times it does actually work. Magnesium l-threonate makes it much stronger, better working too.

I recently finally quit again and my mood and energy is so much better for it.

-GC

 

[brokedownpalace10]

I get the lazy depressed thing often with it yet my addict mind still craves it for those times it does actually work. Magnesium l-threonate makes it much stronger, better working too.

I recently finally quit again and my mood and energy is so much better for it.

-GC

Never been able to get away from coffee for more than a few days. Since I was 12 or so.

 

[G_Chem]

Never been able to get away from coffee for more than a few days. Since I was 12 or so.

Yea it’s highly addictive in my opinion. I can stop cocaine and Amphetamine much sooner than I can stop coffee.

-GC

 

[Neuroborean]

I rarely drink coffee nowadays, but still, when I do I hope to get focus and elevated energy levels from it. Thats the whole point. And mostly it gets the job done but sometimes It gets me very lazy and kinda depressed, and the worst of it, a feeling like having sand stuck behind my eyes, like having extremely dry eyes for a couple hours or so. Has anyone else experienced this while NOT being a heavy coffee drinker?

It comes as a surprise to me, since I usually get to enjoy coffee with no side effects but when it wants to mess with you it really does, even at a low intake.

If you like caffeine you could try different stuff that makes it more manageable and interesting:

-Ilex genus: Ilex Guayusa, Ilex Paraguensis (yerba mate) or Ilex Vomitoria (yaupon), They are more smooth and have different effect profiles, mate being more anti-depressant/mood lifting and guayusa being more similar to l-theanine +coffee, more dopaminergic and less adrenergic.
-guaraná, like extended release caffeine, sort of, but it has a push in higher doses.
- cola nitida (cola nut) it's pretty interesting, much more euphoric, more bright as a high, more long lasting than coffee and less of a crash...

then you have the semi-synthetic mixtures...:
caffeine source or coffee + l-theanine, very good to study, less side effects than caffeine alone.
caffeine source/coffee + taurine, probably the best, normally used in energy drinks, but I recommend taking a natural caffeine source like coffee and a "high" dose of taurine, 500mg or more. This works very very good...

 

[axe battler]

Yeah cos it's delicious too! That does sound like a worrying effect OP. Couldn't you try decaf, as it still has a little caffeine in it, and tastes good too. Could help you build up your tolerance. If you're still getting this effect with decaf, then maybe it's some other chemical in coffee that your allergic to. Does this happen with all caffeinated drinks?

 

[xtcgrrrl]

Yeah, I have trouble drinking coffee because I have GERD and it’s very acidic (doesn’t stop me, though. Life without coffee is not worth it.) I sometimes get the sleepy effect from caffeine, because I have ADHD and stims are a way of self-medicating. If I drink too much, it’s Anxiety Town for me. But it works REALLY WELL for my productivity at work, so…

This btw is why I suspect this “drug” is not only legal but encouraged in the Western world: all because of hustle culture. Coffee during the day to encourage the worker drones to work hard. Alcohol at night, to forget the dreariness of our existence. Am I wrong???

 

[Mr. Krinkle]

i've been drinking coffee since i was about 9 or 10 yrs old


i stopped once, for 6 months - and i kept getting this odd headache in the back of my head - and when i started to drink it again, i never got it again



but my life didn't improve when i quit - nothing changed at all other than that headache that randomly showed up the entire 6 months

 

[Neuroborean]

Yeah, I have trouble drinking coffee because I have GERD and it’s very acidic (doesn’t stop me, though. Life without coffee is not worth it.) I sometimes get the sleepy effect from caffeine, because I have ADHD and stims are a way of self-medicating. If I drink too much, it’s Anxiety Town for me. But it works REALLY WELL for my productivity at work, so…

This btw is why I suspect this “drug” is not only legal but encouraged in the Western world: all because of hustle culture. Coffee during the day to encourage the worker drones to work hard. Alcohol at night, to forget the dreariness of our existence. Am I wrong???

I could say the exact same words... maybe I don't have GERD, or not that much, but coffee is very acidic for me,
I got the feelings that kratom creates some kind of "vegetal film" in the stomach so I don't have that shitty feelings when I use it along with it... but when I quit I cannot tolerate more than a coffee without feeling crappy in the stomach... Guayusa is not acidic, and mate tends to be less acidic (there's the normal and the smoked version).

of course both caffeine and alcohol are not only tolerated but encouraged, to be honest I think lately cannabis is almost encouraged too... or we are on the way,
the didn't invent soma yet, so we have a strange mixture of sorts... I guess kratom without addictiveness/tolerance would be an almost perfect soma.

Did you hear me, Illuminati?!! sure you have some Soma in your CIA/DARPA chemical cabinets...! it's time to release it... world is becoming too fucked up..

 

[xtcgrrrl]

I could say the exact same words... maybe I don't have GERD, or not that much, but coffee is very acidic for me,
I got the feelings that kratom creates some kind of "vegetal film" in the stomach so I don't have that shitty feelings when I use it along with it... but when I quit I cannot tolerate more than a coffee without feeling crappy in the stomach... Guayusa is not acidic, and mate tends to be less acidic (there's the normal and the smoked version).

of course both caffeine and alcohol are not only tolerated but encouraged, to be honest I think lately cannabis is almost encouraged too... or we are on the way,
the didn't invent soma yet, so we have a strange mixture of sorts... I guess kratom without addictiveness/tolerance would be an almost perfect soma.

Did you hear me, Illuminati?!! sure you have some Soma in your CIA/DARPA chemical cabinets...! it's time to release it... world is becoming too fucked up..

Yeah and also the general perception of nicotine has changed over time…way back in the early 1900s I believe, it was frowned on for women to partake, as it wasn’t “ladylike;” then it became cool, and even sexy, for women to smoke. And now it’s seen as a filthy habit; everything cycles ‘round. Instead, cannabis is the hip new thing…wonder how THAT will be perceived by general society in another generation or so?

 

[axe battler]

Yeah and also the general perception of nicotine has changed over time…way back in the early 1900s I believe, it was frowned on for women to partake, as it wasn’t “ladylike;” then it became cool, and even sexy, for women to smoke. And now it’s seen as a filthy habit; everything cycles ‘round. Instead, cannabis is the hip new thing…wonder how THAT will be perceived by general society in another generation or so?

All the hip young cool kids are smoking crack now! Probably cos I was doing it...

 

[Dead Machination]

My body changed over time and drugs effect me differently now than they did. I used to love stimulants like coke, molly, and amphetamines, but now the thought of those literally makes me sick. Caffeine didn't have any effect on me back in the day, but now, it does.

Maybe you just don't react the same way to it anymore.

 

[CFC]

I rarely drink coffee nowadays, but still, when I do I hope to get focus and elevated energy levels from it. Thats the whole point. And mostly it gets the job done but sometimes It gets me very lazy and kinda depressed, and the worst of it, a feeling like having sand stuck behind my eyes, like having extremely dry eyes for a couple hours or so. Has anyone else experienced this while NOT being a heavy coffee drinker?

It comes as a surprise to me, since I usually get to enjoy coffee with no side effects but when it wants to mess with you it really does, even at a low intake.

I haven't had the lethargy and tightness/brainy-no-functiony/itchy eyes watering feeling behind the eyes from caffeine before, but I have many times had a similar feeling from many other stimulants and also from nootropics like piracetum etc. Additional choline intake is often claimed to alleviate the issue, which plausibly implicates the ACh system (which is typically excitatory) in some way.

Maybe give one of the more CNS-permeable formulations of choline like Alpha-GPC or citicholine (CDP-choline) a go for a while and/or before you take your coffee, and see if it seems to help?

 

[G_Chem]

Go without caffeine for 3 months and then have a triple latte.

Good luck trying to get to sleep.

I saw this guy on Joe Rogan and he was talking about that. How after 3 months of no caffeine if you drink some coffee it's amazingly stimulating. So I tried it and it is.

I concur. That’s why I use it sparingly if I can. If it’s not used often I feel it’s on the same level as other stimulants. And just like other stimulants tolerance builds quickly.

-GC

 

[Mr. Krinkle]

i can only drink coffee in the morning when i get up - and not more than normal or it totally fucks me up

if i decide to have any caffeine later in the day, it needs to be something like green tea that has about a 1/3rd the amount of caffeine - and not too late in the day either - where back in the day, i could drink a midday coffee with no problems

so things do change with time - i totally agree with that

 

[xtcgrrrl]

I haven't had the lethargy and tightness/brainy-no-functiony/itchy eyes watering feeling behind the eyes from caffeine before, but I have many times had a similar feeling from many other stimulants and also from nootropics like piracetum etc. Additional choline intake is often claimed to alleviate the issue, which plausibly implicates the ACh system (which is typically excitatory) in some way.

Maybe give one of the more CNS-permeable formulations of choline like Alpha-GPC or citicholine (CDP-choline) a go for a while and/or before you take your coffee, and see if it seems to help?

I used to take piracetam all the time, both to preload for an MDMA session and in efforts to cultivate a greater mental acuity, so I can attest to this! I had a phase where I was experimenting with nootropics

 

[Morbid Sea Cow]

Personally, I don't get anything out of caffeine. Like literally no effects, for whatever reason...

 

[plumbus-nine]

Personally, I don't get anything out of caffeine. Like literally no effects, for whatever reason...

Same here. Just some weak wakefulness promotion and an overall jittery feeling after even just one cup , nothing useful. I'm jealous of those who get a real kick out of coffee. Green tea and L-Theanine alone as well, up to more than a gram of it, do absolutely nothing for me.

 

[Redington]

i've been drinking coffee since i was about 9 or 10 yrs old


i stopped once, for 6 months - and i kept getting this odd headache in the back of my head - and when i started to drink it again, i never got it again



but my life didn't improve when i quit - nothing changed at all other than that headache that randomly showed up the entire 6 months

A few years back I used to drink an entire cup of filter coffee daily for a few months. Then, one day I said fuck me Im either going to have a heart attack or a seizure sooner or later, so I literally stopped taking it at one point. The next day after that I got the second worst headache of my life, ranking just below the one I had the first time I ever got drunk. Anyway, ever since then I never took coffee on a routine, only ocassionaly taking it when I felt like it or if I needed the extra energy.

 

[Pissed_and_messed]

there are alternative adenosine receptor allosteric modulators, like theacrine. caffeine is sort of hardcore drug as anti-adenosine-agent