Caffeine Induced Depression

[keenymeeny]

Hello, here's the situation:

I've been using caffeine pills for approximately 8 years straight - approximately 600mg to 800mg a day (200mg every 4 hours).

As of three days ago I've quit cold turkey - not doing as bad as I thought - but still feeling mental lethargy - lack of concentration - bit zombie and depressed. Life is kinda blah/grey. Its taking a little more effort to write this post - so hope it makes sense.

Couple questions;
Whats the best way to heal the caffeine induced depression I'm now going through? Should I be focusing on strengthening /replenishing nor/dopamine signalling? Or should I be looking at something like St.John's Wort/serotonin? What kind of damage has this 8yr caffeine pill habit caused do you figure? In general terms.

What I have on hand: bupropion, selegiline, kira and perika st.john's wort, tyrosine, efas, and quite a bit more.

The second part of my question - seems like I've been self medicating for either adhd or depression or both. So here's the situation after I deal with this caffeine mess:

To treat adhd - whats the better more healthy option in your opinion(btwn these 2)- continue to take caffeine pills every four hours, along with support supps (b vits, cal, mag, zinc, efas, coq10 etc.) and take a break every once in a while - this would be about 600mg - 800mg of caffeine pills a day.... or.... take 10mg to 20mg of dexedrine spansules? What do you figure is easier on the heart, adrenals etc. risk vs benefit.

Which option would you consider healthier? I have a fairly active life - very athletic - and my job involves physical and mental activity. I use no other drugs outside of otc supps.

....so end of the day - 800mg caffeine pills = or worse than 10 to 20mg dexedrine/daily? Keep in mind I've never raised the dose of caffeine above 800mg in 8 years. Would dex be harder to control? From what I've read it seems tolerance develops much quicker to caffeine.

Thanks for reading this long post - probably came off a little wordy - still feeling a little fuzzy - fingers and brain not moving as fluidly as I'd like them to at the moment. Any input would be appreciated.

KM

 

[dcraver877]

honestly the l-tyrosine is probably your best bet. take at least a gram at a time - 3x a day. I've been doing this the past 2 years.

 

[keenymeeny]

honestly the l-tyrosine is probably your best bet. take at least a gram at a time - 3x a day. I've been doing this the past 2 years.

thanks for the input - did you have a similar habit?

 

[Legerity]

Caffeine can cause major disturbances in mental/physical health despite it's legality and social acceptance. I go through phases of consuming more, then less, then stopping, over and over again.

One thing that I've found to help with recovering from heavy use is adrenal gland supplements. Caffeine and stimulants in general are very taxing on the adrenals, which then leads to the need to more caffeine to function normally.

I take a supplement that has a combination of different herbs and vitamins, (siberian ginseng, ashwaganda, licorice, rhodiola, vitamin b6, vitamin C) and I've found it to be very helpful for energy levels when quitting caffeine. Also getting as much sleep as possible. If I don't consume any caffeine I sleep deeper and for longer, because my body is so used to be overstimulated, so I don't realize the full effects it has been having on me until I stop. If you can get in some extra sleep time that may also be very helpful. It can take a week or two to feel normal energy levels after stopping caffeine.

You mentioned self-medicating...were you diagnosed with ADHD by a psychiatrist or is this your own diagnosis? I'm not sure as to whether dexedrine would be less taxing on your system in low doses, but it has much more potential for recreational use and abuse. I would be very cautious of using it as an alternative to caffeine.

 

[dcraver877]

kind of. i was abusing street meth and vyvanse. finally after about a year of the horrible depression i got on the neuroreplete program w/ a doctor which included high doses of l-tyrosine (as well as 5-htp) but I believe its the l-tyrosine that has helped with my motivation and outgoing personality the most.

 

[keenymeeny]

Caffeine can cause major disturbances in mental/physical health despite it's legality and social acceptance. I go through phases of consuming more, then less, then stopping, over and over again.

One thing that I've found to help with recovering from heavy use is adrenal gland supplements. Caffeine and stimulants in general are very taxing on the adrenals, which then leads to the need to more caffeine to function normally.

I take a supplement that has a combination of different herbs and vitamins, (siberian ginseng, ashwaganda, licorice, rhodiola, vitamin b6, vitamin C) and I've found it to be very helpful for energy levels when quitting caffeine. Also getting as much sleep as possible. If I don't consume any caffeine I sleep deeper and for longer, because my body is so used to be overstimulated, so I don't realize the full effects it has been having on me until I stop. If you can get in some extra sleep time that may also be very helpful. It can take a week or two to feel normal energy levels after stopping caffeine.

You mentioned self-medicating...were you diagnosed with ADHD by a psychiatrist or is this your own diagnosis? I'm not sure as to whether dexedrine would be less taxing on your system in low doses, but it has much more potential for recreational use and abuse. I would be very cautious of using it as an alternative to caffeine.

yeah similar to my experience. i'm almost a week caffeine free now - cold turkey. i'm surprised but my energy seems back to normal from what i can remember - i thought it would take a lot longer - no other severe withdrawal symptoms. it was the worst for me on day 3 - felt like the living dead.

the diagnosis was from a pdoc - pretty apparent i was self medicating. i have a legit script for dexedrine. my reasoning for switching from caffeine tablets to dexedrine is basically at 800mg a day - I'm sure the caffeine is pretty harsh on my system (physical/neural/cardiac etc.) at that amount - and after 8yrs of usage its usefullness for add is probably not very effective.

so why not get on a med that provides far more effective add control than caffeine - at a dose that might actually be less taxing on my system than 800mg of caffeine a day.

having never tried dex myself - it would be great to get some input for those that have tried both (not high dose recreational dex - but lower dose long term therapeutic doses) or were in a similar situation.

thanks for the input. btw the supps i've been using this past week that have helped - coq10, tyrosine, multi, zinc, d3, mag, cal, iron, siberian ginseng and tongkat ali.

 

[keenymeeny]

kind of. i was abusing street meth and vyvanse. finally after about a year of the horrible depression i got on the neuroreplete program w/ a doctor which included high doses of l-tyrosine (as well as 5-htp) but I believe its the l-tyrosine that has helped with my motivation and outgoing personality the most.

good to hear that the nreplete program's working for you - i've been using the tyrosine - its been helping for sure - i've been very modest with the dosing - just using 500mg once a day - but i could probably increase. the only reason i've kept it that low is becuz when i was on the caffeine pills - they would enhance the effects of the tyrosine causing excessive anger, irritibility etc.

however without the caffeine in my system i should try raising the dose.

just out of curiosity, do you think the vyvanse caused your abuse? - curious to know before i make any decisions with the dex.

 

[pcy]

Avoid Caffeine - Avoid uppers!- you will pay double for it later
green tea plus a mild black tea - green tea has a caffiene antogonist
- stop eating meat or limit it to no more than 60 g per day
( hormone free low fat)
stress has probably done your adrenals in - rest - nothing is worth screwing your brain or body
try mild low dose of levo Celexa 5 mg a day takes the anxiety edge off
protein to even your blood sugar
mild excersize and if you have a great deal of pain u are probably depressed
Dysphoria is the worst - write poetry- journal
avoid alcohol!!! completely its not worth it
No mega doses of anything will help only rest and if you can take a vacation and you will most likely sleep most of the time - weeks 10,13 hours a day to balance your neuro transmitters
Get treated for the pain - chronic intractable pain will kill you
and pain relief ( not nsaids) did wonders to help my situation
but u must be able to control the use of its a disaster
Feeling too good makes you more depressed
Recreational drug use?
Not sure its worth the legal life changing consequences
excersize!
Its the best 45 minutes per day heavy excersize

 

[dipitch]

Feeling too good makes you more depressed

Eeh??

 

[doppelganga196]

Yeah dude just exercise loads more than usual, cardio, fresh air.