Caffeine effect
Who here is a heavy caffeine user?
I never drank coffee until about 9 years ago, and then got into it heavily after a number of "triple-shot" espressos served up to me by my coffee aficionado uncle in California. I don't even like the taste of coffee, so it's just a drug delivery means.
I drink a LOT of it, and often for no good reason since I'm not even certain what effect it has on me. I may have the gene that makes one's body metabolize caffeine faster, since I seem to be able to drink a HUGE amount of strong coffee with little or no "jitter" effect, and not often a very strong stimulant effect, either.
Given that I now increasingly recognize my lack of "emotional intelligence", I think I'm going to stop drinking coffee for a while, to see if the lack of an extra variable in my daily life makes any noticeable difference. I think I've been using caffeine to "treat" my lack of certainty as to how I even feel, without even really knowing what effect it seems to have on my state of mind.
I'd like to hear of the experiences with caffeine of others here...
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Darron, temporary "Rat of NIMH"
I find that tea rather than coffee has an effect on me.
Not sure if there is more or less caffeine in tea but it is mixed with something else l-theanine I think.
So the caffeine has a stimulant effect and the L-theanine has a calming effect. The two are a perfect combo for me. I sometimes add a bit off sugar as well. That's when my post count seems to increase. In other words I find it good for focus.
When I say tea I'm talking about just normal tea like pg tips or something.
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We have existence
I enjoy coffee, but I think it messes with my hormones. I have issues with estrogen dominance if I'm not careful about what I consume. I drink decaf, but this link has some alternative recipes to coffee which I really need to try. I'm going through an exhausted phase at the moment.
11 ways coffee impacts your hormones and how to substitute it
One of my colleagues who is a big coffee drinker shared this NPR podcast with me. You might enjoy it.
"Here's a drug we use every day. ... We never think about it as a drug or an addiction, but that's exactly what it is," Pollan says. "I thought, 'Why not explore that relationship?'"
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/02/10/803394030/michael-pollan-explains-caffeine-cravings-and-why-you-dont-have-to-quit
Edit - Oh I see you beat me to it on the Michael Pollan book.
I started young on tea. I think my parents encouraged it because I'd make them a cup too. By the time I was in my early 20s I was drinking tea and coffee and lots of it. I never really thought about it.
I stopped drinking caffeine when I started getting headaches from it. It was the worse thing I've ever had to give up in terms of withdrawals. Far worse than cigarettes in my opinion.
Once you've given it up you realise you don't need it. When you're hooked on it, you need it to feel normal and if you can't get it for any reason, you feel awful. Once you're off it you feel normal anyway.
Occasionally I have it now but only ever for a couple of days, if I've been having trouble sleeping and I need to get some work done or something, I'll use it for the boost.
What I've noticed is that a day or two after I start having it again, I start to get quite morose. Things I can normally deal with become much worse, everything gets tinged with a sort of negative feeling. That's usually enough for me to kick it again.
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I prefer other stimulants, personally.
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I sometimes give it up, but i always end up going back to it. i drink like 6 cups a day now. black coffee. for like 10 years now ive had this habit.
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I'm not what one would called a heavy caffeine user.
I used to regularly drink coffee for about at least half a cup worth a day, up to trice a day. For at least no more than few years give or take.
Usually brown coffee. The coffee and the caffeine worth in it usually varies from straight up black to nearly milk.
That's because I don't drink for the caffeine, but for the flavor.
I also somewhat developed a strange contradiction between addiction, tolerance and sensitivity.
I have a form of sensitivity that definitely affects how my body reacts to caffeine.
At the same time a strange form of tolerance. As if... I still get the sensitivity and became more susceptible to the negative effects, and also no longer helps me.
It doesn't matter if it's caffeine mixed with sugar and/or carbs or just caffeine alone.
Caffeine does not help me not fall asleep anymore.
Instead it gave me drowsy jet lags and shallow like sleep that also gives just as much jet lag like feeling, if caffeine hadn't completely been out of my system.
Caffeine also does not help me keep alert anymore, not without drawbacks.
Instead, whether I get enough or not, I'd just get tremors, restlessness and elevated heart rate. It does not help me concentrate, if anything is somewhat does the opposite. Sometimes I get headaches from it.
Caffeine also no longer help me digest stuff or use as a laxative.
If anything, it's more of a diuretic. Even less recommended for me now that I'm prone to dehydration while trying out anti histamines.
As for addiction, yes, sort of as a habit. And when I decided to quit, I did have withdrawal symptoms.
Usually poor sleep, some pains and fatigue, headaches and cravings for me especially past 2 days of stoping.
Yes, I did not take it easy enough, only that mine isn't severe enough for me to afford to do so.
If I'm taking any caffeine... It'll be to a minimum or at least to a negligent enough amount.
Maybe up to worth 2 cups of caffeinated coffee a week.
But I like the flavor so much. So I'd just be playing around with decaf for a while.
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