Caffeine

Opaline

Opaline

1
Are any of you sensitive to caffeine?

What do you find aggravates your anxiety the most? Just coffee, or can tea have an affect on you? What about chocolate?

Just asking because I heard from a few people that most tea doesn't have enough caffeine to do much to you, but I had one cup of moderately strong tea and I feel really hyper. Kind of uncomfortably so. But now I'm having another one. Makes sense :idontknow:
 
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ImNotMyIllness

Well-known member
I'm addicted to coffee. If I don't drink it, I feel very irritable (more than my usual).
I'm drinking it right now and I still feel like crap.
 
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Silatuyok

Well-known member
I'm very sensitive to caffeine. Just having one soda can sometimes be enough to give me anxiety symptoms. I don't usually drink coffee, but if I'm at work and need a pick me up, I will drink just a couple of ounces and that will give me more than enough lift to get me through the day.
Black tea has significantly less caffeine than coffee, I think maybe a third less?, but is still pretty strong. The thing with tea is, I'm much more likely to down 20 ounces of tea than I would be to drink even half that much coffee, so the difference in caffeine levels doesn't make much difference--I end up consuming as much or more caffeine with teas.
Green tea or white tea is a good way to go if you just want a small amount of caffeine. I don't even feel the effects when I drink a couple of glasses of green tea.
Also, keep in mind that caffeine takes about 6-8 hours to work through your system, so stop drinking it long before you want to be able to get to sleep.
 
Opaline

Opaline

1
Absolutely_Sweet_Marie said:
I'm very sensitive to caffeine. Just having one soda can sometimes be enough to give me anxiety symptoms. I don't usually drink coffee, but if I'm at work and need a pick me up, I will drink just a couple of ounces and that will give me more than enough lift to get me through the day.
Black tea has significantly less caffeine than coffee, I think maybe a third less?, but is still pretty strong. The thing with tea is, I'm much more likely to down 20 ounces of tea than I would be to drink even half that much coffee, so the difference in caffeine levels doesn't make much difference--I end up consuming as much or more caffeine with teas.
Green tea or white tea is a good way to go if you just want a small amount of caffeine. I don't even feel the effects when I drink a couple of glasses of green tea.
Also, keep in mind that caffeine takes about 6-8 hours to work through your system, so stop drinking it long before you want to be able to get to sleep.
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Very informative answer, thanks!

Yeah I know about the 6-8 hours thing, unfortunately tonight I'm having two cups in the evening so I'm going to be bouncing around until late. Might have to take something to help me sleep :/

Absolutely_Sweet_Marie said:
As for chocolate, I refuse to notice any correlation between chocolate consumption and anxiety attacks. :)
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Hehe. I pretty much ignore that, too, although if I'm having a particularly bad period of insomnia I try to avoid it in the evening.
 
EscapeArtist

EscapeArtist

Well-known member
Yeah I don't know, caffeine for an anxious or sensitive person in general doesn't sound like the best idea.... Probably better to avoid it all together. If you're quitting then yeah, tea is supposed to have less caffeine, black tea still has a substantial amount though. You could switch to green tea or yerba mate, a south american tea with less caffeine.

Caffeine makes me super stressed out, aggravated, and once the crash hits, depressed for hours. Be wary
 
coyote

coyote

Well-known member
i'll have a quadruple espresso with a twist of lemon

i also like energy drinks like Monster or Rockstar, but i've cut way back on those

frankly, i think the stimulants help me to focus and cause my thoughts to wander less - and the wandering thoughts are what cause me the most trouble with anxiety and depression - so i find it actually helps me feel better, because i'm not thinking too much about stuff
 
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Rawz

Well-known member
The amount of caffeine a can of soda or cup of tea isn't really enough to do anything for me. Lately it seems I've been sensitive to caffeine though, but my parents have been on me about it for months now, and I've been having anxiety caused by thoughts of mine relating to any medicine or drugs. So I think the only reason caffeine has been causing any anxiety is due to these.

In the past I've been able to drink 1-2 cups of coffee a day without noticing much anxiety, if any. I think as far as my anxiety goes, a lot of it is just due to my thoughts/thinking.
 
Opaline

Opaline

1
coyote said:
frankly, i think the stimulants help me to focus and cause my thoughts to wander less - and the wandering thoughts are what cause me the most trouble with anxiety and depression - so i find it actually helps me feel better, because i'm not thinking too much about stuff
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Interesting.

Consuming a large - or maybe even moderate - amount of caffeine seems to make me jittery, anxious, and chatty - but not chatty in a relaxed way, more like motormouth nervous chatty -___- Figures. I do feel like cleaning things though, which is cool, haha.
 
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Silatuyok

Well-known member
Caffeine is supposed to be good for people with ADD. But I wonder what happens if you have ADD and anxiety??
 
hexagon_sun

hexagon_sun

Well-known member
I tried kicking the caffeine habit a few times. The most I have gone w/o it was two weeks... I find that it tends to make my extremities cold and of course I crash and I have to have a couple more cups which makes it worse. However, I've come to find-out that I've been under-consuming calories because of my vegetarian diet and that will certainly lower body temp! ....So I'm back to drinking coffee with an extra serving of beans and sweet potato!
 
hexagon_sun

hexagon_sun

Well-known member
Pacific_Loner said:
Le Café (English Subtitles) - YouTube
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6280745912_506a8682b5.jpg
French_press.jpg
 
GraybeardGhost

GraybeardGhost

Well-known member
Absolutely_Sweet_Marie said:
Caffeine is supposed to be good for people with ADD. But I wonder what happens if you have ADD and anxiety??
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Hmm . . . funny you should mention that. I find that caffeine exacerbates my ADD. I get the jitters, too, and with all that extra energy buzzing around inside, I'm flying off in four or five directions at once. I can't get anything accomplished, because as soon as I get started, I think of something else I have to do, and I hurry off to do that. Then I think of something else that simply must be done right away, or I wander off to stare out the window for a while, or . . .

In company, it makes me chatty, too, which is very much out of character, and I tend to say stuff—sometimes very dirty stuff—I later regret.

I'm not sure if or how it effects the rest of my anxieties (agro, BDD, etc.) but it does increase my chances of making an ass of myself, never knowing what may pop out of my mouth. That in itself is nerve-wracking.
 
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Kiwong

Kiwong

Well-known member
Caffiene really affects my anxiety.

I drink alot of Pepsi Max, at my worst about 3 litres a day! I become very shaky, irritable and it really exacerbates the tirggers for my anxious behaviour, which leads to difficulties relating to anyone. My thoughts become a run away train, keeping me awake at night. I become almost manic, both creatively and in a cascade of angry, worrying thoughts. It's a diruetic and I have to pee all the time.

I started drinking diet cola in 2000, as part of a diet ot cut out sugary drinks. I lost weight, got addicted to caffiene, and 12 months later I had my first panic attack. I believe there was a link between the two, and my psychologist agreed.

I haven't consumed anxiety for seven days now, and feel more relaxed in myself, and there is an edge of my anxious thoughts, however depressive thoughts have not improved. I feel a lot of despair at the moment.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/83671-caffeine-anxiety/

Not surprisingly there is scientific linking caffiene with anxiety.
 
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