Caffeine, anxiety's no.1 evil potion.

[DustingMyselfOff]

I've been rethinking my thoughts on caffeine for the past few weeks, too. I have been drinking coffee since I was a teenager, and I remember when I went to see my doctor about my panic attacks he, of course, asked me tons of questions and got a thorough history on me. One of his questions was about my intake (alcohol, caffeine) and I remember telling him that I probably average 10 cups of coffee every day, and had for years. I am now shocked when I think back on that that he didn't bat an eyelash and never even suggested that I try to cut back. As a matter of fact, when I questioned it, he said if I had been drinking that quantity for years, that that would not be the cause for why I was now having panic attacks.

I now average 3 cups of caffeinated a day, and think that's a good number, but may someday even go down to 2. BUT, a couple of days ago, I was having a fairly good day, running lots of errands, and then suddenly went bad. Started feeling antsy, anxious, sickly, tired, and just wanted to rush home and crawl into a hole. it lasted the remainder of the night, and in trying to figure out what went wrong (because that's what us anxious people do!) I remembered that while out running errands I had ordered a large black coffee and had ingested the entire thing, in addition to the three I had at home before leaving the house. Could that be the cause? Will never know for sure, but very possibly!
Sue

[lavender]

I've been rethinking my thoughts on caffeine for the past few weeks, too. I have been drinking coffee since I was a teenager, and I remember when I went to see my doctor about my panic attacks he, of course, asked me tons of questions and got a thorough history on me. One of his questions was about my intake (alcohol, caffeine) and I remember telling him that I probably average 10 cups of coffee every day, and had for years. I am now shocked when I think back on that that he didn't bat an eyelash and never even suggested that I try to cut back. As a matter of fact, when I questioned it, he said if I had been drinking that quantity for years, that that would not be the cause for why I was now having panic attacks.

I now average 3 cups of caffeinated a day, and think that's a good number, but may someday even go down to 2. BUT, a couple of days ago, I was having a fairly good day, running lots of errands, and then suddenly went bad. Started feeling antsy, anxious, sickly, tired, and just wanted to rush home and crawl into a hole. it lasted the remainder of the night, and in trying to figure out what went wrong (because that's what us anxious people do!) I remembered that while out running errands I had ordered a large black coffee and had ingested the entire thing, in addition to the three I had at home before leaving the house. Could that be the cause? Will never know for sure, but very possibly!
Sue

I'd say so Sue yes.

Ive cut right down to 2 small cups a day, since ive done this the anxiety has calmed down a lot, since caffeine is a very aggressive stimulant (worse than smoking) so much so it can actually kill you instantly with too much of the stuff! and it helps anxiety to kick in bigtime, as with us neurosis sufferers we have a lot of nervous energy inside that needs to be got rid of, and coffee just adds to it and amplifies the problem, a simple weird thought turns into a big panic attack because of this.

After 5PM i highly recommend Twinings chamomile herbal tea, or something similar, also dark chocolate (not full fat milk chocolate)

Another massive thing i will mention too, keep busy im in the process of re-decorating two rooms, this alone has dropped my anxiety from 9/10 to 2/10, and please take note this is very important, NEVER EVER drink energy drinks, these things are pure poison to the body in about 10 different ways, i call them "canned anxiety" at one point france banned them all completely, to be perfectly honest they need to be banned worldwide, theyre absolutely no good for the body in any way.

But going back to coffee, yea, by all means have a small one in the morning and a small one at mid-day, but late afternoons should be avoided at all costs for the sake of sleep and panic attacks.

I know America has a big coffee culture, they do love the stuff, its boomed here in the UK in the past 5 years too, ive never seen so many coffee machines on the shelves of currys!

Please dont let anxiety dictate your life, its all about portion control, easy does it always wins the race in the end.

Look after yourselves folks