Caffaine + Anxiety

[Dalek1168]

Like most people here I have cut right down on my coffee intake and try to drink water and chamomile tea (it takes a bit of getting used to but after a while it's ok)

However I have to have my caffeine fix first thing in the morning and like someone else said, limit it to two cups a day, preferably before the afternoon.

[deb141]

I am so glad i came upon this thread. I only drink decaff tea or coffee, but i am a chocoholic. I have been doing slimming world so only allow myself a curly wurly now and again and i have been fine with that. Last week however, i made some 'rocky road' chocolate bars using dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids). I had a few pieces on saturday (as it was easter weekend i thought why not ?!) and felt a bit dizzy and jumpy on the afternoon but did not think much of it.
Last night i decided that all the chocolate in the house had to go as i needed to get back on the diet wagon. There was about 6 or seven portions of the rocky road left and i greedily ate the lot. BIG MISTAKE !, boy am i suffering today, although i slept fine i am extremely anxious, jittery and dizzy. I have had to come home from work as i can not focus and i have a really upset tummy.
Lesson learnt though, i am giving up chocolate for good.

[oneofus]

deb,

Out of the kindness of my heart and at great personal cost I'm willing to help you. Please send all your chocolate and esp. rocky road to me by e-mail asap. I will ensure all the naughty calories are dealt with by being immersed in a vat of acid and digestive enzymes.


one of us

[ialford]

My first, and worst, panic attack was almost entirely due to too much caffeine.

I can't even tolerate the small amount that's in chocolate!

If you cut it out completely you will soon feel the benefit. However the less you have you will probably find the more sensitive you will become so once you give it up, you have to be prepared to give it up for good.

OMG, that so the same for me. Giving it up has made the panic atacks so much better. Still have them but not as severe!!

[ialford]

Like most people here I have cut right down on my coffee intake and try to drink water and chamomile tea (it takes a bit of getting used to but after a while it's ok)

However I have to have my caffeine fix first thing in the morning and like someone else said, limit it to two cups a day, preferably before the afternoon.

I just drink decafe tea and coffee? It tastes the same......

[ialford]

cheers for the advice guys, i will start to cut down and switch to de-caff and see how that goes, it will be dificult because im a propper tea monkey lol.

A good quality of decafe tea tastes the same after a while. I use Twinings or PG, you have to leave the t-bag in just a bit longer but its just as nice....try it. It will make such a difference. Dont forget that you will feel a wee bit rough to begin with as you will be with-drawing from caffaine. Good luck, x

[beskiboo]

Like pretty much everyone here, caffeine effects me badly! I have two cups of tea in a few hours and I get the shakes massively, and paranoia. I've started drinking decaf, and it was awful at first, but now i prefer it! If I'm at a friends I'll have one cupn of normal tea/coffee, but that's it. What it does to me otherwise is awful, I'm more paranoid than at any other time!
x

[staypositive]

I used to love coffee, infact it was all I used to drink. Now I've cut right down, I don't like how it affected my sleeping habbits either, as I was getting little sleep and used caffiene to prop me up and get me through the day.

After over a month of being clear of the stuff, I feel much better, and I honestly feel calmer, more awake and more in control of my anxiety and feelings than I ever have been before.

The headaches you experience while cutting it out though, God!! Don't get me started, it was like hell. I read something somewhere that caffiene thins your blood, and the tension headaches are caused by the blood vessels in your brain swelling and causing pressure! Scary stuff

Danny