Caffeine

[Mark13]

Prompted by Anxious lu's thread on gluten intolerance, I notice caffeine hasn't been touched on for a while.

I'm on week 4 of Pregabalin, and was feeling quite good. I had about 4 cans of Pepsi Max while watching the afternoon's footy on the TV and my anxiety level is sky high.

So I plan on reducing caffeine over the next few days, then cutting it out for a while (apart from the odd choccy bar) to see if it helps.

I certainly don't think it causes my GAD but it may exacerbate it.

[mumo42012]

hi, i think that caffeine does make us worse, i try not to have tea and coffee too often xx hope u find it helps, i think it does for me xx

[almamatters]

Caffeine for me makes my symptoms worse, as a great fan of coffee who used to drink 6 cups a day, I now just have one first thing in the morning and never drink fizzy drinks with caffeine in. I can't cope with the increased heart rate and palpatations .

[Mark13]

Having had my last can of Pepsi a few hours ago, I can actually feel my anxiety diminishing, so I'm sure it makes my symptoms worse. It's down to 2 cans tomorrow now, especially as I go onto max dosage of Pregabalin too :)

[Liziik]

Hi all,
I drink ALOT of coke I mean a lot! Lol it is not good but with me its become an 'addiction' if I stop drinking it my heart races because its not getting the caffiene its used to I am trying to cut down but caffiene should defo be a no go! If I had of known this when I was younger there is no way I would ever have started drinking it! Xxxx

[MissHDynamite]

Let us know how you get on Mark. I don't drink cold drinks and love tea so drink about 10 cups a day. Be interesting to see if you feel a real difference. Good luck!

[nomorepanic]

I gave up caffeine donkeys years ago - it is not good for anxiety so please do ditch it!

[Justinf]

Gave it upo a week ago and switched to green tea and peppermint tea.
Let's see how long I last.

[Mark13]

Gave it upo a week ago and switched to green tea and peppermint tea.
Let's see how long I last.
I know, I thought I'd manage with one can of Pepsi Max today, but the craving started, so it'll have to be 2, but I'm sure I can cut it out within a week and like you, see how long I last.

That said, if it relieves my anxiety noticeably I'd gladly give up cola drinks and chocolate.

---------- Post added at 17:07 ---------- Previous post was at 17:07 ----------


Let us know how you get on Mark. I don't drink cold drinks and love tea so drink about 10 cups a day. Be interesting to see if you feel a real difference. Good luck!
Thanks. Much appreciated.

[EnterTheFlea]

Its a strange one for me. I frequently have a dry throat when feeling panicky, and I find drinks such as Pepsi/Coca-Cola can help sooth it. But if I have more than one can a day, I do start to feel a little "Tense", I guess its all the sugar and caffeine inside me wanting me to "go crazy"

[Tessar]

i stopped drinking caffeine yesterday afternoon.

Today I have a headache that hasnt responded to painkillers. I wonder if this is because of having no caffeine for over a day now, even though I didnt think I drank that much of it!!

Anyway, I'm hoping that giving caffeine up is going to make me feel alot better (especially where my hormones are concerned). Time will tell.

[HoneyLove]

Did you drink a lot of caffeine Tessar? One of well known side effects of stopping it is headaches. I hope you feel better soon! It will definitely help with your anxiety.

[Bekzie]

I cut caffeine out years ago and buy decaff everything (apart from chocolate:))
When I had my last bad panic attack a few weeks ago I was drinking a lot of green tea which I didn't realise was caffeinated! It went straight in the bin lol.

[Tessar]

Well, I was having 2-3 coffees a day & each had 2 espresso shots. I had a maximum of 6 espressos which I believe were 89mg of caffeine in each (its out of a machine we have at work & I looked up how much is in each capsule). My daily total for a long time has been between 356-534
There are days when I have no coffee & havent have a headache so maybe it's just a coincidence. I think it might be my hormones!!!
I'm on the decaff now & will stick to it. Oh I just realised that I did have some caffeine earlier (90mg in 2 painkillers) so I have had caffeine today so I cant be that I would think. Oh well.
I am still giving it up & hope I'll be feeling better for it!

[Tessar]

in the end the headache lasted til friday. I am off the caffeine. hopefully for good. decaff's ok. i wish i'd cut down slowly though and that would certainly be my advice to anyone who is going to come off it!!!

[LongingForSunrise]

Caffeine often makes anxiety worse and it's unpredictable from day to day. Reducing it will help both anxiety issues as well as heartburn, as an example.

I've reduced to drink half a cub a day and lots of water before I drink the coffee. Water = ultimate drink. Make sure you're always hydrated, it will keep your body in good shape throughout the day and make each organ work optimized. :)

[Tessar]

I've been drinking plenty of water. It's an easy habit to get into but also rather easy to get out of as well unfortunately. I managed to stick at one coffee today and wait til mid-morning for it rather than have it when I first got to work (as then I'd have wanted a second one)