Caffeine-induced anxiety attacks?

[Wintear]

Today, I drank can of green tea with honey & ginseng that had 35mg of caffeine in it with my lunch. A half hour later, I was experiencing severe tightness in my chest and very uncomfortable bloating feeling that accompanied it. Then the heart palpitations started along with a dramatically increased heart beat that only made my symptoms worse. I had a full blown attack that lasted good 20 minutes or so. I stuck with deep breathing exercises through-out the whole experience to help calm myself down at least to a point where I could move again (it felt as if I was physically disabled during the attack..) and lay down.

Now, I'm cold, clammy, and very shaky. It feels like I'm numb to reality, too. I can't shake this godawful sensation. It's like I have anxiety snakes slithering in circles all over my body, tightening with each passing second. I just wanna jump right out of my own skin!!&@&^*!@

Did the caffeine trigger this? I've been under a very large amount of stress and personal struggle the past 4 months...I know that could always contribute...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am desperate to rid myself of this horrible nightmare I've been living.......

[swanick15]

Cortisol is the hormone that is secreted by the brain and is the 'chemical cause' of stress it is also a stimulant. Caffeine is the substance that is found in many foods including coffee. When we are in states of constant high stress we have a high level of cortisol in the bloodstream and having high amounts of caffeine in the blood means that the brain will secrete cortisol and cause more stress and as both cortisol and caffeine are stimulants they have the effect of increasing the heart rate to a higher rate and causes arrhythmia (irregular hearbeat) and palpitations and if you smoke the nicotine (also a stimulant) is adding to this effect which causes even higher stress and will cause more cortisol secretion resulting in more pronounced
anxiety symptoms. Because Cortisol lasts a long time in the blood and the higher the level the longer your symptoms will last

Best advice is to lay off all food or drink containing caffeine until your symptoms disappear as more caffeine will increase the cortisol level and it will last longer. Also if you smoke I'd lay off the death sticks (sorry) as the nicotine will make increase cortisol levels as will alcohol. GOOD LUCK !! :)

[Wintear]

Thank you..I will be cutting out all caffeine and sugary foods/beverages for a long while. Five hours later and I'm just now feeling somewhat level-headed.

Thank you again for the advice! Be well yourself...

[LeFi_81]

aaronc Thank you for the patient and detailed explanation. It was a pleasure to read.

@Wintear
Due to some excessive coffee consumption which resulted from social interactions, I too had similar experiences yesterday. It was a hard reminder to take care what goes over my lips.

Keep well!
L

[Wintear]

Yeah, no more caffeine for me. I've already completely cut sodas from my diet (been over a year since I've touched one..) and now I'm just working on my darn sweet tooth...

[aprilmoon]

Its caffeine free tea for me from now on,I love my cuppas,and haven't really thought about the effect it could be having.
Thanks for this.:)

[Rennie1989]

I was caffeine-free for 2-3 years, except the odd Coke now and then. I slowly started drinking caffeine again because my parents were reluctant to buy my caffeine-free tea and coffee and I couldn't afford it myself. Now I can drink coffee with no problems but I know when I need to avoid it.

[AnxietyDJ]

I get the same things if i drink a lot of caffeine - heightens all my anxiety senses and makes me go into panic mode a lot of the time.

I've been having almost zero caffeine for the past month (with no coffee at all) and feel so much better for it! :)