Coffee

[mrsjoseph123]

Hello all,

Does anyone experience really bad anxiety when drinking coffee? Although I have panic disorder, my general anxiety is usually fine but all week I have a really heavy feeling of anxiety resulting in several panic attacks however this week, I have been exhausted and without realising it, been drinking up to 3 coffees a day so I'm thinking that it is this causing my anxiety. Your experiences would be greatly appreciated..

[Fishmanpa]

Caffeine is known to aggravate anxiety issues.

Positive thoughts

[jayb1]

I cut caffeine completely out and now only drink decaf and chamomile tea . every book I've read on anxiety and panic disorder says to do so and believe me I've read a lot of those books! Give it a go, it can only help

[sial72]

I had to give up coffee, tea, Coke as they all made my anxiety much worse.
I switched to decaff x

[MyNameIsTerry]

There was a thread on the Panic board about tea and caffeine:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=172752&highlight=caffeine

I've never been too bothered by caffeine in tea or soft drinks. Prior to my anxiety I used to take 500mg guarana tablets every morning but I stopped these when my anxiety developed for obvious reasons. They definately gave a much bigger kick but they are a dense form of caffeine and they advise against them in some antidepressants leaflets (I think my med of the time, Citalopram mentioned it).

How about decreasing the caffeine content? It could just be you can't tolerate it at the moment but later in in recovery you can. I found this with loads of things.

There is always a lower caffeine source like green tea that is healthy for other reasons. There is also green coffee beans but I can't remember much about them but I think they were low or caffeine free.