Holy bad idea Batman Problems with caffeine

[singleton]

Well to begin I should say that I used to be a caffeine freak. I averaged 2L of Diet Dr Pepper everyday for the past four years.

About three weeks ago I ran out of pop and, being extremely busy with college, I was unable to get to the grocery store for anything other than a few bags of food here and there. I did not have one pop or coffee in that period.

I noticed the signs of withdrawl immediately. I was very confused and tired all the time. If you had asked me if I thought I required caffeine, I would have told you no (up until that point).

Today I went and got my grocery order. I picked up some coffee (I've not had a cup in years) and pop.

For some stupid reason I drank three cups of coffee and a pop over the period of 2.5-3 hours.

It really threw me into a loop. I had a heart palpitation a few hours ago, feel extremely hyper and wayyy to edgy, and have a sick feeling in my stomach.

Last time I try that

Now I'm drinking gallons of water to hopefully dilute whatever I did to my system

Oh and I recall that I had chest pain around my December finals. During that time period I had some funky heart problems (the GP said it was fine, likely stress and inflamed sternum). I recall that I consumed lots of caffeine to stay up and had minimal sleep.

I'm now going to limit myself to 1 cup in mid-afternoon heh.

Anyhow... watch what you drink

 

[James R]

I've heard that more than about 3 or 4 cups of coffee per day can be a problem. I'm at around that level, and I still get withdrawal symptoms when I don't have coffee for a while (usually a headache).

All things in moderation - except moderation! :)

 

[brewnog]

I discovered this a few years ago. Drinking a lot of Coke and tea (not in the same cup) didn't seem to me like an addiction of any kind, until I found myself needing a Coke before 9am to function, and having nasty withdrawal symptoms (horrible headaches, the occasional stomach cramp, and a complete lack of attention and concentration) when I didn't get my fix of tea and Coke throughout the day.

I know it sounds stupid, but it kind of hammers home the fact that caffeine is a drug. I also found out that the LD50 is only 10 grams, which shocked me quite a bit.

 

[BicycleTree]

You need to get off the drugs.

 

[mattmns]

I started drinking nothing but water about 3 years ago, and I have had about 5 non-water beverages in that time period. I have had 1 coke this year (it was actually about a week ago), and I think I had maybe 2 the previous year. I did not have any problems stopping, and I was similar to you, I drank a ton of cokes (dr pepper) every day. One day I just decided to stop drinking it and it has been good so far. And I do not wake up tired, in fact I would say I have been much more aware and better off since I stopped drinking coke.

 

[εllipse]

I get headaches from not having caffeine in my system for a while, but I can also get headaches from putting caffeine into my system at the wrong time. This is something I've just started noticing in the past year, although now that I've realized it, I can remember it being a problem before, just I didn't understand it. If I drink a coke in the early morning, 90% of the time I'll get a headache. But if I don't have one by mid-afternoon I'll get a headache and also be really sleepy. Usually if I go without caffeine for a day, I'll be really grumpy and have a headache. I've also realized it's not a good idea to have caffeine within an hour or so before I go to sleep, or I'll wake up with a headache in the morning from not getting any good sleep. This probably seems pretty obvious, but I didn't used to think much about it. Now I've found myself in a delicate battle between drinking enough caffeine and not drinking too much at the wrong time. Merr.

 

[James R]

What's an LD50?

 

[brewnog]

What's an LD50?

Someone else is probably more qualified to answer this, Moonbear? As I understand it, it's the amount of a substance which, when administered, causes death in half of the test sample. It's particular to the method by which the drug is administered.

 

[rachmaninoff]

I also found out that the LD50 is only 10 grams, which shocked me quite a bit.

Only? That's ~50 standard coffee drinks, hardly a small amount.

 

[brewnog]

Only? That's ~50 standard coffee drinks, hardly a small amount.

No, but I thought it was surprisingly little, for a drug which isn't regulated. Especially when it's not toooo hard to make a 'super brew'!

 

[James R]

There was a quite notorious case in Australia back in, I think, the 1996 Olympics, where an Australian fencer tested positive for excessive caffeine. He claimed that he had merely been drinking a lot of coffees and cokes between rounds of the competition. However, from memory, the levels of caffeine in his blood were equivalent to drinking about 30-40 cups of coffee in the space of a couple of hours! Unlikely.

That amount of caffeine didn't kill him, though.

 

[Moonbear]

Someone else is probably more qualified to answer this, Moonbear? As I understand it, it's the amount of a substance which, when administered, causes death in half of the test sample. It's particular to the method by which the drug is administered.

You got it right.

10 grams is a LOT of caffeine, and it is regulated if you are trying to buy it in powdered form.

I freely admit that I'm thoroughly addicted to caffeine. If I ever get a proper vacation, I'll kick it then. I can't function if I don't have coffee, so need to give myself a few days to withdraw when I don't need to be at work. Then again, I probably wouldn't have gotten so addicted in the first place if I had enough free time for proper vacations.

 

[moose]

I have about 200mg of caffeine a day, if I don't have my can of pepsi every 4 hours or less, I can't do anything(or that's my excuse). I love kicking the habbit and then going back to it because the effects are multyplied :P. 10 grams is more than a lot of caffeine, it can be a lethal dossage to some people, if it doesn't kill you, you will have horrible effects anyway.

 

[Knavish]

I got a bit addicted to caffeine/pop at the end of the year this time around (AP tests, blah, blah..). Want to guess what happened then? I got a ****ing cavity. I am still pissed off about this, as I have always taken care of my teeth. Bah. So I haven't had a pop since, and I'm almost scared to. I am so screwed for college.

 

[brewnog]

I had 14 cans of Coke one night once. I was playing a long gig in an extremely hot, crowded room, and the Coke was free.

The effects were truly horrible, - I had the mother of all headaches for about 6 hours, couldn't sleep (obviously) for a day or so, and felt so ill I couldn't even drink any water to try and dilute the effects. This was all followed by some rather unpleasant bathroom-related side effects.

Don't do it kids, drugs are bad!