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Will Caffeine Cause Health Problems?
numbski asks: "We're all geeks here, and I think there is no question how much we love our caffeine. What concerns me is that my fiancee has noticed how much I take in during the morning, and that I even use Diet Pepsi in addition to pain killers as a medication for headaches. So I did my googling about caffeine and addiction. In the minority, you have one report making a scientific claim that there is no such thing as an addiction to caffeine, however many other articles (not to mention marketing propaganda) suggest otherwise. Perhaps not just the sake of having an addiction is what concerns me, but whatever other side effects. I generally take good care of myself, go to the gym, exercise, play hockey, eat right. I hate to have a stroke or heart attack later on in life because of the stuff. I'd be curious to know the thoughts of others who take in large amounts of caffeine, and perhaps what their doctors have said about it. I plan on talking to my own soon, but it seems like this warrants discussion amongst those who consume the most. Would/does this prevent you from grabbing your Bawls and running like hell?"
As a matter of fact, when I don't drink it, I have these POUNDING HEADACHES LIKE A NAIL IN MY BRAIN.
Therefore, it must be good for me, right?
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BAWLS Guarana, www.bawls.com, is a high caffeine soft drink made from the guarana berry from the Amazonian Rainforest. The caffeine derived from guarana is twice as powerful as the caffeine derived from coffee.
I thought caffeine was caffeine was caffeine was a single molecule. How can a molecule from one source be "twice as powerful" as the same molecule from another source?
Or maybe I've just had too much coffee, and now I'm all paranoid.
Short answer NO. Long answer anything in excess can cause health problems, including water.
People seem to have a moral problem with a drug that has no side effects, but let's face it, from the scientific literature it seems caffeine is it.
It is midly addictive, in the sense that you crave it, but getting rid of the addiction is generally very easy if you use the fade out method (gradually reduce your consumption of caffeine over a period of several weeks).
Just use some cocaine as a pick-me-up and then you can wean yourself away from caffiene :P
diÂuÂretÂic ( P ) Pronunciation Key (d-rtk)
adj.
Tending to increase the discharge of urine.
n.
A substance or drug that tends to increase the discharge of urine.
I'm just worried that it's not worth injuring my health over.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
... and it seems like caffeine might actually prevent Alzheimers.
People couldn't type. We realized: Death would eventually take care of this.
She said one study " reported dependence over a wide dose range", from as little as one or two cups per day to as much as 25 cups.
25 cups???? 8 hour workday. 25/8=~3/hour
Every 20 minutes you're downing approximately 8oz of caffeine and water.
Man, come up for air!
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
...and like any other stimulant, it can cause problems if your nervous system is sensitive to that sort of thing. Especially if you have a low-level (i.e. symptomless) case of Parkinson's or epilepsy.
I don't think it's been linked to any other problems, though.
"America has done some terrible things. But I know that Americans don't cheer when innocents die." -Dave Barry
Alzheimers
or
High blood pressure?
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Incidentally, the "not addictive" study you linked is speaking from an extremely specific neurophysiological perspective, and only applies to light consumers (1-3 cups of coffee / day).
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
If you drink it, you're ruining your teeth and causing a spike in blood-sugar level (unless it's diet... in which case aspartame has even worse problems).
Of course, soda makes a great enema... And the carbonation feels incredible.
For about 3 years straight, I drank at least 6 cans of dew a day, and that was slow. Most days was 9-12. I know that's nothing compared to hardcore coffee chuggers, but it still amounts to a signicant amount. And then about 4 month ago, for no other reason that to lose weight, I replaced all fluid intake with good ole water. Cold turkey, too. I didn't have an caffeine, to my knowledge, for about 2 months. No soda, coffee, tea, chocolate, stacker2, nothing. And I never really felt a withdrawl period. Although, along with the whole losing weight thing, I started a regular gym routine, so I might have knocked out any sort of feelings I might have had with pure metabolism. But this is just my anecdotal evidence against any sort of addiction. Although the guy who drink 3 pots of coffee a day might say otherwise.
Th
Here is a snippet about sleep and addiction
The most important long-term problem is the effect that caffeine has on sleep.The half-life of caffeine in your body is about 6 hours. That means that if you consume a big cup of coffee with 200 mg of caffeine in it at 3:00 PM, by 9:00 PM about 100 mg of that caffeine is still in your system. You may be able to fall asleep, but your body probably will miss out on the benefits of deep sleep. That deficit adds up fast. The next day you feel worse, so you need caffeine as soon as you get out of bed. The cycle continues day after day. This is why 90% of Americans consume caffeine every day. Once you get in the cycle, you have to keep taking the drug. Even worse, if you try to stop taking caffeine, you get very tired and depressed and you get a terrible, splitting headache as blood vessels in the brain dilate. These negative effects force you to run back to caffeine even if you want to stop.
I read this book over a year ago, and it caused me to go caffeine free for the better part of a year. Since then, I've taken the road of moderation, as I do love a good cup of coffee once in a while, as well as a good iced-tea. However, I've ditched carbonated beverages for good.
The book includes over 700 references, and while I'm not medical-minded enough to call him on his conclusions, they make sense to me and follow-up internet research of my own suggests that he's in the ballpark.
In my view, there's not much of anything the body can't handle in modest amounts once in a while: caffeine, alcohol, and even some recreational drugs. But chronic usage of any substance in large amounts can't be that good for you -- that just seems like common sense (if not outright supported by the sciences). If we all consumed alcohol as much as we did caffeine, our livers would turn to mush.
If nothing else, this book has some great coffee alternatives listed at the end.
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To make a long story short, there are some wonderful meds out there that will do a much better job than caffeine for this problem. Caffeine is really a pretty nasty drug: if you're "hooked" (i.e. find you can't function without it) I suggest you see a doctor.
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
If by health problems you mean my 20 page term paper, and by cause you mean solve then YES, emphatically.
I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants
IANAD but Cafeinne increases your blood pressure. If your blood pressure is over 115 (used to be 120 but that has been revised recently) one of the first things you can do is cut out the cafeinne. It sure beats taking blood pressure medication which can cause sexual disfunctions! When you cut out cafeinne you will probably have a couple days of headaches to put up with, especially the first day. I haven't drinken (drunk?) any cafeinne in about 3 weeks, but started again yesterday and today. Oh well. If you are hardcore addict (whatever that might mean) then I'd recommend a gradual, planned reduction to reduce the headache problem.
I found an interesting article on this exact topic of caffeine and how it affects you. Apparently it really affects your blood-sugar levels, where it behaves as though it has dropped significatly, even though your bloodsugar is not as low as you feel. The effect is that you feel hungry and that you will probably consume some more food to satisfy your hunger. What's interesting is that cola has sugar, which gets converted to immediately to energy and forces your body to produce insulin. If you are overweight, you will feel hungry again because you are probably insulin sensitive, and therefore you will feel hungry again and eat.
The Atkins Nutritional Aproach advocates people to avoid caffeine during weight loss.
I got this interesting info from this site.
I used to drink a lot of soda (Mt. Dew, Coke, Pepsi) myself. About 6 years ago, I decided to give it up for a month just to see if I had any caffeine withdrawal. I didn't give up chocolate (so I still got some caffiene) but I didn't really notice anything.
At the end of the month, I figured there really wasn't any point in starting up again as I could save calories so I've never started again. All I drink now is water and milk (and occasional fruit juice).
Side note: if you do go the water route - restaurants are annoying. There seems to be a belief that if you ask for water it is because you are 1) not really thirsty or 2) cheap. Either way they bring you out about a thimble sized glass. That annoys me because I drink a lot when I eat. If they're so worried, then charge for water, I drink it because I want it, not because I'm trying to save a dollar on my meal.
There is a great collection of information on caffeine at the Erowid Caffeine Vault.
He who laughs last is stuck in a time dilation bubble.
Side note: if you do go the water route - restaurants are annoying. There seems to be a belief that if you ask for water it is because you are 1) not really thirsty or 2) cheap. Either way they bring you out about a thimble sized glass. That annoys me because I drink a lot when I eat. If they're so worried, then charge for water, I drink it because I want it, not because I'm trying to save a dollar on my meal.
Yes, I did start to notice this. As long as you don't mind doing two things, you'll be in the clear. First is ask for a big glass of water. You might come off sounding like a dick, but if it'll save your server 4 trips, I'm sure s/he won't mind. Next, tip like you did get a soda or whatever. Throw in an extra buck or two if you were willing to pay for the water anyways. Make it be known that we water drinkers are the cheap tightwads we're stereotyped to be!
Th
Caffeine is bug poison. Tropical plants use it to disturb the central nervous systems of insects, so that they discourage being eaten.
I am a academic clinical psychologist. I do not specialize in caffeine per se in any way, academically or clinically, but I can tell you what I know.
(1) Caffeine is not addictive in the true sense of addictive. That is, it does not lead to abnormal cravings or pathological activation of neural approach systems per se. However, it does induce withdrawal, in the sense that your body develops a tolerance to it to maintain a certain equilibrium. When you remove the caffeine, you get headaches because you're not providing the chemicals your body expects. So, it's not addictive, but it does lead to tolerance. I'm not sure if I'm explaining that well, but that's what's going on.
(2) Caffeine is known to increase levels of anxiety in various individuals. Some individuals, in fact, have acute, severe anxiety reactions to caffeine. I believe there is actually a relatively recent paper identifying the particular gene involved in this acute reaction. My guess is that you don't suffer from this, as most people who have this reaction become aware of it. But not all. And in any event, many individuals' levels of anxiety are increased by caffeine even if they don't have acute reactions. So, if you're worried about your anxiety or stress (meta-anxiety?), you might want to think about cutting caffeine and seeing if it helps. I do know various people who have stopped taking caffeinated substances and said they're much mellower and calmer people. I also know people who have starting using caffeine again after stopping it, and have commented on how much more anxious they feel. But for others, it doesn't seem to matter. You'll have to find out for yourself.
(3)As someone pointed out, caffeine habits can effect people's sleep. I once heard a rule of thumb that you shouldn't be drinking caffeinated beverages after 8:00 or so if you want to get adequate sleep. It seemed to help me; you could try it and see for yourself. Sleep problems are associated with all sorts of other issues, so even if caffeine doesn't have adverse effects directly, it may have such effects indirectly through sleep problems. But it should be okay as long as you are exposed to caffeine at appropriate times of day.
So that's what I know from that perspective. In terms of long-term physical outcomes, I don't know really. I haven't heard of such things, but I haven't paid that much attention those sorts of issues anyway.
Since my early teen years, I was a caffeine junkie. Coffee and colas, nonstop. I used it both habitually (urg, morning, give coffee) and recreationally (yeah, drink 3 espressos and feel wacky, then stay up all night playing D&D) [yeah, yeah, nerd alert]. When Penguin Mints came out, I was buying them by the box via mail order, and eating a few every hour at work.
It got to be a bit much. Shakiness and being groggy in the morning until I dosed up were acceptable, almost "cool" within the right circles. But when I started having some stomach troubles (which apparently were unrelated) I decided on my own to give it up cold turkey.
I've been off it for a few years now, and I certainly sleep more now and feel more alive in the morning than I did when I was using it.
I still miss it every day, though.
I mostly miss the "recreational" aspect of it, though -- getting a good caffeine buzz to make the night last longer. But I know myself -- if I started drinking it "just on the weekends" or "just on game night" it wouldn't be long before I was back to my insane ways....
Now, where's my beer?
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i've noticed lately that caffeine makes me feel normal; not in the sense that i haven't woken up yet and need a coffee, but in the sence that my mind becomes free and un-clouded after 200mg of caffeine. i get more creative, i learn stuff faster, my memory improves.
since i hate coffee, and only drink it if pills aren't available, i usually start my day with 2x100mg caffeine, and maybe top it off with another one or two after lunch.
one really neat trick i learned while studying in iceland (where the perpetual darkness was quite a pain) was to set the alarm-clock to 30m before i should get out of bed, swollow two pills, reset the alarm to when i'm supposed to get up, and presto (!) i'm awake enough the next time it rings.
but if i'm dependent on caffeine? nah, i'm not caffeine to caffeine, i just caffeine caffeine whenever i need to focus on caffeine.
f64 : too much coffee and no sleep makes f64 go something something...
Are some people naturally immune to caffeine?
a fscking fantasy. Why is it that in a certain affluent area in Rhode Island fully 33% of the children are in "Special Education" classes? Because the school system caters to it, and Soccer Mommy wants Junior to get that extra attention. Get over it, ADHD et.al. is bogus. Turn off the TV, read a book, and train your brain to focus for more than 10 minutes at a time.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Ok, time for my $0.02.
Being mildy ADHD and a qualified genius according to even the old IQ tests, I've always enjoyed caffeine. It wakes me up, keeps me going, and lets me focus, within reason.
The good thing about caffeine is that it's very self-regulating. I'm lucky in that I don't become chemically dependent (3 pots to zero, no headache; same with 1 pack cigs/day to zero... no effect). If I have too much caffeine, I notice that I start to lose focus, and my stomach starts to growl. While some people may become hungry from the caffeine, I've noticed it primarily in coffee. It's important to note the difference between caffeine and coffee. If I take caffeine pills or drink Mountain Dew or whatever, I don't get hungry. If I drink lots of coffee, the acid levels in my stomach make me want to eat.
Most studies on caffeine that one reads are not done on caffeine itself, but either coffee or tea. Coffee contains over 300 toxins and I don't know how many chemicals there are in tea. Caffeine in pill form raises my blood pressure SLIGHTLY, works much more efficiently (since some of the chemicals in coffee cut the half-life of caffeine dramatically), and doesn't make me crave food.
If you can drink three cups of coffee a day, taking caffeine in pill form isn't likely to kill you, especially if you hate taking pills. It's easier to remember how much caffeine you've consumed in a pill, then remember how many cups of coffee you've had with your friends.
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. - G.B. Shaw
This is my personal experience ... treat the following like you would with any anecdote - with suspicion.
I observe Lent every year - not out of some sense of religious need, but to help me break "bad habits." I find it much easier to give something up when other people around me are giving things up, and if I can kick a bad habit for 48 days, it is easy to keep on kicking it.
Last year's target for me was caffeine - no Colas, no Tea, no Excedren (read the label on that pain-killer!) nothing. I had the usual headache for the first couple of days, which then wore off.
Some background: I have had a consistent problem with leg cramps for years. It was especially bad after exercise - play three games of volleyball on a Friday night, and a few hours later my legs would cramp so strongly that I would have to lever them against a wall to get them to stop hurting. I took to taking pre-emptive doses of aspirin . . . and really stepped up my consumption of Gatorade and water on the days of the games, just to be able to play.
Lent starts on a Wednesday, so my first volleyball league match was two days after going off caffeine - and for the first time in months, I did not cramp up after the game. This continued through the following six weeks of that season.
When Lent ended, I fell off the wagon, and went right back to my colas. The following Friday, my leg cramps were back with a vengeance. When I recovered, I decided to lay off the caffeine again, just to see if there was a correlation (or to see if I was imagining things), and to date, the leg cramps are gone.
Was it caffeine, or something else that I was consuming? I have no idea. All I know is that I avoid them as much as possible, now, and I do not even remember the last time that a leg cramp woke me up at night.
Chivalry is not dead, it's just frequently misspelt. - M. Langley
Anyway, to me, caffeine is just bad stuff. It makes me jittery and I can feel my heartbeat much more prominently. I guess that probably means my blood pressure goes up. Honestly it doesn't do much at all for my mental alertness, but then I suppose it's hard to doze off when you're jittery. Maybe I just react poorly to the stuff, but based on this, I'm pretty sure it's not good for me. Whether it's really bad and can do long term damage is another question altogether. I have no idea...
Regardless, I can say with good confidence that I've always felt much better overall when I injested no caffeine for a significant period of time. I posted about this once before, but a few years back I went for over a year without any caffeine at all, consciously avoiding it. I never felt better during that time - I felt like I had more energy and required less sleep. In reality though, I'd bet I was probably getting more sleep as a result of being able to fall asleep sooner at night.
So my personal recommendation is to avoid it if you can, substituting a regular and sufficient sleep schedule, plenty of exercise, and a decent diet. Sounds like you have most of that going anyway. Even if you don't cut it out completely (I still have some on occasion), moderation is probably best. It's kind of like that saying - everything you eat may eventually kill you, but not eating it will kill you faster! The trick is always finding the balance to maximize potential benefits while minimizing potential harm.
Say hello to zMac.
There is an article about coffeine in the latest "Spektrum der Wissenschaft", the german "Scientific American".
The author Bruno Sicard claims, that there is no strong addiction to coffeine, as is to Alcohol, Nicotin, Marihuana or worse. Coffein even slows down Parkinson's Desease. Statistically, people drinking coffee get Parkinson less often.
But you can overdo it, getting coffeinism (?), showing with shiver, angst, nervosity. (Women do suffer from coffeinism easier than men do)
Back in '88 I was a senior in high school. I would consume Mountain Dew x 2 in the morning to wake up. I'd have various caffinated beverages throughout the day. After work at night to stay awake for homework I'd be using Vivarin chased with as much of a 6-pack of Jolt Cola as I could stomach. Then unisom when I was done to get to sleep. Better living through chemistry I said!
It took a little while for the heart palpatations to start. I didn't like those but I was a stupid kid then. I just cut back a bit on the Jolt, but not much.
It took until early in my first year in college for the real physical effects to develop -- incredible abdominal cramps that would lay me compeltely out ina whimpering crying ball on the floor. Think appendix + gall bladder + birth. It took me a little while to start to correlate it to caffeine, but I told the doctors everything.
After ramming a wonderful camera up my tail and submitting me to a string of other humiliating tests (complete with barium enemas -- can you say "shitting rocks for 3 days?") the doctors told me that essentially I would never be able to have caffeine again without side effects because of the damage it did to my bowels & intestinal tract. I was now caffeine intolerant.
There was a drug I could take if I really didn't want the incredible abdominal cramps but it gave me nightmares. I actually tried it and the night terrors weren't worth some caffeine.
It took me 2 weeks worth of pretty nasty withdrawl symptoms before I got over it.
I have now been clean about 14 years. Nothing with caffeine, no cola, no chocolate, nothing. I read ingredients lists religiously looking for anything with more than 5gm of caffeine. A cup of Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa (5mg) gives me a pretty good buzz and I can't tolerate two of them without some mild pain.
Yes, it is a drug. Yes, it is addictive. Yes, you go through withdrawl, and yes, you can live without it. I don't know ho wmany 36 hour days I've done on sugar and micro power naps alone.
Time is the quality of nature that keeps events from happening all at once. Lately it doesn't seem to be working. -Anon
If you want medical advice, don't ask Slashdot. Ask your doctor.
Then have them explain why I was throwing up when getting off caffine twice.
Fatal intoxication with Caffeine does occur rarely. It is usually due to cardiac arrhythmias and results in sudden death. (How many of you out there have felt a sudden fluttering in your chest, especially when excited?) Most caffeine overdose occurs among chronic users of large quantities of caffeine while simultaneously using a drug like Tagamet (cimetadine). See you really should read those packet inserts. I have personally seen several cases of patients presenting with new onset chest pains or palpitations, who are long term chronic caffeine users who recently started taking an over the counter Ulcer medication. This is not the only âoeside effectâ of caffeine use, but is the most important.
Additionally, since caffeine is metabolized primarily in the liver, people with known liver problems should probably watch their coffee intake. And keep in mind the average half life of caffeine in a healthy adult is 3 to 7 hours, but in a woman who is pregnant or on long-term oral contraceptives, this increases two fold.
It doesn't have caffeine. Equivalents are Sierra Mist or 7up
Balzac is said to have died from a heart problem induced by his love for coffee. The man was an addict. See his "The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee". Of course, one also note that the guy wrote well over a hundred novels during his career so it might have been a good trade -- depends on where your priorities are. I always thought Balzac should be the patron saint of geeks and programmers.
If you're posting this from US soil you are whining. US coffee is weak except for some distant niches and even starbucks cannot even sell a good espresso (they cannot even make ristretto's in most shops). Last 2 weeks I was there I visited 20 assorted coffee shops only one shop came to a decent strength. Oh and coffee is *not* drunk from a paper cup!
Over on the other side of the pond where true espresso is made and drunk (Italy, France, Spain most commonly) people enjoy stiff coffee's that would know a yanks pants off. The netherlands is famous for having people drink US sized mugs of coffee filled with French style breakfast strongness coffee. Many italian visitors to our office in rotterdam complain about the coffee being absurdly strong (heck, I like it).
err wait, you said you were from Europe?
It rids the body of calcium, so you shrink with osteoporosis.
c.
That's my name for some of these breakfast cereals whose two main ingredients are ususally sugar and high fructose corn syrup. It's just sugar, sugar, then you get to the real ingredients. That's why I like my frosted mini wheats. At least they have something left when you remove the sugar (which tastes like straw -- the reason for adding the sugar).
Actually I only know of one bottler in the US that makes Dr Pepper using the original recipe using cane sugar. The original plant in Texas (Dublin I think?) makes it and sells as much of it as they can make ... here in Austin the specialty stores sell it in the 10 oz bottles for like $6 a six-pack. And it is very, very good.
I had forgotten how good the old flavor was until I spent time in Moscow (CCCP) a few years back - over there they made it using the original (cane sugar instead of corn syrup) recipe and I was like WOW this is really good. Took some research but I figured out why.
Still really nasty to get all that sugar in my system though.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
Riddle me this. If you take Ritalin, you get hyper, excited, overstimulated. If I take Ritalin, I calm down. Why do you suppose this is?
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
As someone who played around with amphetamines a bit in my youth, my opinion is yes. Getting off of speed was worse, but the withdrawls from my continuous high intake of caffeinated drinks was noticeably similar for me.
In the break room at a company I visited, there was a poster over the coffee machine of spider web pictures some researcher had taken after injecting spiders with various types of drugs (cocaine, heroin, LSD, etc), including caffeine.
What was scary -- all the "regular" drugs caused odd patterns in the webs but they were at least regular and identifiable as spider webs - some had more concentric rings, or more "spokes", or a square shape instead of "round", etc.
But the caffeine-stimulated spider's web looked like a pile of pickup sticks, with no discernible pattern at all.
Not sure what that means for those of us with fewer than 8 legs, but it definitely made me think twice each time I filled my coffee cup.
Found a simple soloution: pottasium chlorate(sp). Mine, and probably yours are most likely cause by a low pottasium level, which seems to hit the big muscles first. I would always wake up with a leg cramp bad enough to hurt for 2 days.
i started using the salt designed for people with heat peoblems. THis is usually potassium chloride.Ii dont even use salt noramlly, but i sprinkle a bit in my water before running, and add more when i came back, kind of a poor mas gatorade without all the sugar. I haven had leg cramps ever when doing this.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
u u u mean i i its baaaaad for uuuu?
naaaah
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire
when I'm stacking I consume approx 5 GRAMS of caffeine in a 24hr period (yes, thats 5000 milligrams, or equivalent to 50 regular (6 oz) cups of coffee). with this I also consume between 100mg and 400mg of Ephedrine HCl (it ramps up and down in my three week supercycle)
every three weeks, i skip one week of both w/o any withdrawal symptoms.
Since I've started stacking I've been healthier (sick only twice in last three years) vs tracking the seasons with visits to the doctor office prior to my large caffeine intake.
If you are really concerned about possible long term effects of caffeine - or ANY stimulant for matter - point your browser to
- http://www.pubmed.com
and search the following terms: caffeine ephedrine safety long term effectsFrom that you can determine that C+E is safe and effective. so if you are just doing the C then you sould be just fine.
lh_ (posting anonymously to avoid karma)
I say this as an M.D. who relies on a pot of coffe to get going in the morning, and 2-3 20 oz cokes and/or a vente starbucks in the afternoon:
coffee has several known effects on an organism's health:
coffee's effect on wakefulness is likely mediated by interfering with adenosine receptors in the frontal lobes of the brain (competitive antagonism). although I personally feel that coffee makes me more alert and attentive, there is always the possibility that this is a fabrication of my own self-perception. which is to say: i do not know of an objective way of supporting the statement "coffee enhances my mental functioning despite being sleep deprived."
antagonism of adenosine receptors in the heart leads to an increased tendency for the cardiac muscle to contract spontaneously. this leads to an extra contraction known as a PVC (premature ventricular contraction). i do not know what the health implications of this are. common sense would suggest that there is little consequence to this unless you have a very sick heart to begin with.
caffiene is a weak diuretic (it makes you pee). this can promote the formation of kidney stones in some people. it can also dehydrate you, which is why you should never hit the StarBucks just before you cross Death Valley by foot.
caffiene both increases acid production in the stomach and weakens the tone of the sphincter (valve) between the esophagus and the stomach. this results in gastroesophageal reflux (heart burn). gastroesophageal reflux, if severe, can lead to esophagitis, Barrett's esophagus (metaplasia, e.g. precancerous change), and adenocarcionoma (cancer) of the esophagus. i don't know of any studies that show an increased risk of developing esophageal cancer in coffee drinkers, but such a study would be retrospective and probably very difficult to pull off with sufficient power.
Lastly, and I know this is kinda weak: people who drink X number of cups of coffee each day _may_ have an increased chance of developing bladder cancer.
all in all, though, coffee is a pretty benign habit. in a public health sense, it pales in comparison to simple things, like limiting saturated fats, not smoking, moderate alcohol intake, and wearing seat belts.
Fermat's other theorem: "I have a simple proof, but I can't write it down as I fear it's a DMCA violation to discuss it"
Coffee makes us speedy, irritable, sleepless, and often causes heartburn or ulcers. The removal of caffeine is supposed to reduce some of these undesirable effects. Coffee is an addicting beverage. If you consume more than 2 cups per day, you are likely to experience unpleasant withdrawal if you stop. The minimal suffering includes a headache, irritability, and fatigue. The popular ideas that the bad effects of coffee are caused by one chemical, caffeine, is misleading. The 800 or so other chemicals in coffee include aromatic or phenolic chemicals and many are probably neurotoxic; other chemicals are allergenic. Coffee is also a crop with pesticide residues. Coffee can be allergenic and makes some people obviously sick. Chlorogenic acid is one of the allergens which coffee shares with oranges.
Tea and coffee have much in common, although they different plant products from different geographic zones. Tea contains caffeine and other members of the drug family, methyxanthines. Tea also contains tannin, a good tanning agent. The caffeine dose in a cup of coffee ranges from 100 to 160 mg. A cup of tea has 20-60 mg and 12 ounces of regular Coca Cola has 45 mg of caffeine. The symptom complex produced by tea parallels coffee. Chronic heavy tea- users have sometimes been nicknamed Tuffers. Teas are addicting and are allergenic.
Daily coffee or tea ingestion induces a 24 hour cyclic disturbance with morning arousal, irritability, difficulty concentrating, subtle levels of disorganization, clumsiness, and forgetfulness. As the day progresses, 2 or more cups later, a heavy fatigue sets in by mid to late afternoon. Further coffee doses may rouse one a bit, but then further collapse is inevitable by evening. Irritability may evolve into disproportionate or inappropriate angry outbursts, pleasure-loss, absence of good-feelings, or empathy anesthesia. It is likely that the subtle pyschopathology of moderate to heavy coffee consumption contributes to the production of unnecessary conflict and dysphoria. The subtle cognitive and memory deficits which appear after coffee intake should alarm employers who expect their employees to think, remember, or carry out skilled, coordinated acts. It may be that coffee and tea intake facilitates dull, routine, rote tasks where thinking, skill, and initiative are unimportant. The cognitive and emotional defects of the coffee-drinker should also alarm a spouse or close family member who cannot understand why the relationship is not working. Until you consider coffee and other food-factors, mental and emotional disturbances may be totally mystifiying. Early sleep may be denied the infrequent coffee user. The chronic coffee-used may go to sleep readily but sleeps poorly and awakens feeling tired and mentally clouded. Morning fatigue demands more coffee to get going. A familiar recursive loop is established following the familiar addictive sequence.
If you begin in a clear state with no symptoms and a clear mind, the ingestion of even one cup of coffee will often produce a marked and undesirable effect. The sustained ingestion of even small amounts of coffee seems to produce a subtle psychopathology. The chronic coffee user risks a variety of physical and mental disabilities, especially coffee-user-fog. If your Cuffer spouse, employer, employee, or best friend seems irritable, obtuse, unduly nasty, or depressed, nurse them through the three-day- withdrawal headache and serve nice cups of hot water instead. Coffee substitutes are definitely not recommended. Many ex-cuffers find that a "nice cup of hot water" becomes a suitable drink. Others switch to light consume, soup, or hot water, lightly flavored with lemon and honey.
I don't believe in caffeine addiction. though
I suppose it may depend on how much you take in,
I used to drink a lot of coke, upwards of maybe
48oz+ a day probably everyday. wanted to cut back
and have, hardest part was the withdrawl, mostly
headaches but they go away after about a week.
I suppose it may be harder to "quit" if you depend
on the "pickup" that caffeine gives some people.
I drank coke for the taste not for the "pickup".
I still do drink coke from time to time but it's
more like 2 a week then 6 a day.
I also cannot stand coffee so I don't drink any of that. don't like tea either. mostly drink diet sierra mist, tastes like sprite.
...ask yourself, "Do I really want to be put in the same league as this guy?
As a diabetic (Someone who has the equipment to monitor bloodsugar, and spends quite a bit of effort managing it.)
Direct effects on bloodsugar: None, at least nothing noticeable. Nothing compared to plain 'ole stress, sickness, or exercise.
Symptoms similar to hypoglycemia (low bloodsugar) - Shakiness. Never had caffeine make me hungry.
Symptoms similar to hyperglycemia (high bloodsugar) - Pissing all the time.
Caffeine has effects that go both ways...
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
One of the big problems with dehydration is not necessarily lack of water, but chemical imbalances resulting from the water being carried away (either in sweat or urine). "dehydration" is as much a potassium/sodium shortage as an H2O shortage. This is why pure water alone often doesn't cure dehydration headaches. Putting a small amount of light salt (Morton's Light Salt is a mixture of normal salt, aka sodium chloride, and potassium chloride, in proportions VERY similar to Gatorade.)
Don't use too much salt, or you WILL create an H2O shortage. Just a little goes a long way.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Just a note about the headaches. The first presumption I've come across when mentioning caffeine works wonders on my migraines is "well of course, your body's gone too long without its caffeine fix". It's pop medicine, and is a typical reaction rfom doctors, friends, relatives etc. It doesn't mean that caffeine withdrawal headache doesn't happen, but not regarding it as a valid fix for some people is just being dismissive. Hell, some migraine medications -contain- caffeine.
I've gone without using caffeine/coffee for years at a time, and it's had no affect on the frequency of my migraines. They still come along from time to time regardless of my previous intake, and have been doing so since I was 11 - years before touching coffee. It's just one of those things. Nothing else works so well for me as hitting a migraine with a mix of caffeine, sugar and aspirin. Knock it flat and be back to normal in under an hour, instead of 3 days in a darkened room. I know what I prefer!
Caffeine can affect your mood. If you're already subject to mood swings, caffeine can be very bad news. I had a friend with a very mild case of manic depressive disorder (Mild enough that she was able to hide it from nearly everyone until it was too late.) At one point, she started pulling all-nighters and taking Vivarin. The combination of the three made the manic depressive disorder FAR worse - She became suicidal within days. (This could be related to the above comments about causing anxiety in some people.)
In moderation, if you have no preexisting conditions, caffeine should be safe. But don't use it to stay up at night - It just stresses out your body and mind in far too many ways at once.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
I drink a lot of RedBull...
Will it hurt me in the long run?
Thanks.
damn acronyms...
if i remember correctly, you should use the full expression once before abbr. it...
the computer is online
i am not at it
what a waste of ressources
I used to be like this - no real effect except for the taste. Then, when I was about 25, I got a good case of the flu, and during that sickness my regular coffee (pot a day) started to give me a heart arhythmia. To this day I'm hyper-sensitive to caffeine, anything more than a couple diet cokes will give me trouble. During my detox period (a couple weeks) my kidneys ached like hell.
I'm not sure if it was the flu or my age, or both, but most old people are not immune.
Fortunately, in my quest for still-good coffee (e.g not store decafs), I learned about home roasting, and I'm drinking the best coffee of my life now.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Have you considered, I don't know, maybe... asking someone in the medical profession?
"I have cancer, and I'm wondering what course of treatment slashdotters would recommend?"
...since you drink the diet stuff, the Aspartame might. If you want sweet, use the real stuff, not the chemical crap!
Amazing how much health info came up with that simple search -- the whole first page of the search were links to health warnings!
You can accomplish anything you set your mind to. The impossible just takes a little longer.
Well, if you are taking in too much caffine, you are definitely NOT eating right. This came up in a discussion with my doctor a few weeks ago. I had a mild prostate infection. He told me that caffine will irritate the tissue in your prostate and urinary tract. If you, in my case, don't drink enough water to make you urinate enough, the natural bacteria in your urine will infect the irritated tissue.
Though we're all geeks, some of us like to maintain a steady sleep schedule to grasp sanity. I know when I grab a caffiene heavy drink, like red-bull in the afternoon, I'm good till past midnight. Then again, caffiene affects me more than other geeks.
Besides, doesn't your body start taking the caffiene in place of protein, weakening your bones and muscles?
During my first year of college, I drank a lot of caffeine, mostly from Mt. Dew. I was drinking probably 6 or 7 12oz cans a day.
During the 2nd half of the year I started noticing that about once a day for 2 to 3 seconds my whole body (and especially my heart) would feel like I was running in super hyper mode. It felt like everything in my body was just running super fast. I didn't know what to think of it, but it only happened once a day for a couple of seconds so like an idiot I just didn't worry about it.
Over the next couple of weeks the incidents started becoming more and more frequent until I was having one of these 2-3 second super-hyper feeling spurts once every 10-15 minutes. At this point I got scared and headed straight for the local night clinic.
When I got there they took my pulse, blood pressure, etc and hooked me up to the EKG thing and had me just hang out there and lay around for 20 minutes or so. As bad luck would have it, I didn't have a single occurrence of the weirdness while I was hooked up. After a while, they unhooked me and were getting ready to send me home, but the nurse decided to go ahead and check my pulse and blood pressure one more time.
While she was checking my pulse, I had one of the weird speed up feelings. I didn't even have to tell her. As soon as it happened she looked up at me and said "It just happened, didn't it!" and I was like "Yes, how did you know?!?! What did you feel?!?!". She had actually felt my heart skip an entire beat while she was taking my pulse!
The doctor came back in and when she gave him this new information he said "Do you drink a lot of caffeine?" I didn't even know what was considered a lot or which drinks had a lot, so I was like "I drink a lot of mountain dew, I think those have caffeine". When he asked me how many and I told him 6 or 7 a day he told me that was my problem. The feeling I had been having was kind of an adrenaline rush where the rest of my body was trying to get my heart started back up again.
I immediately stopped drinking caffeine and it took about 2 weeks for the problem to completely go away. It tapered off at about the same rate it had built up in the first place.
At the time this happened I was in really good shape. It had been less than a year since I was a 2 sport athlete in high school and my fitness level was still pretty high.
So, caffeine may not have negative effects on everyone, but I'm pretty sure I could have killed myself on it if I had kept drinking it at the rate I had been.
I was a bit of a junkie, but I decided to go the healthy route myself.
I ate heathly, and drank only water. Worked out everyday from 1hr to 5hrs. I eventually noticed that I was just as alert as when I was on caffiene, but without the crash. I was able to maintain a normal sleep schedule, maintain self-discipline and concentrate on work much longer.
Of course, most people don't want to hear this and rather do it the quick and dirty way. Drawn in caffiene beverages and work your ass off, live to see the next day, and manage to squeeze in sleep.
Which are kinda bland till you scoop some sugar on them...
if the answer isn't violence, neither is your silence / freedom of expression doesn't make it alright
No, as long as You smoke cigarettes with your
caffeine-drink, it is not a problem, i guess.
I used to drink around 6 to 10 mugs of filter coffee a day, along with many penguin mints, cokes and other caffeinated products.
I also had frequent migraines, an insomnia problem, and was often too tired in the evening to go out.
About a year ago I cut down my caffeine intake dramatically. Now I have 1 or 2 coffees a day, or a coke instead. No Penguin mints. The difference was incredible: Hardly any migraines, I was able to sleep at night, I was more active in the evenings. As a bonus, my pericarditus (inflamed muscles around the heart) went away completely.
I still enjoy my coffee and caffeine, but I think it should come with a health warning. We certainly shouldn't be giving so much of it to children.
Steve.
A latent existence
I don't know about me, but it's sure bad for other people when I have caffeine... *twitch*
Erowid is simply the best unbiased source for information on psychoactive drugs on the net and should be promoted.
Quoted from http://www.healthwell.com/hnbreakthroughs/dec98/co nceive.cfm?path=hw
Caffeine and alcohol are two common items in the diet that may contribute to infertility. Drinking too much alcohol causes the level of the hormone prolactin to rise in the blood serum, and high serum prolactin levels are associated with infertility. 3 Even moderate alcohol use, perhaps two drinks a day, reduces the chances of conception. 4
Caffeine, found in coffee, tea and certain soft drinks such as colas, has the opposite effect. It reduces the concentration of serum prolactin, and low serum prolactin levels are also associated with infertility. 5 Women who drink at least 300 mg of caffeine daily (about two to three cups of coffee) may reduce their chance of pregnancy by about 25 percent. 6
For example.
First, Caffeine- every /.er knows this- is a stimulant. This becomes an issue when you combine it with other things. Including things like basic pseudoephedrine, for some people. Blood pressure is an issue for a lot of people, and so is heart rate. This means that people with conditions ranging from vasovagal syncope to basic high blood pressure need to be careful. Why vasovagal syncope, when it's generally connected with low blood pressure events? Because it involves a sort of crosswiring where your blood pressure was meant to go up- and plummets instead. I know this because it's part of my daily experience.
People with Hypoglycemia need to be careful, because it's a stimulant and will change how your body processes sugars, along with everything else that you take in. People with fatigue issues need to be very careful, because it can leave you more fatigued than when you started.
And most interesting of all, RLS. Restless Limb Syndrome, where you feel as if your very skeleton itches, where there's a sensation far worse than not being able to find a comfy way to sleep, where the odd sensation is more unpleasant than pain- is one of the conditions which can be triggered (though not caused) by caffeine. Since RLS frequently goes along with other sleep disturbances, and caffeine tends to change the sleep cycle regardless, it's probably a good idea for people with sleep problems to at least be very aware of what they're taking in for caffeine.
Caffeine is also a diuretic, and it cuts off appetite the same way other stimulants do. It's a favourite among anorexics and diet-pill pushers.
So why do we drink it? Because it's Generally recognised as Safe- so much so that it's frequently used as the reference for benchmarking other substances, especially by phytopharmacologists. GRAS (generally Recognised As Safe) means that the person doing the reporting considers it as safe as coffee, where they would feel comfortable drinking up to three cups of tea made of the ingredient (at about the same concentration as coffee) in a day. So they must be pretty comfortable with coffee.
Caffeine does offer a painkilling boost; i can't put my finger on the article right now but it's one that i discussed with my doc when we were talking migraine treatments. The reason that excedrin, motrin migraine, and so on all contain caffeine is that there were studies showing it to boost the speed and efficiacy of NSAIDs (non-steroid anti-inflammatories) like ibuprofen, acetomenaphin, etc, by up to 80%. That's a LOT. Not every study claimed the same amount, some were 20%, so i think that the results were somewhat based on how the studies were done. But enough were done and the results were clear enough that the FDA seems to have given the green light for it as part of a migraine treatment protocol.
It also can be used to treat athsma, which can be life-threatening. In the event of an emergency attack, two cups of coffee can save your life (talk to your doc about it if you have athsma, just to get a sure dose, because i'm tiny so my dose is much lower. If you're big or have a tolerance, it may be higher.) You might not sleep that night, but you'll be alive.
Oh. Tolerance. As with any drug, tolerance can build up, and if you stop taking caffeine and go back to it later, you make find it leaves you even jumpier than before. On a personal note, i used to work with a girl who had cut down to ten cups a day because she had ceased to menstruate because of the sheer volume of caffeine that she was taking in, we're talking 20+ cups a day. She was finding it almost impossible, but it was either cut down or face even worse health issues. In some ways, caffeine is just another stimulant, after all...
"I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
Two words...
Kidney Stones.
About a year ago I had to deal with this blight. I can remember a remarkable conversation I had with the doctor at the time of diagnosis. She said that she could NOT believe the rapid increase in the number of young people (people not normally getting kidney stones, like me) who were getting them.
She attributed them to the increase consumption of soda's coffee (starbucks anyone) and such especially now that these are sold in junior and senior high schools.
ya See caffeine makes you go peepee. And when you replace the water you just lost with soda, you are only exacerbating the problem.
My advice... Dump the soda/coffe/jolt whatever. I was a 2liter diet pepsi bottle drinker a day.
now I'm clean and sober. No caffeine for over a year.
KStones are NOT fun.
I quit ingesting caffeine a couple years ago after 10+ years of being an addict, and in general I feel a lot better. Main benefits:
- My skin is a lot better now. It used to be hellishly dry from being dehydrated.
- I get far fewer headaches.
- I don't feel like my body has been run over by a truck in the morning.
- I can wake up and go to sleep a lot easier.
- I require less sleep to function.
- I am far less irritable.
I don't know the long term affects of caffeine, but on a day to day basis being caffeine free I feel a lot better. I drink flavored seltzer and water mainly now.
I've yet to see a valid study that indicates any long term health problems linked to caffiene. However the American Society of Addictive Medicine (ASAM) http://www.asam.org/ considers caffiene an addictive substance. http://www.asam.org/jol/jol_17_1.htm MM
I have an espresso machine, (cheap one by Mr Coffee). It doesn't seem to build up a lot of pressure so I use drip ground coffee unless I want to wait 15 minutes for it to squeeze out some juice on an espresso grind. Fill the chamber with coffee grounds and pour about 1 to 1.25 cups of water in the top. (The decanter cracked a while ago so I have to guesstimate) So that equals 4 to 5 2oz. espressos I suppose. I pour the coffee liquid into a 32oz cup, add 2 packets of sweet and low, and enough milk to get it to a drinkable temp. I have no idea the amount of caffeine that I get out of this, but I usually drink about 2 of these a day. On occasion if I've got a bit of heart burn, I'll add a 1/4 tsp of baking soda to it to neutralize the acid in the coffee. It actually fizzles. It doesn't really affect the taste. If I need to get work done and I'm not near a coffee machine, I keep a tin of Penguin Mints with me and pop a few each hour or so.
A woman is walking around with an IV drip. She explains that she's given up sleep and exercise in favor of a continuous caffeine infusion.
- me -that-question"
Dilbert, being naive, asked if there had been any side effects.
Her reply was
"this-is-the-aorta-of-the-last-person-who-asked
Diet Rite cola is made with acesulfame potassium (a diet sweetener also used in Pepsi One) and sucralose (brand name Splenda). No caffeine, no aspartame. And personally, I like the taste. YMMV.
As a matter of fact, when I don't drink it, I have these POUNDING HEADACHES LIKE A NAIL IN MY BRAIN.
A nail in the brain -- that's the best description. For me, the nail was right behind my left eye, jabbing with each beat of my heart, and the pain would actually interrupt my speech with every pulse and cause my eyes to water.
My problem was inconsistent doses of caffeine. I would go a day without drinking a drop of caffeine (thanks to my love of ginger ale) and then pound back 3-6 glasses of Coke at a restaraunt. This inconsistent dosing of caffeine led to me having about 2-3 migranes-level headaches per week since I was 12.
Two years ago, a friend of mine made me aware of caffeine withdrawal as a source of headache problems. Month later, after attempting to diet by drinking nothing but unsweetened tea (do the math sometime), I gave up caffeine on a lark. Two weeks later, I had no headaches. I've averaged maybe one headache every 3 months since then, and none of them have even come close to the horror of my old migrane-level headaches.
I don't drink caffeine anymore. I had to give up the diet, though. Unless you want to drink nothing but water at a restaraunt, then your choices are either caffeine or sugar. I chose sugar.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
soft drink colas can dissolve your fillings and also, I read somewhere that soft drinks can cause dangerous high blood pressure/obesity syndrome in some people, not to mention ulcers from the co2 and calcium loss from the bones, increased diabeties...generally not very good for you..
I actually talked with my doctor about this a few months ago. See I suffer from the traditional "geek statue." I'm tall, lanky, and otherwise just a skinny person. I bike to work everyday, go to the gym, eat a good diet, etc. But genetics keeps me skinny. So in discussing this with my doctor, we discussed food habbits and the subject of caffiene and food addiction.
Basically, as was established in a post above, your body can be addicted to anything it intakes. Be it water, air, nicotine, caffiene, cocaine, cheese pizza, ranch dressing, etc. Anything your body has to chemically break down. Basically, if you drink a lot of caffiene steadily for months and years on end, your body starts to produce the extra chemicals and enzymes neccessary to use the copious amount you put in your body. This is why people complain that after drinking a lot of a certain prodcut, it no longer has the same effect. Your body expects that level and is ready for it, so the buzz is gone.
Of course, when you stop drinking it, your body is still anticipating the need to break down the caffiene and is producing the chemicals and enzymes at the same rate. So it tries to break down the nearest stuff it can find, or just reabsorb into your system. This is where you get the stomach and head aches from. This is where many people will claim you're an addict. It's not an addiction as far as cocaine or heroin would be considered addictions, because your body generally won't induce a craving for it. But it is enough to be painful if you drink a lot of the stuff.
The advice my doctor gave me to kick my caffiene habbit (much more accurate term than addiction) was to start weening myself off it. Instead of buying a 24 pack every week, buy a 12 pack, then a 6 pack. Instead of 2 cups of coffee in the morning, a cup of coffee and a cup of OJ. It basically reprogram's your body's expectation for what it needs to digest so you won't get any really bad reactions. If you're one of those people that still needs to rely on late night caffiene jolts, stagger what you intake and try energy bars and ice water instead. You'll usually get the same net effect.
It's not stupid. It's advanced.
Here's my two cents.
Since I was 10 or so, I've been having problems with low blood pressure. My doctor back then recommended to my parents, to let me have small doses of coffee to counteract the effects. He said it would beat the hell out of having to take actual blood pressure medication.
I remember being hooked on coffee back to when I was about 13. Since then my caffeine intake has been varying, from zero to 3 pots a day when I had finals in college. At that time I actually had to substitute the 3rd pot of coffee with tea to prevent the jitters and concentration problems, because I had difficulties studying. I read up on various beverages and read that regular tea contains a smaller dose of caffeine than a comparable amount of coffee, plus theobromine, which is supposed to be a mild muscle relaxant. It worked - no bad jitters and I could concentrate just fine.
Even now I need a cup of coffee in the mornings to really get going. The last time I had my blood pressure checked after getting up and walking (!) a quarter mile to the doctor's office, it was 90 over 60. Which would explain why I'm having a hard time getting started in the mornings.
Sometimes I have withdrawal symptoms if I'm not drinking coffee (note, not everytime), that range from fatigue to slight headaches, but they are all mild. Currently I drink between one and one and a half pot (around 7 to 12) mugs of coffe a day.
I agree whole-heartedly with the statements of increased concentration and being less tired. My mind seems to work faster, I'm able to solve problems more easily, can focus better and work out tasks much faster after a cup of coffee. I'm a software engineer, so caffeine kind of goes with the trade.
However, I also notice that after too much coffee, the caffeine seems to have an adverse effect. It may be just that I've exhausted my mental and/or physical capabilities for the day, but at a certain point the coffee either doesn't help anymore, or more coffee makes the concentration problems slightly worse.
I also have a slightly hyperactive thyroid that prevents me from gaining weight anywhere over 140lbs, though I eat like a pig. Doctors have told me that there may be a correlation between my thyroid and the low blood pressure, although they noted, that it's usually the other way around - people with overactive thyroids have high blood pressure more often than not.
People tend to tell me that my caffeine intake is part of the reason for my 'weight problem' (hell I'd rather weigh 140 lbs than 240), but from what was stated above, the opposite should be the case. Any more information on that one?
Generally, I think it's a matter of balance between drinking coffee (if you want to call yourself a geek you just have to), drinking water (yes, water is good for you!), a halfways reasonable diet with some fruit and vegetables, and getting at least a small amount of physical exercise.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Caffeine
I opened a coffee house a few years ago and was curious about the many of the same questions. I found Alex Lopez-Ortiz's collection of info quite useful. It seems to be kept up to date by another, but the core information is still useful.
There is an entire section on "Caffeine and your Health" that is prob most relevant to this discussion.
The most important lifestyle changes recommended to reduce hypertension are weight reduction, lowering alcohol consumption, exercise, and salt restriction. Caffeine reduction isn't on the list. But since it should elevate BP in higher doses, as you say, I looked and saw this on a Medline abstract: "Caffeine contained in two cups of coffee may raise the BP by 5 mm Hg in infrequent users but in habitual users, caffeine has no role." BTW, The new recommendations for how to manage hypertension stress the importance of lowering BP even for people with borderline high BP. They even coined the term 'pre-hypertension' for people who didn't meet the old diagnostic criteria. Here's a link (small PDF file): http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/hypertension/p hycard.pdf
IAAD (and a pre-hypertensive too)
There are several good replies here, just a few comments: Trying to quit "cold turkey" can result in 2 weeks of nasty head aches for some people, if they've been using a lot of it daily. Taking a caffinated, carbonated beverage with ibuprofin gets the ibu. into your system almost twice as fast, so tell your girlfriend that its medicinal. Also - ALL tablets should be taken with a bull glass of liquid and ANY pain relieving medication (includes tylenol) should be taken with a small snack. This makes sure the pill isn't hung up in your throat for a half hour and get it through your stomach faster. The last dose of the day should be 1/2 hour before bed - less stomach upset.
Don't mind me, I have more fun this way!
Alot of scientists realize that curry eating ppl of india .
.
t h/ Diseases_and_Conditions/Psychological/Memory_Probl ems/505031.html
have little to no ALZ , and then did research on it
Here is the results , nature is amazing
http://healingwellalzheimers.subportal.com/heal
Peace,
Ex-MislTech
google "32 trillion offshore needs IRS attention"
Which brings up a point about drugs in general. They are drugs and as drugs they will influence your perception at some level. That's common sense at its finest. Yes, we have a responsibility to learn about how they effect the body- and if we choose to use them, understand what they will do to you.
Having 6-10 cups of coffee a day, eating penquin mints, drinking code red, getting kidney stones and severe stomach aches will probably tell you that is too much caffeine for your body to handle. Common sense again... regardless of age. If you are in pain, your body is telling you something. Stop and listen.
If you smoke 3 packs a day and can't breath, sleep, or get it up, you probably should cut back.
Believe it or not, there are folks out there who use drugs moderately. They enjoy a few beers, have a cup of coffee, a smoke, and it isn't taken to the extreme. Its a freedom, and we are slowly loosing that right to choose what we want to do.
This is the lesson we should be teaching... Open our eyes, listen, and question everything.
that is not true either, shall I direct you to some information?
Title
Correlation study between WISC-III scores and TOVA performance.
Source
Psychology in the Schools. Vol 36(3) May 1999, 179-185.
John Wiley & Sons, US
Abstract
The Continuous Performance Test (CPT), such as the Test of Variable Attention (TOVA), is widely used in the assessment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with other behavioral ratings and observations. Since some clinicians argue that CPTs measure psychomotor speed function rather than sustained attention, a correlation study between Performance IQ (PIQ) of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) and TOVA was conducted to find out if a significant relationship of any kind existed. Forty 6-16 yr old children with ADHD were studied, and the results indicate that there was no correlation between TOVA and PIQ of the WISC-III. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
uthor
Fuller, Kayleen M.
Title
The relationship of attention, memory, and academic achievement in children with ADHD.
Source
Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: the Sciences & Engineering. Vol 61(10-B), May 2001, 5562, US: Univ Microfilms International.
Abstract
This investigation used average linkage cluster analysis, employing the 18-score subtest profiles of the Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL) to investigate the performance by children with ADHD, children with ADHD and low reading skills, and controls on this memory battery. From the procedure, the subjects were separated into 8 clusters. Three of the clusters were homogeneous with respect to ADHD diagnosis (2 clusters with ADHD, 1 controls). The remaining 5 clusters were heterogeneous. Additionally, attention and reading scores were significantly correlated for all subjects with ADHD in the study. Also hierarchical multiple regression analyses using the academic achievement subtest scores (Reading, Spelling, Arithmetic) of the Wide Range Achievement Test, 3rd ed. (WRAT3) as dependent variables indicated that IQ and memory scores were significant predictors of achievement in all 3 subject areas. Attention was a significant predictor of spelling, only. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)
there are a lot more, but you won't find that significant positive correlation between IQ and ADHD.
(who reports results like that anyway?)
Source for ADHD: easy! ... poor kid.
... well ... that's what you do at a certain age."
their parents are keeping to many secrets. from the kids and from their partner. the marriage was a "convinience"
"we married because
Ok.. in case you didn't notice, nature doesn't make curries. Indians do.
To prevent cramps you need calcium, potassium and magnesium. A shortage of any of the 3 will cause cramps. Most people get enough calcium; most cramping is probably caused by occasional deficiencies of potassium; but almost everyone is deficient in magnesium.
I had the same problem when I was working 80 hour weeks for a while back around '99-01.
Turns out my problem was associated with an accute LACK of potassium in my system.
I started taking a daily multivitamin in addition to eating a little better. Still chuggin' liters upon liters of Mt. Dew, Dr. Pepper, Coke and coffee, no problems since.
I drink more coffee then most of my co-workers. My cup (32oz.) is larger then everyone elses, and usually means that each time I go back for the next cup, (4-5 per day) I have to brew a new pot. Great for me since it means I get fresh stuff each time.
But then as I drive to work I make a stop at Starbucks for a Venti Mocha with an extra shot or two (no whipped).
I never have problems sleeping, eating, or any of the other problems folks complain about when drinking too much caffine.
My hope is that when I die, I'll have so much caffine in my system that I won't know that I'm dead until several months later when the buzz wears off.
-Goran
Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
Cant remeber if it was chloride or chlorate. Thanks. I fifured it was close enough for government work.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
I'm pretty sure it's related to the caffeine - at one point, I used to drink about 7 12oz cokes each day, plus some coffee, plus some soda in the cafeteria... Some candy -- suffice it to say that I got LOTS of caffeine every day.
Sleep - well, I could be the poster child for sleep deprivation - avg'd 2 hrs a nite in grad school, about 4-5 now... have been for years, but I digress...
I was on a training mission for a corp I worked for, and got out of my habit for about 2 days due to the travel schedule. I still had a cup of coffee, some tea, etc. but nothing like normal. I'm walking thru the airport parking lot and all of a sudden the leg cramps were so excruciating that I couldn't walk for about 5 minutes. I had to stand there. Finally I was able to move - albeit slowly. The first machine I happened upon was a coke machine - grabbed a coke, and felt better...
It didn't dawn on me for about three years that it was related to the caffeine. That's when I was done with a grad degree and didn't need the caffeine stimulus so much... I had to wean myself off - besides the leg cramps, there were pretty bad headaches... Took about 3 months to get off it and to a normal - two/3 sodas a day thing... Some espresso on the weekends...
Nothing like I was - totally insane.... So was/is it addictive - fuck yes. Did it hurt me - besides the withdrawl cramps/headaches - not a bit. I'm in great shape... Although then, my pulse was high, pressure was elevated and I probably thru the occasional heartbeat skip...
I was downing about the same amount of Coke and ended up doing the 24 hr. Halter monitor and everything due to palpitations. At one point I was told that I was a candidate for a PACEMAKER! :O
Luckily, I sought out a second opinion and that doctor mentioned my excessive caffeine intake. Sure enough, within a couple weeks all the symptoms were gone and I was feeling MUCH better.
I still have drinks with caffeine from time to time, but not in the sheer volume I was drinking it before.
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
Or am I the only /.er that does not drink coffee? (I get the ocassional, i.e. every 2 weeks, cup of tea and I don;t drink carbonated drinks, so I am not really missing caffeine at all).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
But how do you tell the difference between a caffeine overdose and a pizza overdose?
The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
I was a very heavy caffeine drinker. My tolerance had gotten to the point where a 2 liter bottles of mountain dew drank in about an hours time hardly phased me. I routinely drank 3 or 4 large cherry cokes ( equivalent to about 6 cans. ) with my lunch. One day i decided to give up caffeine because i was worried about health effects. I had splitting throbbing headaches for about 2 or three days and I nearly fell asleep at my desk for almost 2 weeks. If that those aren't sings of withdrawal from addiction I don't know what is.
Other then that I know many heavy coffee drinkers who later in their life developed high blood pressure and hypertension but most of the smoked as well for some part of their lives so i don't know of any direct correlation
âoeTolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons.
I heard on NPR that coffee contains a substantial dose of antioxidants and other goodness. Of course, that might just be the voices in my head telling me what I want to hear, but there is an article in a real journal to back me up. And some propaganda by the "British Coffee Association."
the carnation in my buttonhole / precedes me like a small / continuous explosion. -RS
I am not a doctor, but...
I had friends and doctors telling me for a long long time that I was drinking too much caffeine, and that it was bad for me.
Caffeine dialates the blood vessles in your body (most importantly your brain), which seems to give you more energy, yada, yada, yada.. Check a medical site for all the stuff it does to you.
When you stop taking caffeine, the blood vessles go back to their normal size, and the newly reduced blood flow can cause headaches.. That's the way the doctors told it to me.. True or not, I'm repeating what they said.
I was given caffinated drinks as a kid, and kept drinking them for years.. I like to drink while I eat, so in a restraunt, I could drink many glasses of Coke to wash down my food..
One day I decided for myself that I was drinking too much caffeine. It was a personal decision, which anyone wishing to stop a bad habit must decide for themselves.
The day I stopped drinking caffeine, it took a few hours for an absolutely massive headache to come on. I remember laying on my girlfriends couch, face down, with my head burried in pillows.. I was moaning, and didn't want anything to be happening around me.. It was terrible.. My girlfriend, being the sweet and insightful person that she is, brought me one coke, to ease the pain.. It actually helped.. That took the headache away for a little while.. I was grumpy and had a bit of a headache for a few more days, until it finally went away.
I started drinking lots of water then.. That worked really well for me. I lost a little weight, probably because my calorie intake went way down. It's something like 150 calories per can, and if I drink 6 cans per day that's 900 calories. A pretty substantial amount. If I remember the nutritional stuff right, a person my size (150 pounds) should have 1500 calories per day.
I just checked the Coke site. They claim that caffeine has absolutely no health or addiction risks.
From the Coke.com site
---
Key Facts
* Soft drinks containing caffeine are not addictive.
* Caffeine has no negative impact on hydration or bone health.
* There is no connection between cardiovascular disease and caffeine.
---
Well, I know #1 to be absolutely false. Physical addiction means your body will act as if it *NEEDS* the drug, and will cause things, including headaches, when you stop taking it. A mental addiction just means you want more, even though there is no physical need. Like wanting to read Slashdot every day.
I didn't *WANT* to drink another coke. My body was telling me that I *NEED* another coke. That's a physical addiction.
If you read the Coke page, read it with the thought in your mind that Coke's public relations people wrote this.. The same type people that say cigarettes aren't bad for you.
For me, I still occasionally drink soft drinks. I probably do more now than after I stopped, because they're most of what's available in my office environment. I'm going to start carrying a bottle of water to work. It'll at least save me a bunch of cash, if I don't buy soda's every day.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
What type of pain killers? I would be worried about that if your pain killers are anything stronger than asprin. Any addiction, mental or physical, is bad when it affects your life nagetively. If you wonder whether you are addicted to cafeine or not, you probbably are. Either way, addiction is an enemy of life. We can get silly and joke about coffee and soda, but if you are really worried about a habit, then change it. I personally smoke and consume large amounts of caffeine, but right now it doesn't worry me, but I defintely have no plans to keep that up for much longer. As someone who is not a medical pro I can't say 100% but addictions suck and will drain the life out of you. Not to sound like I am rambling or preaching, try to kick it if you are worried. Anyway, this is my first post to a slashsdot discussion. hooray for me I even spellchecked real quick
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/caffeine/caffeine. shtml
...that they're saying that the stuff they extract from guarana is more concentrated caffiene than what is generally extracted from coffee. I'm 99% sure that caffiene is one molecule though; I'd hate to have to buy another shirt from thinkgeek.
Same goes for depression. Pisses me off. If I feel physical pain (which I only ever really did once, after jawbone surgery which IS hell, talk about taking twice the allowed dose of painkillers and still be close to going nuts), people even tell me not so suffer and to take some painkiller but when I'm depressed (which I have been for the better part of 2003) they do everything they can to stop me from seeing a shrink or god forbig start with Prozac or something.
Society is so fucked up, it's ok not to want to suffer of physical pain but emotional pain you're supposed to endure.
Grrr, Mozilla must have filled in some past subject here...
for every problem that coffee seems to fix, there another good method that does the same only without the caffeine, go for meditation. thanks.
Give up caffeine for a few months and then take it up again. I was recently hospitalized and not allowed for five weeks to have any caffeinated beverages or even chocolate. When my condition changed (they amputated my left leg below the knee and I didn't need to worry about caffeine consumption causing potential circulatory problems any more) I still didn't have anything stronger than a weak cup of tea every now and then. When I got out of the hospital I found that if I had any caffeine after about 5PM I'd be up until 3 in the morning. One freaking can of coke at 8PM would keep me up all night. A grande chai latte would get me buzzing and twitching all day long. I still don't have my caffeine tolerance back and damnit, as a sysadmin I need that almost as much as I needed my left leg.
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
If caffine helps cure intoxication, then mayby intoxication can help remove caffine.
----- Friends, l33tists, l4m3z0rs! Lend me thy keyboards.
If I remember my Biochemistry, Mol Bio, and Pharmacology, caffiene is a pretty strong carcinogen. Something about caffiene being introduced to DNA during repair or replication. I think caffiene is an analogue to one of the base pairs (can't remember which one). I'd really not go near caffiene during important cell division events ...
Yes, it is not specifically the combination of .
.
.
the spices it appears to just be Tumeric in the curry
Curry powder made of many things has Tumeric in it
Nature made Tumeric, it also made you , but I will
forgive it for that last part ( smile )
Peace,
Ex-MislTech
google "32 trillion offshore needs IRS attention"
Hi, my name is Paul and I am a caffeine-a-holic. If drinking caffeine is bad for you, color me donefor :D