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3 Cups of Coffee Increases Hallucinations
PearsSoap writes "The Telegraph and other sources are pointing out a study on 200 students which has found that a high caffeine intake can cause visual and auditory hallucinations, and can make people think that others are 'out to get them.' The abstract (and full version if you have access) is available.
'The volunteers were questioned about their caffeine intake from products including coffee, tea, energy drinks, chocolate bars and caffeine tablets.'"
The LD50 for caffeine is 10g, but serious side effects exist after just a few g. I know, because I've felt them. 3g at one hit isnt fun by anybody's standards.
And yes, hallucinations is a serious side effect, as is palpitations, arrhythmia,nauseousness, mania, depression.
"Caffeine intake was positively related to stress levels and hallucination-proneness, but not persecutory ideation."
/.
Persecutory ideation = paranoia
This means that coffee doesn't make you paranoid....
way to go
Caffeine is a central nervous system and metabolic stimulant in small milligram quantities, however, ingestion of only slightly larger amounts can be fatal. This material is for experimental purposes only and not to be added to food or drink products.
Caution: Caffeine is toxic. Use normal safety precautions (wear a filter mask/respirator and gloves) when working with Caffeine. Accidental inhalation of fine particles can be dangerous. Note: adult signature required upon delivery.
Disregarding the FUD, I still would think twice about ingesting pure caffeine.
In this case, it's appropriate. The study authors suggest that there may be causation, but also state that all they have evidence of is correlation -- and that the causation may go the other direction. The /. summary fabricated the causation without regards to the linked article, let alone the study.
I actually work part time for a Starbucks... and do you know who gets bitten by the caffeine fairy? Europeans.
When you go to Europe, you get espresso for nearly everything. If n American goes over there, they have name for their drink, an Americano. Shots + hot water. Ok.. 3 shots/200mg caf. ~300-400mg per drink. And you have the strength of the smoky espresso, so Americans get somewhat what they want.
Now, a European comes to the USA. They order a coffee (they expect espresso) and they're handed a cup of our coffee: coarse grounds over hot water. It tastes too weak, but they drink it anyways. They then drink 2-5 cups before the caffeine kicks in and they've never felt the jitters like that.
Our coffee extratcs more caf, but with less coffee flavour, while they extract flavour with less caffeine.. makes things fun.
Why Im there: 5 hours in a 5-10 am shift 4 times a week gives me full medical benefits on the cheap, so I can continue my consultancy.
Yeah, that's what he's saying. Though with more motion, and less respect for gravity. Similarly, too much digitalis can make things look like this. Generalizations about exactly what LSD hallucinations look like are a bad idea, though -- it's highly variable, with strong dependence on the person, the dose, the setting, the person's mood...
I try not to ingest it. My dentist recommended that I quit drinking coffee, if I ever have any want to not have brown-ish teeth.
My solution was to use my lab scales, measure out specific amounts of caffeine and dmso, and directly transfer the caffeine through the skin. As per basic health guidelines, I observe the MSDS in handling and monitor any deviations I have from this regimen.
I simply applied scientific method to my own body.. And it works rather well.
Now, can anybody expect to have 1mg resolution scales? Nope. But I have a set, with a few weights ranging from 1mg to 1g for testing if it's correct.
And if you wish to call me stupid, go ahead. I've felt no negative affect, and no other ill effects. Im just saying what I do and what works. You know, YMMV.
Not really, but they sound just like that!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The researchers do not state there is causation; /. does. The researchers state "However, they also suggest that people who are more prone to hallucinations could also be more stressed and more likely to consume large amounts of caffeine." Another reasonable conclusion is that people who need sleep hallucinate more -- and that people drinking caffeine spend more time in a sleep-deprived state (making the caffeine a contributing factor rather than "the cause"). Yet another is that hallucinations correlate with other mental features that cause people to drink caffeine. I don't know what those would be, or whether they correlate, but I do know that such factors exist -- eg people with ADD tend to self-medicate with caffeine (and sometimes stronger things) if not on prescription meds.
More accurately it's about 127mg/kg (mouse). For a 70kg human (154 lbs), that's about 8.9 g. A penny weighs about 3g so think about 3 copper pennies worth of caffeine.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
In fact, the LD50 is about 200mg per kilo of body mass. If you weigh 90kg, that means the LD50 is about 18g which is an awful lot. You'd probably have to drink 150-200 cups of coffee in a very short time. The time is dependent on the half-life of caffeine, which, in a health adult is around 3 hours.
So, basically you'd have to drown more than 50 cups of coffee every hour for 3 hours straight to reach the LD50 limit. That's nearly one cup every minute.
In other words, drink as much as you want, you'll be fine*.
Also, assuming 100mg of caffeine in a large cup of drip coffee (and 100mg is a DAMN lot, most coffees usually have 40-60mg), you claim to have had 30 large cups of coffee in less than 3 hours? That's nearly 10 liters of coffee.
*) fine meaning you won't die :>
Dali is quoted as saying "I don't do drugs, I am drugs."
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Wikipedia suggests otherwise. Redbulls start at 80mg of caffeine per serving... NOS, however, has 343mg. I guess the strongest that I've had was Jolt cola at 280mg
Freezing in airtight container is of best for storage. Failing that, airtight containers are next. Refrigeration of course will pick up humidity like you said.
And every time you open that air tight container to get more beans, warm humid air enters the container, cools down, condenses, and freezes, freezer burning your coffee. The best thing is an air tight container at room temperature. Your coffee should not be sitting around long enough to get stale anyway.
Also, if you regularly drink French Press coffee, you're ingesting a significant amount of cafestol which is shown to significantly raise cholesterol. I love the taste and feel of French Press coffee, but the data I've seen have scared me off of drinking it regularly. Now the French Press only makes an appearance when I have company or go camping.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Remember that LD50 means that at a certain dose 50% of the subjects died in the lab, not that the dosage is guaranteed to be fatal. If the subject has high resistance or other factors they may not die. Certain individuals may be more susceptible to die at lower doses. For example if the individual had a heart condition, a small dose of stimulant (coffee, amphetamine, nicotine, adrenaline), might have caused that individual to die regardless of the type of stimulant or source.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Damnit... I got a french press for christmas and was lovin it.
Tina Fey was right: if you're feeling too good about yourself, the internet is always there to bring you back down.
No, he was just explaining the difference between a true hallucination and the alterations of perception caused by LSD or other classical psychedelics. A true hallucination has absolutely no basis in reality (seeing people who aren't there, hearing voices, etc.) The "hallucinogenic" effects of psychedelic drugs generally take perceptions of things that are actually there, and modify them (shifting colors, add movement, synesthesia, etc.).
The only recreational drugs that commonly cause true hallucinations are deliriants like Datura (Jimsonweed).
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The telegraph is wrong once again... Nobody talked about 3 cups but 7 cups of instant coffee. Here is the study from a more reliable source
I think the news is that three cups of coffee is a high dose of stimulants.
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When I had a 120 degree (f) fever and, on tons of codeine, the hallucinations were FAR more realistic and convincing.
Umm, you would die long before your fever reached 120 degrees. A fever of 105 degrees Farenheit would be alarming. At 108 degrees Farenheit you would suffer brain damage. So maybe your high fever was a hallucination? Or maybe the hallucinations were brought on by brain damage?
http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/accessories/5a65/
Name...That...Autocomplete!
You must stop this now. Consider my experience. I used to love Coke as a kid. My parents limited it, but I still drank more than I should have. Once I became an adult, there were no more limits. I drank as much as I wanted, when I wanted. I was tall and skinny (6'5", 185lbs) and ran 2 miles a day so I thought I could get away with it.
10 years later, I weighed 300lbs. I finally decided to do something about it. So like a good analyst, I did a quick inventory of what I was drinking and eating. I had never done this before. I was astonished.
I could eat an entire 5lb chicken, or an entire large pizza by myself. My typical day started with a visit to the clown for a #2 with a large coke. I didn't drink coffee so I replaced it with coke. I'd drink another can before lunch. Then 2 or 3 of those mugs of coke a chili's. Then another can or two in the afternoon. Then maybe dinner out with something similar to the 2 or 3 chili's mugs. If we ate at home, it would be a large glass or maybe 2 cans of coke in the evening.
If you add all the ounces up and divide by 12, I was drinking the equivalent of 13 cans of coke a day. This is 1800 calories. It's the same as 196 of those white sugar packets. Just coke.
When you consider that both my parents are diabetic, and diabetes killed my grandfather, you can see how dangerous this is. Now, I drink maybe 4 cans of coke per year. I'm now 260 which is 20lbs more than I usually am, which i'm in the process of losing.
All soft drinks are evil. They cause insulin spikes, which contribute to obesity. They cause insulin resistance long term. And the phosphoric acid leaches calcium from your bones causing brittle bones in old age. Diet soft drinks are no better. Stop drinking them before it's too late.
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
The study itself suggested that one interpretation is that the same characteristics that make hallucinations more likely might also directly or indirectly cause a tendency to consume more coffee.
Note that the study did NOT say that drinking 7 cups of coffee for a day will increase your chances of hallucinations for that day. It said that people who typically consume 7 cups a day are more likely to hallucinate.
"Excuse me while I kiss the sky" is a lyric from Jimi Hendrix's 'Purple Haze.' It caused much confusion at the time because it sounds a lot like he's singing 'Excuse me while I kiss this guy.' Given that the song is pretty clearly about hallucinations it works either way.
The Japanese government, when it comes to tobacco control, has a severe conflict of interest. Japan Tobacco, the major (more than 60% of the market) supplier of cigarettes in Japan, is 50% owned by the government -- it used to be two-thirds government owned.
Given the degree of tobacco use in Japan, I'd wager that the profits earned through tobacco sales more than compensate for the consequent heath-care costs in the population. Further, the long incestuous relationship between government, public service bureaucracy and industry is most definitely expressed in the connections between the Ministry of Finance and JT: as far as I know, every president of JT has come from the top end of the Ministry of Finance, in the amakudari tradition.
The mid-level bureaucrat in question I doubt was expressing an honest opinion on the aging demographic, but rather was trying to justify a very cozy but entirely medically irresponsible government relationship.