Posted by JohnX on February 17, 2001, at 14:51:38
In reply to Caffeine and meds, posted by bissie66 on February 15, 2001, at 10:46:31
> Has anyone cut down on caffeine and felt better on their meds? I have a problem with anxiety and my med combination helps (Celexa and Neurontin) but just this morning I was noticing that I was quite jumpy and rather anxious and I was thinking maybe I need to tweak my med dosage again. But then I realized at 11:30AM I'd already had 6 cups of coffee. This is not unusual for me; I'm quite a coffee addict and drink 8-10 cups a day. I'm wondering if i cut back if my anxiety would improve much. It's such a habit for me that I honestly don't know how I would feel without all the caffeine in my system.
>
> Has anyone quit or cut down with good results?
I wasn't on a med but at one point in time I
used to drink > 12 diet cokes a day. I tried
quiting cold turkey...bad idea. Later I tapered
it off slowly over a 2 week period with very
few problems. Improved my sleep alot.Caffeine is a drug. From what I
found out consuming more than 200 mg a day will
affect your health. A soda is 50 mg. Cup of coffee
is 100 mg. Ergo 2 cups of coffee or 4 sodas is ok.
Consuming over 600 mg is very bad.Here is how caffeine screws you up:
Cliff Clavin here ..
Caffeine blocks a receptor called "adenosine".
Normally the adenosine receptor dampens neuronal
transmission. When the receptor is blocked, your
body will transmit more noradrenaline and
adrenaline. Both these chemicals keep you alert,
etc. Noradrenaline is a chemical that a lot of
psych medicines work on, so obviously caffeine
can interfere somehow. Adrenaline causes your
body to release a lot of stress hormones like
cortisol. It really does a job on your adrenal
glands. The adenosine receptor is important in
the regulation of sleep. Caffeine will down
regulate the receptor, so when it
is not in your body and you are trying to sleep
the adenosine that binds to the adenosine
receptor is less effective. When you try to
cut caffeine out of your body, your noradrenaline
and adrenaline transmission will be dampened.
These chemicals cause vascular constriction. So
thats why you can get rebound headaches if you
taper to fast. Its also why caffeine is included
in some headache medicines.
So yes, as everyone has pointed out giving up
caffeine will improve sleep. It will also relieve
muscle tension.Another factoid: smoking induces an enzyme that
causes caffeine to be cleared out of the body
quicker. So smokers need to drink more caffeine
to get the same "buz".-John
poster:JohnX
thread:54058
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010212/msgs/54264.html