Posted by grapebubblegum on August 16, 2001, at 9:11:44
Here's another one I hope someone can tackle:
Can anyone comment on the common usage and usefulness of caffeine as a self-administered treatment for depression? I've been told that many people don't realize they are self-medicating, because caffeine has some antidepressant qualities, even if it is probably not the best there is in the pharmaceutical world.
My father shared the same sort of condition I suffer from, and you would think that anxious depressives with panic attacks would be the absolute worst candidates for heavy caffeine usage. However, my doctor has said that there is some mechanism of neurotransmittor regulation (and of course I can't remember what it is) that many people find helpful and that is why so many people all over the world are literally addicted to their morning (or all-day) fix.
My father mentioned that he used to be an 8-cup a day drinker, and I've held steady at two mugs a day, but those mugs are monsters made with I-don't-even-care-to-say-how-much coffee. Here's the paradox: The times in my life when I had clusters of panic attacks or persistent anxious states seem to coincide, when I take a good look, with times that for whatever reason I decided I should cut out or cut way down on the Joe.
How could a stimulant that would purportedly make one more anxious or jittery be helpful to a PA-prone person, and how could withdrawal (not rapid, but even gradual) of that substance make a predisposed person prone to a relapse into long-dormant panic symptoms?
I'm really making y'all work today, huh?
poster:grapebubblegum
thread:75270
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010814/msgs/75270.html