View entire thread: Caffeinism: Anxiety to Psychosis
Posted by Decaffeinated on 2005-04-26 12:43:21 Post Subject: Caffeinism: Anxiety to Psychosis
www.CaffeineWeb.com
Do you ingest caffeine regularly and have symptoms consistent with a mental disorder? If so, you may be caught in the Caffeine Web:
"Caffeine-induced psychosis, whether it be delirium, manic depression, schizophrenia, or merely an anxiety syndrome, in most cases will be hard to differentiate from other organic or non-organic psychoses....The treatment for caffeine-induced psychosis is to withhold further caffeine."
Clinical Management of Poisoning and Drug Overdose,
Third Edition, 1998
Michael W. Shannon, MD, MPH, Director, Lead and Toxicology Clinic,
The Children's Hospital Boston; Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Lester M. Haddad, MD, Clinical Professor in Family Medicine,
Medical University of South Carolina; Bon Secours St. Francis Xavier Hospital
James F. Winchester, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Georgetown University Medical Center
From the author of CaffeineWeb.com:
Within months of beginning to drink coffee for the first time at age 30, I went from excellent health to psychosis. I averaged only 2-3 cups of coffee a day. As I withdrew from caffeine 18 months later, my symptoms--delusions, euphoria, anxiety, disorientation, loss of judgment and zombie-like behavior--vanished entirely, without medication.
I've created CaffeineWeb.com to alert others who may be suffering from caffeine poisoning without knowing it, and to encourage medical professionals to remove caffeine from their patients' diets before diagnosing an organic disorder.
During my recovery I was hospitalized for two weeks in a psychiatric ward, an utterly foreign environment for me. I discovered that virtually all my fellow patients were caffeine addicts, most of them ingesting far more than I did for a much longer period of time. Like me, they were diagnosed with mental illnesses while exhibiting symptoms consistent with caffeinism. I have to wonder how many of them were also misdiagnosed and, as one caffeine expert puts it, "medicated and lost in a dark, disturbed world, until death."
A growing number of medical experts are equally concerned:
Drs. DC Mackay and JW Rollins, Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service, 1989:
", anxiety-related symptoms become increasingly apparent. A case of caffeinism, which presented as a paranoid delusion, is reported as an extreme example of this. A study of 60 hospital inpatients revealed that about 40% of them consumed sufficient caffeine to produce symptoms of caffeinism."
----------------------------
Dr. Sidney Kaye, Institute of Legal Medicine:
"Coffee overindulgence is overlooked many times because the bizarre symptoms may resemble and masquerade as an organic or mental disease....But what a feeling of relief to both physician and patient to see the symptoms completely disappear on the physician's order to stop drinking coffee."
----------------------------
Clinical nutritionist Stephen Cherniske, Author, Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Dangers of America's #1 Drug:
"For five years I worked in a team practice with physicians and psychotherapists. Often, the psychological evaluation would include one or more anxiety syndromes, and the recommendation was for counseling. I would point out that the person was consuming excessive amounts of caffeine and request a trial month off caffeine prior to therapy sessions. In about 50% of cases, the anxiety syndrome would resolve with caffeine withdrawal alone."
"In over a decade of practice as a clinical nutritionist, I have seen firsthand, with thousands of clients, that caffeine is a health hazard. Anxiety, muscle aches, PMS, headaches....However, if that's all caffeine has done to you, you're lucky. What about people misdiagnosed as neurotic or even psychotic, who spend years and small fortunes in psychotherapy--all because no one asked them about their caffeine intake?"
----------------------------
Drs. JE James and KP Stirling, in The British Journal of Addiction:
"Although infrequently diagnosed, caffeinism is thought to afflict as many as one person in ten of the population."
----------------------------
R. Gregory Lande, DO, FACN, Deputy and Director of Professional Services, William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute, University of South Carolina:
"Diagnosis of any caffeine-related disorder begins with clinical awareness. Beverage caffeine is such a common component of social activity that its consideration as a psychostimulant often is neglected.... Too many clinical histories fail to record caffeine use."
"In rare cases where an individual's dose exceeds 1 gram per day , the picture changes. Gross muscle tremors, highly disorganized speech, and possible arrhythmias herald a more sinister outcome."
----------------------------
Calvin Thrash, MD, Author, Food Allergies Made Simple:
"Thousands are in mental institutions today because of no greater matter than that of the use of caffeine. Psychiatrists are now publishing articles indicating that there are numerous cases of depression and anxiety in mental institutions, who need no other treatment than to be taken off caffeine."
Note: The information on this site is not a substitute for an informed discussion with a mental health professional. Sometimes caffeine is the primary cause of symptoms that mimic mental illness, which disappear when caffeine is eliminated from the system. But caffeine is also known to exacerbate preexisting mental disorders, in which case withdrawing from it is only one ingredient to improving your health. Whichever category you fall into, it's best to consult a doctor before acting on the information at CaffeineWeb.com.
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Posted by Decaffeinated on 2005-04-26 12:43:21 Post Subject: Caffeinism: Anxiety to Psychosis
www.CaffeineWeb.com
Do you ingest caffeine regularly and have symptoms consistent with a mental disorder? If so, you may be caught in the Caffeine Web:
"Caffeine-induced psychosis, whether it be delirium, manic depression, schizophrenia, or merely an anxiety syndrome, in most cases will be hard to differentiate from other organic or non-organic psychoses....The treatment for caffeine-induced psychosis is to withhold further caffeine."
Clinical Management of Poisoning and Drug Overdose,
Third Edition, 1998
Michael W. Shannon, MD, MPH, Director, Lead and Toxicology Clinic,
The Children's Hospital Boston; Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Lester M. Haddad, MD, Clinical Professor in Family Medicine,
Medical University of South Carolina; Bon Secours St. Francis Xavier Hospital
James F. Winchester, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Georgetown University Medical Center
From the author of CaffeineWeb.com:
Within months of beginning to drink coffee for the first time at age 30, I went from excellent health to psychosis. I averaged only 2-3 cups of coffee a day. As I withdrew from caffeine 18 months later, my symptoms--delusions, euphoria, anxiety, disorientation, loss of judgment and zombie-like behavior--vanished entirely, without medication.
I've created CaffeineWeb.com to alert others who may be suffering from caffeine poisoning without knowing it, and to encourage medical professionals to remove caffeine from their patients' diets before diagnosing an organic disorder.
During my recovery I was hospitalized for two weeks in a psychiatric ward, an utterly foreign environment for me. I discovered that virtually all my fellow patients were caffeine addicts, most of them ingesting far more than I did for a much longer period of time. Like me, they were diagnosed with mental illnesses while exhibiting symptoms consistent with caffeinism. I have to wonder how many of them were also misdiagnosed and, as one caffeine expert puts it, "medicated and lost in a dark, disturbed world, until death."
A growing number of medical experts are equally concerned:
Drs. DC Mackay and JW Rollins, Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service, 1989:
", anxiety-related symptoms become increasingly apparent. A case of caffeinism, which presented as a paranoid delusion, is reported as an extreme example of this. A study of 60 hospital inpatients revealed that about 40% of them consumed sufficient caffeine to produce symptoms of caffeinism."
----------------------------
Dr. Sidney Kaye, Institute of Legal Medicine:
"Coffee overindulgence is overlooked many times because the bizarre symptoms may resemble and masquerade as an organic or mental disease....But what a feeling of relief to both physician and patient to see the symptoms completely disappear on the physician's order to stop drinking coffee."
----------------------------
Clinical nutritionist Stephen Cherniske, Author, Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Dangers of America's #1 Drug:
"For five years I worked in a team practice with physicians and psychotherapists. Often, the psychological evaluation would include one or more anxiety syndromes, and the recommendation was for counseling. I would point out that the person was consuming excessive amounts of caffeine and request a trial month off caffeine prior to therapy sessions. In about 50% of cases, the anxiety syndrome would resolve with caffeine withdrawal alone."
"In over a decade of practice as a clinical nutritionist, I have seen firsthand, with thousands of clients, that caffeine is a health hazard. Anxiety, muscle aches, PMS, headaches....However, if that's all caffeine has done to you, you're lucky. What about people misdiagnosed as neurotic or even psychotic, who spend years and small fortunes in psychotherapy--all because no one asked them about their caffeine intake?"
----------------------------
Drs. JE James and KP Stirling, in The British Journal of Addiction:
"Although infrequently diagnosed, caffeinism is thought to afflict as many as one person in ten of the population."
----------------------------
R. Gregory Lande, DO, FACN, Deputy and Director of Professional Services, William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute, University of South Carolina:
"Diagnosis of any caffeine-related disorder begins with clinical awareness. Beverage caffeine is such a common component of social activity that its consideration as a psychostimulant often is neglected.... Too many clinical histories fail to record caffeine use."
"In rare cases where an individual's dose exceeds 1 gram per day , the picture changes. Gross muscle tremors, highly disorganized speech, and possible arrhythmias herald a more sinister outcome."
----------------------------
Calvin Thrash, MD, Author, Food Allergies Made Simple:
"Thousands are in mental institutions today because of no greater matter than that of the use of caffeine. Psychiatrists are now publishing articles indicating that there are numerous cases of depression and anxiety in mental institutions, who need no other treatment than to be taken off caffeine."
Note: The information on this site is not a substitute for an informed discussion with a mental health professional. Sometimes caffeine is the primary cause of symptoms that mimic mental illness, which disappear when caffeine is eliminated from the system. But caffeine is also known to exacerbate preexisting mental disorders, in which case withdrawing from it is only one ingredient to improving your health. Whichever category you fall into, it's best to consult a doctor before acting on the information at CaffeineWeb.com.
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View entire thread: caffeine and bone/muscle growth?
Posted by de2es on 2005-12-11 19:22:08 Post Subject: caffeine and bone/muscle growth?
hi i am an 16yr old male, and wanted to know if caffeine increases growth hormone rate or decreases it. i would also like to know if caffeine will make my bones bigger or smaller?
would caffeine intake during adolcence or puberty increase skull size too?
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Posted by de2es on 2005-12-11 19:22:08 Post Subject: caffeine and bone/muscle growth?
hi i am an 16yr old male, and wanted to know if caffeine increases growth hormone rate or decreases it. i would also like to know if caffeine will make my bones bigger or smaller?
would caffeine intake during adolcence or puberty increase skull size too?
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View entire thread: Althetes and Caffeine
Posted by macchiato on 2004-06-19 05:24:28 Post Subject:
Athletes in the study where given the equivalent of 4 cups of coffee. I love my coffee but 4 cups gives me the jitters too.
I would have loved to read information regarding how a controled dosage of caffeine per athlete based on their normal caffeine intake and height/body wieght ratios would work out. Maybe give them 1 cup of coffee instead of 4 cups. I know coffee and caffeine has been previously proven, and proven again by generations of studys to benefit soldiers in battle, physical performance and mental awareness both increases with a cup of joe. Not to mention moral.
Still an alright written article, but biased study?
Maybe. Maybe I'm biased against the study.
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Posted by macchiato on 2004-06-19 05:24:28 Post Subject:
Athletes in the study where given the equivalent of 4 cups of coffee. I love my coffee but 4 cups gives me the jitters too.
I would have loved to read information regarding how a controled dosage of caffeine per athlete based on their normal caffeine intake and height/body wieght ratios would work out. Maybe give them 1 cup of coffee instead of 4 cups. I know coffee and caffeine has been previously proven, and proven again by generations of studys to benefit soldiers in battle, physical performance and mental awareness both increases with a cup of joe. Not to mention moral.
Still an alright written article, but biased study?
Maybe. Maybe I'm biased against the study.
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View entire thread: Has anyone come off coffee for 2 weeks and noticed a change?
Posted by Coffee Para Me on 2005-05-22 19:20:10 Post Subject: Has anyone come off coffee for 2 weeks and noticed a change?
I've been reading all this talk about caffeinism, and coffee withdrawal, and all this.
It does seem kinda weird. Its weird, that most of America imbibes caffeine. There is even a book out, that credits alot of economic growth and entreprenuership of America from caffeine...
I mean, no one would really be drinking caffeine, if it weren't for all the ships and planes, that carry the cocoa and coffee and tea from overseas.
I work at a coffeeshop, and sometimes I wonder how much we are all addicted to coffee. I just started drinking more of it, before I would just drink loose leaf tea...good loose leaf, which has a good amount of caffeine in it as well.
Anyways, I realized that I never really have gone more than a few days without caffeine...and I wonder now, am I addicted? I have also being diagnosed with ADD, depression, anxiety, and things like that. From an early age I would always drink soda.
Anyways, my question to you all out there, have anyone purposely stopped all caffeine intake for a period of 2 weeks, to completely withdraw, and compared their mental state of before/after? Could it be possible that life is truly better without caffeine, but we are all addicted to it, that after a few days without, we feel like crap so we just keep drinking it?
I'm contemplating going off for 2 weeks, just to say that I did.
What is kinda scary though, is the more caffeine I drink, the more ambitious I become...so I'm almost potentially setting myself up, to be in a situation, where I probably will NEED caffeine.
I think this is true of America...our lives are fast paced and full, maybe partially because of the energy caffeine gives us... but once you decide to work 60 hour weeks, start a business on the side, and sign up all your kids for after school activities, how can you really go OFF caffeine? I think you have to really kinda change your lifestyle... anyways, can anyone contribute?
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Posted by Coffee Para Me on 2005-05-22 19:20:10 Post Subject: Has anyone come off coffee for 2 weeks and noticed a change?
I've been reading all this talk about caffeinism, and coffee withdrawal, and all this.
It does seem kinda weird. Its weird, that most of America imbibes caffeine. There is even a book out, that credits alot of economic growth and entreprenuership of America from caffeine...
I mean, no one would really be drinking caffeine, if it weren't for all the ships and planes, that carry the cocoa and coffee and tea from overseas.
I work at a coffeeshop, and sometimes I wonder how much we are all addicted to coffee. I just started drinking more of it, before I would just drink loose leaf tea...good loose leaf, which has a good amount of caffeine in it as well.
Anyways, I realized that I never really have gone more than a few days without caffeine...and I wonder now, am I addicted? I have also being diagnosed with ADD, depression, anxiety, and things like that. From an early age I would always drink soda.
Anyways, my question to you all out there, have anyone purposely stopped all caffeine intake for a period of 2 weeks, to completely withdraw, and compared their mental state of before/after? Could it be possible that life is truly better without caffeine, but we are all addicted to it, that after a few days without, we feel like crap so we just keep drinking it?
I'm contemplating going off for 2 weeks, just to say that I did.
What is kinda scary though, is the more caffeine I drink, the more ambitious I become...so I'm almost potentially setting myself up, to be in a situation, where I probably will NEED caffeine.
I think this is true of America...our lives are fast paced and full, maybe partially because of the energy caffeine gives us... but once you decide to work 60 hour weeks, start a business on the side, and sign up all your kids for after school activities, how can you really go OFF caffeine? I think you have to really kinda change your lifestyle... anyways, can anyone contribute?
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View entire thread: teenage daughter drinking coffee with friends
Posted by AlisonD on 2008-09-17 10:31:14 Post Subject: caffeine health
Hi Jim,
There are a few issues with a 13 year old drinking coffee by the "gallons." Though most of us here would take our coffee intravenously if we could, your daughter is new to the coffee world. Excessive caffeine intake can cause heart palpatations, altered sleep patterns, agitation/jitters, decreased appetite and dehydration among other things. The effects of caffeine on each individual can very greatly but there is certainly a possibility of adverse effects. She may be willing to drink decaf though I suspect part of the draw to coffee is the caffeine buzz she is experiencing. As I think back to my early teen years, I did exactly what my parents told me not to, so I wouldn't forbid the visits to the local coffee house, also there is an entire social network that occurs at those places which she may also be craving.
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Posted by AlisonD on 2008-09-17 10:31:14 Post Subject: caffeine health
Hi Jim,
There are a few issues with a 13 year old drinking coffee by the "gallons." Though most of us here would take our coffee intravenously if we could, your daughter is new to the coffee world. Excessive caffeine intake can cause heart palpatations, altered sleep patterns, agitation/jitters, decreased appetite and dehydration among other things. The effects of caffeine on each individual can very greatly but there is certainly a possibility of adverse effects. She may be willing to drink decaf though I suspect part of the draw to coffee is the caffeine buzz she is experiencing. As I think back to my early teen years, I did exactly what my parents told me not to, so I wouldn't forbid the visits to the local coffee house, also there is an entire social network that occurs at those places which she may also be craving.
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View entire thread: DOES COFFEE AFFECT YOUR WEIGHT?
Posted by billagirly on 2007-03-06 09:19:16 Post Subject:
That does make sense, about the caffeine fluctuating the metabolism, but I agree. Losing a little weight is definitely not worth stopping my caffeine intake!
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Posted by billagirly on 2007-03-06 09:19:16 Post Subject:
That does make sense, about the caffeine fluctuating the metabolism, but I agree. Losing a little weight is definitely not worth stopping my caffeine intake!
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View entire thread: caffiene and joint pain...
Posted by itsjona on 2004-04-16 22:31:51 Post Subject: caffiene and joint pain...
does anyone have any information that would suggest a connection b/w caffeine and joint pain - arthritis related on not. i haven't been able to find any myself, but have been experiencing some pain in my wrist. cutting back my caffeine intake has seemed to effect a significant decrease in my symptoms.
thanks,
jonathan
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Posted by itsjona on 2004-04-16 22:31:51 Post Subject: caffiene and joint pain...
does anyone have any information that would suggest a connection b/w caffeine and joint pain - arthritis related on not. i haven't been able to find any myself, but have been experiencing some pain in my wrist. cutting back my caffeine intake has seemed to effect a significant decrease in my symptoms.
thanks,
jonathan
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View entire thread: What to worry about?
Posted by tintinet on 2003-09-16 10:40:06 Post Subject:
I was wondering, did you happen to find out anything about coffee/caffeine lowering chances of heart disease? This was just one claim I had heard on the radio recently.
"A Scottish Heart Health study, examined people who drank large amounts of coffee or tea. Those who drank coffee had healthier hearts than those who drank tea, which seems to go against the popular opinion that tea is better for you than coffee. The researchers were quick to point out that they did not take lifestyle or diet into account for this study. "
"Cafestol and kahweol. Odds are you’ve never heard of these two substances, which are found in the oils in ground coffee.
And, as long as you drink instant or filtered drip coffee (which most home coffee machines make and most restaurants and coffee houses serve), odds are they’re not raising your LDL (“badâ€
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Posted by tintinet on 2003-09-16 10:40:06 Post Subject:
I was wondering, did you happen to find out anything about coffee/caffeine lowering chances of heart disease? This was just one claim I had heard on the radio recently.
"A Scottish Heart Health study, examined people who drank large amounts of coffee or tea. Those who drank coffee had healthier hearts than those who drank tea, which seems to go against the popular opinion that tea is better for you than coffee. The researchers were quick to point out that they did not take lifestyle or diet into account for this study. "
"Cafestol and kahweol. Odds are you’ve never heard of these two substances, which are found in the oils in ground coffee.
And, as long as you drink instant or filtered drip coffee (which most home coffee machines make and most restaurants and coffee houses serve), odds are they’re not raising your LDL (“badâ€
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