Caffeine Addiction?

[Runenight201]

So I never really thought that I’d be addicted to caffeine, but I had an experience today that makes me conclude that perhaps I may be dependent on it, and I’m not sure whether it’s a bad or good thing.

After my dinner, I had an itch at back of my brain, on the inner part of my skull near the top. I knew this meant that nutritionally I had to meet it, as I could feel the sub-optimal mood it was causing me. I thought it meant I needed sugar, so I kept pounding different sucrose sources, from soda to syrup to milk to fruit concentrate, and none of them were hitting that itch.

Becoming frustrated, I then thought maybe some tea would do, and sure enough, after a couple sips of the tea, that itch was immediately filled, and my mood has calmed down and I feel pleasant again.

So does this mean I’m addicted to caffeine? The tea also alleviated some bloating I had and some gas released from my body, so it had some beneficial physiological effects, and im debating whether I should just accept the fact that optimal functioning for me means being dependent on tea/coffee.

Im not sure if my diet should eliminate the need for caffeine, or if caffeine should allow me to have a suboptimal diet but still function optimally.

Thoughts? Experiences?

 

[DavidGardner]

How much caffeine are you consuming, from what sources, and at what times approximately?

I have been addicted to caffeine in a pathological way to where I couldn't function without it. At the height of it I was drinking a pot and a half to two pots of coffee a day with energy drinks in addition. I would get withdrawals throughout the day and even in the middle of the night and would have to drink a cup of coffee to fall back asleep. A lot of times I would just binge on energy drinks at 2:30 am, go work out, and then try to doze off for an hour before I had to go to work. It was hell, and I had to gradually wean myself down to no caffeine over the course of I forget how many months. I now drink coffee again but I have an acceptable range of daily consumption that I strictly follow.

Caffeine withdrawal for me feels a lot like nicotine withdrawal, and the severity depends on the level of addiction. Mild addiction gives me mild withdrawal symptoms, just feeling slower with a little mental fog. With severe caffeine addiction, I would become extremely agitated without caffeine, to the point that it began to feel more like a sedative at times. I was never very susceptible to caffeine withdrawal headaches.

If you consume caffeine on a daily basis, you are probably going to have some level of tolerance and dependence. That's just the trade off. It's not good or bad unless you're consuming extreme amounts of caffeine like I was, due to a true addiction state. The question is really how much do you like coffee and tea, and do you perceive benefits that are strong enough to quell your philosophical conundrum over the possibility of addiction.

I wrestled with this, but I love coffee, with caffeine. It's the first thing I do out of bed, and one of the things that makes life gratifying to me. So yeah, if I'm a little bit addicted right now, I'm not concerned because the hedonic benefit alone makes it worthwhile.

 

[Runenight201]

How much caffeine are you consuming, from what sources, and at what times approximately?

I have been addicted to caffeine in a pathological way to where I couldn't function without it. At the height of it I was drinking a pot and a half to two pots of coffee a day with energy drinks in addition. I would get withdrawals throughout the day and even in the middle of the night and would have to drink a cup of coffee to fall back asleep. A lot of times I would just binge on energy drinks at 2:30 am, go work out, and then try to doze off for an hour before I had to go to work. It was hell, and I had to gradually wean myself down to no caffeine over the course of I forget how many months. I now drink coffee again but I have an acceptable range of daily consumption that I strictly follow.

Caffeine withdrawal for me feels a lot like nicotine withdrawal, and the severity depends on the level of addiction. Mild addiction gives me mild withdrawal symptoms, just feeling slower with a little mental fog. With severe caffeine addiction, I would become extremely agitated without caffeine, to the point that it began to feel more like a sedative at times. I was never very susceptible to caffeine withdrawal headaches.

If you consume caffeine on a daily basis, you are probably going to have some level of tolerance and dependence. That's just the trade off. It's not good or bad unless you're consuming extreme amounts of caffeine like I was, due to a true addiction state. The question is really how much do you like coffee and tea, and do you perceive benefits that are strong enough to quell your philosophical conundrum over the possibility of addiction.

I wrestled with this, but I love coffee, with caffeine. It's the first thing I do out of bed, and one of the things that makes life gratifying to me. So yeah, if I'm a little bit addicted right now, I'm not concerned because the hedonic benefit alone makes it worthwhile.

Interesting. I guess it would be slightly inappropriate to state that I have a caffeine addiction, as today was the most caffeine I consumed, and it totaled 2 cups of coffee and one cup of tea. I was just concerned because it’s been the first time where i ingested a caffeinated beverage not as an adaptogen but rather as a necessary means to not be agitated.

I have been consumed caffeine over the past couple weeks at most only one cup a day. I think something else may have been going on in this experience of mine, where the dinner i consumed had been very anti-metabolic, as I had some rice that my body wasn’t in the correct state to receive, and so I believe it threw me off balance, and the only way to return to normal was to ingest caffeine. If I had never consumed rice perhaps that tea would not have been necessary.

I like coffee/tea to much to really change anything about it, and i don’t see myself going over 3-4 beverages a day. I barely can even make it through a 6 oz of coffee/tea before I can begin to feel the oncoming of overstimulation and I cease consumption.

One thing I’ve begun to notice is the dopaminergic effects of sugar, and not in a good way. I always use to think pro-dopamine was good, but I’ve noticed when I overdo the sugar, even through fruit, that I feel a sedation, and my body goes weak, with a loss of hand and grip strength. I’m not sure if this is dopamine or something else at play, but I don’t like it. There definitely is a middle ground with it, and if I overdo it, i begin to feel that sedation, and then I recognize that I need to stop with the sugar ingestion.