[ THE OTHER ADDICTION ] -- "Caffeine Madness" and What They Don't Want You To Know!
Like most Adult Americans, I too enjoy a Cup of Coffee to start my day, and another to push me through until the end of my day. BUT since my cup of choice is a Starbucks Grande, which is actually 16 ozs or 2 cups of coffee, then I actually drink about 4 cups of coffee just about everyday, literally.
I have bought Starbucks coffee grounds, and other higher end and lower end coffee grounds as well to make my own coffee at home. I have bought the more expensive Keurig Coffee makers down to the cheap $20 coffee machines from Walmart. In the end, I always revert to going to a coffee shop for the convenience both time and cleanup. I mostly go to Starbucks, but will also try a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf or even a smaller independent Coffee Roaster like Demitasse. But I rarely fail this daily intake of coffee.
What is Coffee and When It all Started For Me
Coffee is a drink (usually hot) that is brewed from the cherries of the Coffea Plant. First, when ripe, the cherries of the Coffea plant are picked, and then roasted. Once roasted, the cherries or now beans (since they take on the appearance after roasting) are now ground up. Now hot water can be filtered past the ground up coffee beans, and out throught the filter comes out a nice hot cup of Coffee. And as we all know, the active ingredient that we all seek for drinking coffee is known as Caffeine; a psychoactive chemical that acts as a stimulant when ingested.
I did not seek this "fix" from Coffee until I started working at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles as a Computer Tech. on the swing shift, from about 3pm until Midnight, with the occasional overtime. It was usually after 9 PM when I would seek out a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf not too far from the Hospital. This would help me end my shift with a spring to my step.
My First Withdrawal Symptom
During my rounds at Cedars Sinai Hospital, I would traverse most if not the entire hospital on certain nights. Hospitals are 24/7 with NO Downtime. The Internet and computer systems must always be working. And part of my job was to make sure that the Hospital's Computer System was always working. I have literally been in delivery room watching as a baby entered the World to an Operating Room where a surgeon was performing open heart surgery to fix a computer or ensure Net connectivity or some other Computer System/Network system problem. During my first encounter with such a situation I was not able to leave until I had repaired the problem. Fortunately I was able to fix the computer problem, but unfortunately the 2 coffee shops I would go to, Coffee Bean and Starbucks were closed by the time I resolved the issue. I DID NOT have my usually dosage of a Large or Venti Cup of Cofffee. Back then I would drink 1 large or Venti if it was Starbucks.
It was not until the next morning when I awoke with a sickening headache and the worst nausea. I almost called in sick that day, but went to work feeling really bad. I remember surviving my shift until 9 PM, when I went for my usual coffee run. And without realizing it, I began to feel AMAZINGLY better when I drank my coffee. I did not really give it much forethought, other than loving the aroma of fresh coffee, and then drinking that mildly bitter yet stimulating brew.
Coffee When It Is Summer Hot?
When the same thing happened to me again in missing my routine coffee stop, then having nausea with a migraine the next day, followed by a miraculous recovery upon having coffee, I began to put 2 and 2 together. And then it hit me, an old childhood memory of one particular hot summer day as I sat and watched my mom boil water. It was hot in the kitchen and even hotter outside. I Then saw her grab a mug and put 2 or 3 spoons of Instant Coffee with a little bit of sugar followed by that hot boiling water. I watched her stir it, add a little half and half and then when it was a nice caramel brown, she raised it to smell it and by then I remember being enchanted with the aroma as well. But I was freaked out because it was so hot that day, and here was my mom in the middle of a hot summer day, with no A/C in the house, drinking a boiling hot drink. I did not understand it. When I asked her, "Mom, why are you drinking something hot when it is so hot?" All she said was, "Because I have a headache." It made no sense to me, until at this moment some 20 years later when I had my 2nd bout of nausea with migraine headache followed by no headache or nausea after drinking coffee.
Am I Addicted?
Studies have shown that there are many life saving benefits to coffee. Some studies have shown that coffee is associated with longer living or less disease causing death such as This Study on Coffee and Mortality. We know that it helps with energy since it is a stimulant, and it can possibly make you smarter or more cognitive too.
And yet, there are some important things to be aware of when drinking coffee. First, it is addictive, very addictive in fact. By the very definition of Withdrawal Symptoms and samples,
Emotional Withdrawal Symptoms
Anxiety
Restlessness
Irritability
Insomnia
Headaches
Poor concentration
Depression
Social isolation
Physical Withdrawal Symptoms
Sweating
Racing heart
Palpitations
Muscle tension
Tightness in the chest
Difficulty breathing
Tremor
Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
coffee/caffeine can be equated to an opiate such as Heroin. And yes these symptoms can vary per person but I happen to get most of the above symptoms so it can be bad.
Along with being addictive, drinking coffee can be detrimental to one's health in other ways. Coffee Plants are some of the most heavily pesticide sprayed crops, so making sure your caffeine comes from organic or pesticide free plants is important for long term health. You should also avoid drinking coffee on an empty stomach since this can lead to gas, bloating or worse, cancer due to improper food digestion. Coffee can cause heartburn, exacerbate ulcers and other digestive tract illnesses. There is also a cause for concern for heavy coffee drinkers due to nutritional absorption of minerals, or rather the lack thereof such as magnesium, calcium, zinc and others.
So the answer is YES, I am addicted to coffee and caffeine. I do plan to lower my daily intake of coffee from minimum of 4 cups a day down to 2 or 3 and no more. Then slowly wean myself down to 1 or 2 a day and eventually to just one a day. I plan to do this both for financial and health benefits. Hopefully this will also diminish those horrible withdrawal symptoms that I get when I do occasionally miss my daily dose of coffee. Some of these Caffeine withdrawals have been worse than an Alcoholic Hangover, for which I recently posted the best HANGOVER CURE EVER!
I actually had stopped drinking coffee before leaving Cedars Sinai Hospital by slowly weaning myself off so I know I can do this. I will post about this Caffeine addiction again when I am down to 1 or 2 cups a day, so it will be a little while but stay tuned since I always KEEP IT FRESH!
I know I will Succeed!
sources:
google.com
healthambition.com
authoritynutrition.com
www.cambridge.org
dictionary.com
medicinenet.com
pics from Pixabay.com
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09/14/16
@streetstyle
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Coffee is very good for you but like many psychoactive substances it has addiction potential mainly due to the caffeine. For some people that can be a big problem.
@thecryptofiend As they say, "even a good thing in excess can be bad for you." I think I drink coffee in excess as well as occasionally drink it on an empty stomach. From research my migraines and coffee, I now know that is really bad also. 1 or 2 cups of "joe" as Americans like to call it, is not bad for you when imbibed at the proper time, in fact, as you state, can be quite good for you.
Full $teem Ahead!
That's the thing. Even something as healthy as exercise can be bad if you overdo it. I remember doing some night shifts on basically 20 cups of coffee. You don't get something for nothing. You buy extra alertness by putting a lot of stress on your body. At those kind of levels no matter how healthy the coffee (or even tea) is the caffeine is going to be bad for you.
As I am starting to find out more and more about caffeine, they saying "too much of a good thing can also be bad" pops into my head.
Absolutely. If you are interested in the health effects my second last post was about it.
I understand too, and have experienced mild headaches when I detox from it. I don't even drink that much (a couple espressos a day).
There is also a condition some folks have (can't recall what it's called) that escalates as they continue drinking coffee. It's accumulative, but dissipates when you stop drinking. I have it, and can start feeling ill after a couple months, especially if I'm drinking a lot or if I over-roast my beans. Burnt beans really seem to bring out the issue.
Starbucks is known for caffeine, so you might notice a nice improvement just by getting a better coffee. Home roasting is a fun hobby, and might help. It'll certainly help with quality. You might consider more time-consuming methods of brewing too, which will force your to slow down your intake. I make lattes, so it takes a few minutes of devoted time for each cup. This generally keeps me to one or two cups a day, which is quite manageable.
From your articles, it sounds like you might have a solution anyway. But I figured I'd throw out a little of my own experience, in case it's of any use. :)
Hello @anotherjoe I did post a nice cure for an Alcoholic Hangover, that I know works from personal experience. And as for a solution for coffee, all I have is to slowly wean myself to a lower daily intake. I hope this helps with those nasty "coffee hangovers" than I can get.
full $teem ahead!
hello @streetstyle, I'm just stopping back to let you know that your post was one of my favourite reads today that I just posted. You can read what I had to say here
I have switched from coffee to tea. Am I now a tea addict?
@steempowerwhale Can you forego a day or two without tea? If you can, without any of the above symptoms listed, then no you are not addicted. But if you suffer a few or more of the symptoms of addiction, then mostly like you are. As they say, "everything in moderation."
full $teem ahead!
Yes, its also caffeine in it. Same substance but delievered with other co- factors like theanine.
I really enjoy having my morning coffee every day. I found though that any time I wanted to take a short break (for whatever reason) that I would get a really bad headache for a day or so. It almost got to the point that I wanted to quit drinking coffee altogether.
I recently made the decision to switch to only drink decaf. I'm really happy with the decision. I can still enjoy my morning coffee (for the taste) and I don't feel bad if I decide to take a break for a day.
Wus.
I drink twenty to thirty double strength cups of coffee every day. I have for forty years. Did I mention is BLACK!?
Thats too much. Sounds like ADHD selfmedication.
drinking more than five cups a day had a mortality risk 12% lower than people who don’t drink any coffee. Non-smokers drinking up to five cups a day had a 15% lower mortality risk than non-drinkers.
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The researchers also concluded that heavy coffee drinking lowers risks of cardiovascular disease, neurological disease and suicide.
This is in my eyes not correct, esp. if you are overweight and dont do sport. But for some people its easier to justify their believes to stay on a certain drug. Did you ever tried without coffee, than you will see, how much trouble it does to your body. That means you are allready addicted. Coffee has loads of toxins, so if you consume non organic coffee I bet you do more harm than good. Beside your high blood pressure and the damage you allready did to your body. I was in a simular situation., ATM I just quitted.
by the quality of your message I judge the content.
What do you mean? If you dont accept critics, you have not to change your life. I am not responsable for your life, neither you ruining yours. If you have a good blood pressure, everything is okay and there is no harm. I doubt you controll yours, because the most have an elevate blood pressure.
Beside the neurological effects etc.
There are some positive effects of caffeine, for example on TNF-a . But you can also just use garlic to block the TNF-a for example.
But I will stopp here and dont waste my time.
good...your time is SO valuable and you are SO knowledgeable that I wouldn't want to inconvenience you further.
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