Aa
Caffeine Allergy/Intolerance
I have had a serious problem with caffeine ever since I got the Gardasil vaccine. Whether or not the two are related, I have no clue, but I was an avid coffee drinker, soda drinker, what have you, before I got this vaccine. About two days after I received the vaccine I started to suffer something I cannot even accurately describe--my hands would tingle, I would feel like I was dying, I felt like I had the flu and I had a horrible fever. Beside the fact that I was having a bad reaction to the vaccine, I didn't realize that at the same time I was having a bad reaction to caffeine. All of the sudden, any time I had any coffee, soda or anything, I had a horrible panic attack and felt like, for lack of better words, like I was going crazy. I have suffered this since February of 2007. Just today I had HALF of a diet coke, no kidding, HALF, and the entire day couldn't even exist in my own skin. It is as if my body cannot metabolize it properly and it honestly makes my blood pressure go sky high---i'm talking like 150s or so without me even being anxious. What do I do??? What caused this?? Does anyone else have a similar experience??
From someone who is completely lost and feeling like they have no answers, there has to be someone else who has experienced what I have. And if not, then maybe I have no hope of anyone helping me explain what happened....I went to the dr. who administered the vaccine, who wouldn't help me, and countless others who dismissed my problems. But this is a last ditch effort to find someone else who either shares this problem or who can help me out.
Thanks.
From someone who is completely lost and feeling like they have no answers, there has to be someone else who has experienced what I have. And if not, then maybe I have no hope of anyone helping me explain what happened....I went to the dr. who administered the vaccine, who wouldn't help me, and countless others who dismissed my problems. But this is a last ditch effort to find someone else who either shares this problem or who can help me out.
Thanks.
Welcome to all newcomers to the 'Why can't I have caffeine?" club. My story is just like yours - one night I could have caffeine, and did several times a day - and the next night I was in the hospital hyperventilating and fibrillating. 24 years old when it happened. I'm female, which also seems a commonality we have. It runs in my family, too. My mom and both of my aunts are caffeine intolerant.
I just want to scream at evey barista in the world about this condition. They don't care or understand. I've given up on Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts because reaching over to get a decaf instead of a regular seems to be too much of a strain for them.
Once I bought bulk coffee beans from a grocery store and guess what - someone had filled the decaf bin with full caf coffee. And this isn't something to be taken lightly for most of us. For me it leads to : Severe headache, diarrhea, dizziness, palpitations or fibrillations, inability to sleep (for at least 24 hours after consumption), shaking, cold and hot flashes. Just a complete disruption for at least a day.
So my plan was to find a good brand of coffee, get a french press, and make my own. Seattle's best decaf is good, so is Medaglia D'oro. Both are difficult to find, so I stock up when I can. Auguson farms sells a chocolate milk powder that, when added to espresso and a cup of ice makes a DELISH iced coffee.(morning moos)
If this was a penis problem, you know doctors would be all over it, there would be awareness campaigns and charity runs. But since it is a problem predominantly with females, we just get ignored.
And here's what I want to know. Since caffeine is considered a drug, why isn't it controlled? I think anything with caffeine in it should have dosages listed on the label.
Caffeine intolerant unite!
I just want to scream at evey barista in the world about this condition. They don't care or understand. I've given up on Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts because reaching over to get a decaf instead of a regular seems to be too much of a strain for them.
Once I bought bulk coffee beans from a grocery store and guess what - someone had filled the decaf bin with full caf coffee. And this isn't something to be taken lightly for most of us. For me it leads to : Severe headache, diarrhea, dizziness, palpitations or fibrillations, inability to sleep (for at least 24 hours after consumption), shaking, cold and hot flashes. Just a complete disruption for at least a day.
So my plan was to find a good brand of coffee, get a french press, and make my own. Seattle's best decaf is good, so is Medaglia D'oro. Both are difficult to find, so I stock up when I can. Auguson farms sells a chocolate milk powder that, when added to espresso and a cup of ice makes a DELISH iced coffee.(morning moos)
If this was a penis problem, you know doctors would be all over it, there would be awareness campaigns and charity runs. But since it is a problem predominantly with females, we just get ignored.
And here's what I want to know. Since caffeine is considered a drug, why isn't it controlled? I think anything with caffeine in it should have dosages listed on the label.
Caffeine intolerant unite!
bebe, you are on to something with the Cipro. I googled it and here is what I found:
"Just like BAYCOL and other fluorinated drugs, ciprofloxacin is a potent inhibitor of the thyroid hormone-regulated P 450 enzyme system in the liver. Of all fluoroquinolones, ciprofloxacin and enoxacin have shown the greatest inhibitory capacity (4).
P450 IA2 prevents the metabolism/inactivation of methylxanthines, thereby causing increased serum concentrations of drugs like theophylline and caffeine, which in turn causes excess CNS and cardiac stimulation. As mentioned above, CIPRO also elevates serum fluoride levels."
Take note of the part where it says it prevents the inactivation of caffeine!! It must somehow cause a permanent decrease in this enzyme system responsible for metabolizing caffeine. And it looks as if the fluoride is the culprit.
I also have a caffeine sensitivity. I figured it out last November. Looking at my records, I found that I had taken Diflucan in September of 2010. I looked it up--Diflucan is a compound that consists of fluoride!
"Just like BAYCOL and other fluorinated drugs, ciprofloxacin is a potent inhibitor of the thyroid hormone-regulated P 450 enzyme system in the liver. Of all fluoroquinolones, ciprofloxacin and enoxacin have shown the greatest inhibitory capacity (4).
P450 IA2 prevents the metabolism/inactivation of methylxanthines, thereby causing increased serum concentrations of drugs like theophylline and caffeine, which in turn causes excess CNS and cardiac stimulation. As mentioned above, CIPRO also elevates serum fluoride levels."
Take note of the part where it says it prevents the inactivation of caffeine!! It must somehow cause a permanent decrease in this enzyme system responsible for metabolizing caffeine. And it looks as if the fluoride is the culprit.
I also have a caffeine sensitivity. I figured it out last November. Looking at my records, I found that I had taken Diflucan in September of 2010. I looked it up--Diflucan is a compound that consists of fluoride!
I have the same issue with the sweet cravings except I notice this more with having coffee. The less caffeine I consume, the less sugar I crave. The 3-6 PM slump I do tend to get, I try to do exercise or go for a walk when this happens. Right now I am back to getting a coffee fix :( but going to try again this weekend with switching out to tea.
It's possible that consuming the caffeine was masking an energy issue. I found that without caffeine I have to make sure I sleep more at night or else I go through the same cycle you do. With caffeine I could do 6 to 6.5 hours a night and be okay. Without it I have to do 7 to 7.5. I also have to make sure I eat every couple of hours. A small snack, like an apple or nuts. If I try to go with the traditional three larger meals then I also end up tired around 3 PM during the large gap between lunch and dinner. I was previously using caffeine to get through that slump.
Hi guys.
I seem to have a milder problem than most people who posted here, but I'd still like to share it with you as I am not entirely sure if whati I have is caffeine intolerance, migraine triggered by caffeine amongst other things or insuline problems.
I used to drink at least 4 coffees a day, including espressos. When I quit smoking at the age of 25 (7 years ago), I reduced my caffeine intake from 4/5 to 2 per day.
Three years ago, I had a horrible experience, which was mixture of a panic attack with a very strong migraine. My head was aching in a pulsating way, I tried to go to bed to make it go away, but when I lay down, I felt like vomiting. I then went online to look for a doctors number (I had just arrived in Paris for a year of Uni studies and didn't know any doctor there), but I couldn't stand the light of the computer screen. Went back to bed, and the same cycle happend at least 5 times and I thought I was going to die - couldn't lie down, couldn't vomit nor stand any type of light. Finally I fell asleep and felt better after sleeping for 3/4 hours.
In the following weeks, I went and saw a number of doctors and was finally diagnosed with migraine. Some doctors recommended that I drink coffee when the migraine is about to start, others recommend that I don't because caffeine can be a migraine trigger. The latter seemed to be right. Nowadays I know that If I have nice goog-quality strong coffee I'll have a migraine for certain.
However, having been consuming (should I say addicted to) caffeine for so long, I still have a little tiny bit in the morning - maybe 20ml of weak coffee mixed with soy milk (I also seem to be lactose-intolerant, but this is less problematic to me).
Anyway, the point I want to reach is that when I'm feeling tired, usually in the afternoon, I crave things that have caffeine and sometimes I only realise I'm consuming it (I become like a wild animal in search of what I need) I realise I am consuming and that I should probably not but then it's too late and BAM I have a migraine.
So it's like an addiction and when I realise I've had what I should not have, I say to myself I deserve it.
Now, besides the problem of going for caffeine almost unconciously, I have another one: I have migraines even when I didn't have more caffeine than I morning tiny fix.
I also sometimes feel unsociable and irritable. That had never happened to me before starting having caffeine-related problems. But since I started having them, that's happened to me so many times and I had no idea it had to do with caffeine. But nowadays think it does. Someone else here also said this happened to her/him.
I no longer drink and soda, good-quality strong coffee nor açaí smoothie with guaraná syrup (so common in Brazil) and I will try to stop my 20ml morning caffeine fix for good (I was 'dry' for a long time but then started having it again).
Finally, I am not sure if this is related to caffeine at all, but I've also been having strong sugar and afternoon-naps cravings. I read somewhere that it's got to do with the fact that I am not getting enough insuline naturally (if I understood well), that that makes me tired and as consequence I feel Iike drinking coffee and having sugar. Because I tend to avoid the coffee (unless I do it 'unconsciously' as I said before), I go for the sugary treat and for the nap, the sugary treat need is so above average that I found myself hiding (from friends and family) when eating sweets. As for the nap, it's embarrassing: I'll sleep anywhere after lunch: library, classroom, home, work. Usually a 15min nap does the job, but a lot of times I don't have the structure and the rest of my day is ruined because I'll either feel extremely tired of have coffee and then have a migraine as a consequence.
Anyone with similar symptoms and/or advice?
Warm regards from Brazil.
I seem to have a milder problem than most people who posted here, but I'd still like to share it with you as I am not entirely sure if whati I have is caffeine intolerance, migraine triggered by caffeine amongst other things or insuline problems.
I used to drink at least 4 coffees a day, including espressos. When I quit smoking at the age of 25 (7 years ago), I reduced my caffeine intake from 4/5 to 2 per day.
Three years ago, I had a horrible experience, which was mixture of a panic attack with a very strong migraine. My head was aching in a pulsating way, I tried to go to bed to make it go away, but when I lay down, I felt like vomiting. I then went online to look for a doctors number (I had just arrived in Paris for a year of Uni studies and didn't know any doctor there), but I couldn't stand the light of the computer screen. Went back to bed, and the same cycle happend at least 5 times and I thought I was going to die - couldn't lie down, couldn't vomit nor stand any type of light. Finally I fell asleep and felt better after sleeping for 3/4 hours.
In the following weeks, I went and saw a number of doctors and was finally diagnosed with migraine. Some doctors recommended that I drink coffee when the migraine is about to start, others recommend that I don't because caffeine can be a migraine trigger. The latter seemed to be right. Nowadays I know that If I have nice goog-quality strong coffee I'll have a migraine for certain.
However, having been consuming (should I say addicted to) caffeine for so long, I still have a little tiny bit in the morning - maybe 20ml of weak coffee mixed with soy milk (I also seem to be lactose-intolerant, but this is less problematic to me).
Anyway, the point I want to reach is that when I'm feeling tired, usually in the afternoon, I crave things that have caffeine and sometimes I only realise I'm consuming it (I become like a wild animal in search of what I need) I realise I am consuming and that I should probably not but then it's too late and BAM I have a migraine.
So it's like an addiction and when I realise I've had what I should not have, I say to myself I deserve it.
Now, besides the problem of going for caffeine almost unconciously, I have another one: I have migraines even when I didn't have more caffeine than I morning tiny fix.
I also sometimes feel unsociable and irritable. That had never happened to me before starting having caffeine-related problems. But since I started having them, that's happened to me so many times and I had no idea it had to do with caffeine. But nowadays think it does. Someone else here also said this happened to her/him.
I no longer drink and soda, good-quality strong coffee nor açaí smoothie with guaraná syrup (so common in Brazil) and I will try to stop my 20ml morning caffeine fix for good (I was 'dry' for a long time but then started having it again).
Finally, I am not sure if this is related to caffeine at all, but I've also been having strong sugar and afternoon-naps cravings. I read somewhere that it's got to do with the fact that I am not getting enough insuline naturally (if I understood well), that that makes me tired and as consequence I feel Iike drinking coffee and having sugar. Because I tend to avoid the coffee (unless I do it 'unconsciously' as I said before), I go for the sugary treat and for the nap, the sugary treat need is so above average that I found myself hiding (from friends and family) when eating sweets. As for the nap, it's embarrassing: I'll sleep anywhere after lunch: library, classroom, home, work. Usually a 15min nap does the job, but a lot of times I don't have the structure and the rest of my day is ruined because I'll either feel extremely tired of have coffee and then have a migraine as a consequence.
Anyone with similar symptoms and/or advice?
Warm regards from Brazil.
yes I have to question what is different...is the ingredients in coffee? or have I been neglecting the symptoms all my life?
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