Caffeine Consumption? - Anxiety Message Board

SNC727 · 02-14-2007, 07:38 PM

I was recently told (a week and a half ago in fact!) that I have an anxiety problem, have started on Xanax, blah blah blah.

My doctor said that right away I needed to stop drinking caffeine. As I noted in my "New" thread, I really didn't drink as much as most people I know (1 to 2 cups of coffee in the morning and a diet pop at lunch), but I think in conjunction with the medication, it has helped to rid it from my diet.

It was heckfire for about four days with headaches after I went cold turkey, but I think it was worth it.

If you are on this forum and have an anxiety disorder, have you stopped drinking caffeine? Did your doctor tell you to? If so, have you noticed a difference?

I think this might be something easy a lot of folks could do to help their lifestyle... tell us what you've experienced!

bucks85 · 02-14-2007, 08:09 PM

Caffeine intake has a huge impact on anxiety. I was always a big caffeine drinker and drank probably 8 cokes a day on average. Then one day i had my first anxiety attack and from that point on i could feel my heartbeat throughout my body, just constantly pounding every beat. So one guy on this forum recommended to reduce my caffeine. I stopped drinking anything that has caffeine in it. I switched to sierra mist which is caffeine free but still has quite a bit of sugar. Even with the sugar I immediately felt a decrease in my anxiety levels. It was definitely tough for a couple weeks, but reducing anxiety was definitely the way to go. Hope this helps

ocdengineer · 02-14-2007, 09:05 PM

I naturally without even really realizing it stopped drinking it when I was about 8 years old. I just started to gradually phase it out of my life. I have horrible reactions to it now. One Coke will keep me up all night long if I drink it after noon. I also get really jumpy and anxious, so I don't touch it. I rarely eat anything with chocolate except brownies which I can't resist. Other than that I drink Sprite and Rootbeer when I have the rare soda.

Later,
OE

AngelForAlways · 02-14-2007, 10:19 PM

I have problems with anxiety and depression so I took caffeine pills. Caffeine DOES NOT help anxiety in any way!! I miss it so much but I've calmed down and it does help....It is for your better, I hope everything works out

angelik_pistol · 02-15-2007, 01:29 AM

i never really drank that much caffine, i never drank coffee and i would have the odd soda here and there, i have anxiety and one day i had the hugest dr.pepper u can imagine at the theatre, my anxitey has gotten a alot better and i can usually get thru a movie with a quick breather in between (happy to say i can get thru the whole movie now yay! anyway) back to the huge ginormous dr.pepper, i love dr.pepper but it gave me a pretty bad panic attack and that was not cool, i realized it was from the caffine so i cut it out of my diet entirely, luckily at least theres caffine free coke and root beer...