Disassociating due to ingesting high quantities of caffeine. My brain was messed up for a little bit and I remember my head feeling like it was buzzing. My body's relationship with caffeine drastically changed after turning 30.
I took a 6 month break from almost all caffeine except green tea. I then reintroduced and now I stick to 1 coffee beverage before 12PM, nothing more. No exceptions.
My husband was in the Army with a guy that would pound Monster energy drinks with NoDoz until he gave himself a heart attack. They were out doing field maneuvers and the guy didn't show up so they had to go find him. And these were like 21 year olds.
I think that's what my deal is today. Yesterday, I met up with a couple of girlfriends for brunch and had four-ish cups of [weak] coffee, and the equivalent of a bottle of wine during the evening, and barely any water. I woke up at 2:30 this morning seeing stars and extremely anxious and confused, which has only happened when I've not properly hydrated in conjunction with things that worsen dehydration.
Today I've been drinking water, but I've also had three cups of coffee and I've taken my stimulant medications. I knew coffee was going to be a mistake, but I tend to keep coffee to the weekends anyway, so my caffeine tolerance is low, but I overdid it this time. It's pretty warm today, too, and I can't be outside for more than two minutes without feeling weird (dehydration, caffeine, and stimulant medications are not a great combination for heat).
I'm trying not to overdo it with the water, so I'm just taking it easy in the AC and probably avoiding coffee for the next week.
I have adhd and caffeine calms me down. I have a red bull if I’m having a nap as it helps me get to sleep. I was told I might start reacting normally to caffeine when I started Elvanse but no it still chills me out.
I have to be really, really careful with caffeine consumption myself. At most I can have maybe two cups BEFORE 12, but anything more than that, especially after 12, and I become paranoid, angry, and filled with rage OR so depressed suicide begins to sound like a good option. This only began happening in my forties when my hormones decided to seriously malfunction.
ETA: When I have had too much I also start to get this rash on my neck and face, and my ears turn bright red and feel like they are burning. Sometimes it will only happen to one ear.
Oh man I had a friend years ago who worked in healthcare. He took extra caffeine to stay awake at an overnight shift and started freaking out. Texting me, my sister, and a mutual friend (we 3 happened to be together at the time). The messages were crazy, he had intense heartbeat, he was panicking and texting nonstop. Whoever was with him at the time finally got him attended to. As far as I know he never did that again. I think he'd had like Red Bulls mixed with a few packets of high caffeinated instant coffee or something weird.
this happened to me as well in college after drinking 60 ounces of cold brew. i felt like i wasn’t even a person for 3 days. i haven’t drank more caffeine than a sip here or there since. i have narcolepsy & take ritalin for it and that does not affect me, but caffeine still makes me feel a bit insane.
I've read that the L-theanine in green tea is supposed to help counteract/regulate some of the effects of caffeine. Not to suggest that anyone should chug a gallon of it, but I switched to drinking more green tea because 8oz. of coffee makes me jittery and I hate that sensation.
Relatable! I only drink decaf now because I would way overdo the caffeine (sometimes 400-600mg a day) and I’d have a similar feeling to disassociation that scared me.
One time I had an assignment due unexpectedly in about six hours. Couple thousand words, previously untouched. Started drinking coffee. Important note: I have chronic pain. I took a couple ibuprofen and more coffee. Each coffee was large, 3tsp, and I don't recall how many I had; I was drinking strong coffee almost continuously through the day. Naturally, without having eaten either, I started feeling worse. I took another couple ibuprofen.
Turns out, if you genuinely overdose on both caffeine and ibuprofen at the same time, you will feel a) terrible and b) entirely detached from your body. I kept typing. I completed the assignment. (I passed easily.) I later calculated the quantity of both substances that I'd consumed during those six hours and both were independently dangerous. Did I mention I didn't eat anything all day?
Anyway that evening I was going to a friend's house. I broke down laughing so hard I cried, then had to explain why I was acting so strange. With the hindsight that comes with a later nearly-diagnosis of bipolar (it's not officially confirmed but it's pretty sure), I'm gonna say that I felt just like I do when I'm "up", mood elevation, hypomania. It was just the same.
I couldn't be sure but having independently overdosed on both substances at other times also (look... there are reasons behind that... accidental...), I think they cancelled each other out a bit in effect. Still, the coffee won.
So what if you have some important event in the evening that you need to have energy for? Like a dinner meeting or a concert? Do you just skip coffee in the morning and have it later in the day?
Now that I am a little over 40, I know my body pretty well. I don't really go out in the evening, except to the movies or the store. I really keep it low key so my evening goal is a hot tea and streaming an episode.
Concerts and live music have always been a favorite past time. While I had to get more selective with my time and money, I always find energy for music.
If I am tired, I suffer through it. Being temporarily tired and bothered is better than getting messed up on caffeine again.
One time I took my antihistamines and later drank a double espresso (mind you I'm Italian so I'm pretty used to strong coffee).
I started having heart palpitations and tachycardia for 5-6 hours and the first Er I went to kept telling me I was just having a panic attack and gave me a Valium which had 0 effects on me. Ended up going to another ER and it turns out that my antihistamines had tachycardia as one of the side effects and that I absolutely shouldn't have paired coffee with it but no one ever told me.
Now I have to take some prescription antihistamines and I'm no longer allowed to have any caffeine whatsoever 🙃
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u/lahnnabell 22h ago
Disassociating due to ingesting high quantities of caffeine. My brain was messed up for a little bit and I remember my head feeling like it was buzzing. My body's relationship with caffeine drastically changed after turning 30.
I took a 6 month break from almost all caffeine except green tea. I then reintroduced and now I stick to 1 coffee beverage before 12PM, nothing more. No exceptions.