As I type this, I am sitting in a cafe, sipping a decaf mocha, as the hipster baristas roll their eyes at my lameness.
I am ridiculously sensitive to caffeine. Having one cup of coffee can make me feel terrible for hours and hours.
But, like sunburns, I seem to forget this, repeatedly. And I keep doing it over and over.
The other day, I went to a cafe and ordered an iced latte. NOT decaf. I still felt the effects quickly, and regretted it.
I hate how it feels. I can’t really explain it. The caffeine effects that I experience include a nervous, anxious, awful feeling right in my chest. My hands might feel shaky. I feel like I can’t breathe as deep. I DO feel more focused, though, and I’m able to work harder and faster for a little while…
So why are there these caffeine side effects?
Caffeine causes an increase in our breathing and heart rate. This is the same type of response that happens when we sense danger and our “fight or flight” response kicks in. This is why anxiety and caffeine are linked.
Also, caffeine stimulates our central nervous system, so your hands may shake in “drug-induced” tremors. It happens to me!
Do you have mitral valve prolapse? There might be a connection for highly sensitive people!
Why do sensitive people tend to have caffeine sensitivity?
Here’s a fantastic explanation: “As highly sensitive people are continuously in fight or flight mode, we have no need for stimulants most of the time–in fact stimulants do more harm than good. We are already aroused enough as it is without the kick up the backside that coffee gives!” (source)
That makes sense!
My alternative: Tea!
I’m an avid tea drinker, but I stick to caffeine-free teas, or low caffeine tea…however, I’m not a big fan of fruity tea. I’d love to share my favorite tea of all time with you: Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon (decaf, of course). It’s SO GOOD! I also loooove mint tea…you can never go wrong with mint. Rooibos is another of my favorite non-caffeine teas.
Are you sensitive to caffeine? What caffeine effects do you experience?
This is so crazy, because I’ve never heard someone describe so perfectly how I feel when I drink caffeine. It really does feel like an extremely horrible anxiety attack. Like your heart is about to burst into a million pieces. And I just have to wait it out until I feel like a normal human being again… Which is why I try my best to avoid it like the plague now. It’s hard though when our culture seems to practically be obsessed with coffee and energy drinks. Anyway, thank you for sharing. I find it really interesting that there’s a link between HSP and caffeine sensitivity.
Hi Michelle, I’m so glad this resonated with you! I understand how it seems like the world is obsessed with energy drinks and coffee. Sometimes I’ll forget and I’ll drink some coffee and really regret it later. It sucks! Fortunately for us, it really isn’t *that* hard to avoid it. Could be worse, right?! At least we’ve figured out what’s making us feel bad.
I had my first and last cup of reg coffee today. Made me feel generally crummy, heightened anxiety and almost aggressive with my therapist. Yikes. Decaf or herbal tea is my new motto.
Me too. Also epinephrine. I used to think I was scared of the dentist, and then I found out that the novacane shot had epinephrine in it. I told the dentist and he gave me the decaf version.
Omg. Thank you for this! I
I’ve felt panicked qt the dentist, and it takes a whole tube of novacane (which I understand is excessive in most cases) to “numb” my mouth. Then I usually sit in a panic.
The novacane was both sedating and heightening my sense of pain.
Not anymore.
Same! I feel like I have continual heart palpitations during the day whenever I overdose coffee….
Myself I get alot of hot flashes and feel like I’m going to pass out and muscles tense up.aniezty up the roof
I drank1200mg each day (14-20 strong cups of coffee) and that is not lethal, but is a health hazard
I was confident that i’m not addicted(LOL) so i quit cold-turkey.
The headaches are hellish, the jitters are horrible and salivating every time my colleagues drink a cup of dark, delicious, steaming espresso is torture.
The surprising thing is that it weighs up to the benefits:
– I am much less easily overstimulated(Just riding the bus home after work would do the trick normally, my son playing loudly with his friends was unbearable and a confrontational talk with anyone was too much)
– When i am overstimulated i still keep a kind of inner calm
– Recovering from overstimulation is fast(It takes couple of hours instead of half a day)
Detoxing from caffeine reportedly takes up to 2 weeks, and i’m just starting day 6, so i’m curious how it’ll turn out after the full 14 days.
WOW. That is a lot of coffee. But good for you for trying to make a change; it sounds very difficult! I’d be curious to see how you are feeling in a couple more weeks!
Ugh such a #firstworldproblem, but it’s actually a big issue for me. I only recently diagnosed myself as an HSP, and caffeine is like a terrible drug that all my friends aimlessly consume while I’m in a dark corner rocking back and forth.
I realize this is an old post, but I can definitely relate. As an INFJ/HSP, Caffeine affects me greatly. I’ve known for years & tried to quit in the past, only to make it about a week-10 days, then cave and start back up again. I’m also a student and a runner so it’s hard, & honestly it feels like I am smarter/faster with it. I’m keeping my intake low (70mgs or under) and for now, I am doing better. Hoping to quit (for good) someday!
Thanks for sharing Amy, good luck fighting the caffeine monster! 🙂
Hi!
Your description cannot be a better description of my experience with coffee! I’ve heard of people who wouldn’t take coffee either, because of the negative effects they had on them, but rarely their description was as bad as mine. I remember drinking a coffee while an undergrad, years ago and having to leave the room as I felt overly anxious and was sweating. I remember thinking that my body needed sugar, that I had very low glycemia. It was close to a panic attack. Every caffeine intake did not sold out the same way fortunately, this may explain why it took me so much time to accept that caffeine isn’t for me. So, I have been just like you, kind of forgetting that I should forget about coffee.
Ironically, the only time I can poor coffee in my body is when I am well rested, in vacations. Well that’s not even true, a few month ago I had cafe frappe in vacation, while I was with good friends, but still I felt awful for several hours, anxious and worthless. I suppose I understood that I didn’t feel completely comfortable with my friends. I remember looking up for the half life of caffeine to have an estimation of when my torture was going to stop. After this event I told myself I would never take caffeine again. Too bad decaf is usually not as good.
For a long time I had internalized the message of your picture, “decaf is for whimps”, but I don’t care about it anymore that much, just trying to accept my sensitivity to caffeine, I’m getting more comfortable telling people I just can’t drink coffee.
I can’t even drink decaf. Why am I so sensitive. Can’t even add a splash of Pepsi to my Sprite at lunch or I will not sleep at night. Crazy!!!
I used to drink lots of tea and diet Coke and gave it up for about ten years, back in 1999. But if I even have one tenth of a tea bag now, my ears ring loudly, my head starts hurting, and later on I’ll go into rapid yawning as it begins to leave my system. But if I do it anyway for several days, I can feel a marvelous withdrawal stage. In that stage, it’s OK to drink a couple of tablespoons of tea. But that’s it! Coffee might make my head come off. I no longer like the taste of Coke, thank goodness.
Same here! I get nausea and jitteriness from a small cup of DECAF coffee. And can barely take a sip of my husband’s Mountain Dew. I used to drink that stuff by the liter as a teen…but something just switched inside me and I can’t have any of it! It’s so strange, and drives me nuts when I’m up half the night because of a small amount!
So I just found this page and thought I would share my story and see if just maybe it relates to anyone.. Looking for answers. About two and a half years ago I started getting really lightheaded and loss of balance. Through trail and error I never could figure out the exact cause. I always knew I was sensitive to caffeine but really thought it helped me with getting more done at work and around the house. After being a daily consumer over a decade I realized I was drinking this concoction that was causing me to use more of my natural energy daily and never allowing my body to catch up. I’m now 8 days off of caffeine. I never experienced any headaches but I have noticed the anxiety and dizziness has subsided some. I’m almost positive caffeine consumption causes stress that can lead to adrenal fatigue and can cause these side effects. It got so bad that over the last 3 months I have been experiencing derealization. If you don’t know what that is, it basically means you feel lost in a world and not sure how to get out of it. Almost like you are in a fish bowl and everything around you is a lethargic jungle. Its very scary but since quitting caffeine I have noticed I’m more calm and doing quite well on natural energy at work. Almost better than when I consumed caffeine (coffee to be exact). Apparently caffeine is a trigger for derealization but I’m starting to think that consuming caffeine for a long period of time when already super sensitive started these reactions. Just to explain the sensitivity.. 1/4 cup of coffee at 7am can keep me up late and night causing me to get little sleep and having to follow back on the coffee the next morning. If anyone has any thought on this matter please speak away. Looking for someone who has experienced similar symptoms.
Matthew,
Reading your post just gave me a caffeine free jolt of excitement! I also have experienced derealization MOSTLY when drinking coffee! I have mentioned this to my therapists before, and they never mentioned a connection. I am going to research this, but I agree that it is the strangest feeling to sip that coffee and think, WTF is this? Anyway, I have noticed caffeine problems such as reducing my immune system functioning for a while. I finally had to stop coffee and all caffeine because of anxiety. I find the anxiety is much MUCH easier to manage without ANY caffeine. Not even decaffinated coffee, but no coffee at all. I drink Dandy Blend herbal coffee substitute. I would recommend talking to a doctor or therapist about your derealization symptoms if you haven’t already, especially if they continued. I remember getting off caff was pretty much like being underwater for many weeks of tiredness and complete blah. But, now I find that even sips of coffee are too much for me, so I pretty much relate. Also, chocolate late at night can get me wired and anxious, too.
I have the exact symptoms and I can’t even drink decaf coffee, and decaf tea is also tricky. I notice that if I have a single cup of decaf tea a day for consecutive days, by the third day I am experiencing symptoms – hyper anxiety, dread, fish-bowl feeling – it’s awful and it sucks because I really love tea. I now drink no caffeine teas like roobios and also roasted dandelion root which is kind of like coffee. I realized that drinking any kind of caffeine is just not worth it. I also can’t eat chocolate past 2pm or I can’t sleep. Occasionally though I’ll drink chai tea – it’s so delicious- and then I just deal with the caffeine induced symptoms, telling myself ‘it’s just the chai!!’ as my heart palipitates and anxiety threatens to overwhelm.
Ps I’m delighted to have found this thread, I’ve never met or heard of others being as ridiculously sensitive to caffeine as me. Good luck on your no caffeine journey.
I have experience those symptoms. You are not alone. I’m almost positive caffeine caused me to have unexplained panic attacks, depersonalization, derealixation, and much more.
Same here. Even with decaf. So strange some people can drink multiple cups while have to take medication when I’m drinking to calm down. It’s only hard our society offers coffee all the time.
Hi,
I have major anxiety and depression. I am an artist who drinks coffee while I draw for hours. I drink at least 4 cups of Starbucks to 6 cups a day. I am on psych meds for anxiety and sleep apnea which I was told is affected by coffee. I’m highly sensitive, creative, I am an empath. Yesterday a friend though I had bi polar because of caffeine. I am cutting back. I have had effects but continued to drink it. I think it cleared my thinking and gave me energy. Are there others who have been on meds and find it difficult to cut back.
I love you guys/girls
Gary kleiner
Hi Gary, thanks for your comment. If you stop caffeine completely, do you have bad symptoms? I think it’s great that you’re trying to cut back. Maybe you can find a replacement, like tea (with less caffeine) or even caffeine-free coffee? I heard people rave about green tea and matcha, it still has caffeine but works in a slightly different way, like it is absorbed more slowly or something. I’m not totally sure. Regardless, try not to be too hard on yourself and allow yourself to wean slowly if you need to. I hope you feel better! 🙂
I just found my post, sorry I just found it. I haven’t stoped for long. I get the usual side effects. I think I drink it to keep or clear my negative thinking. I hope you find your way back here.🎶 gary
Hi Gary it will take time for your body to stabilise back to a normality after stopping caffeine. This has always been a big no no for people with anxiety and depression as as caffeine overstimulates the system that is overstimulated. Good luck with the coming off
I even seem to react strongly if I drink too much green tea, late afternoon (after 15:00). Can anyone relate?
Green tea has caffeine, so yes! I had some black tea today and could 100% feel when it kicked in.
I only drank a big cup of green tea yesterday and I stayed wide awake all night. Before that, I even got overexcited and yelled at my family. Like I was going crazy. Every time I drink tea from this particular coffee shop I get overexcited. Next time, I will not drink anything with caffeine anymore, at least in that coffee shop.
black green and matcha all contain caffeine still but in different quantities. The other ingredients in matcha are said to counteract the caffeine but this may also depend on how sensitive someone is to it.
Yup green tea for me still causes symptoms over time. They’re not as immediate as when I drink black tea but it’s as though the caffeine from green tea accumulates in my system and after a while a cloud of sneaky anxiety and dread begins to infuse through out my being, almost without me being aware of it, and then bam!! I’m in the middle of an anxiety attack.
It’s awful and more insidious than straight out black tea or coffee, green tea seems so benign, but I know now not to be fooled – it’s still caffeine.
For sure! I can’t even drink decaf green tea without bad side effects.
I am 60 and my entire life I have been caffeine sensitive. Managed to swallow a half cup of caffeinated along with a half cup decaffeinated mixed together each day for years. Only a half cup. Only in the morning. Not tea of any kind or I would shake at night.
In the past 10 years caffeine has really affected my stomach making me more acidic and terrible pains. I tried all the low acid coffees and spent thousands trying anything to see it if would work!
Now in past 5 years, all caffeine of any tea or any coffee of any measure gives me a migraine. I have never had migraines. Anxiety, sleepless nights from caffeine but not migraines. Now I get migraines from hot tea and coffee, decaf or regular.
I am desperate for a delicious hot coffee! or hot tea that does not keep me awake or give me migraines and thousands of dollars later – still none. I miss it so much! PS cold brewed didn’t help my stomach or headaches.
I’m sorry you are not able to enjoy the drinks you like! There are lots of great caffeine-free teas out there, hopefully you can find one you like!!
I am an empath and sensitive on ADD MEDS which make caffeine make you two times as anxious. I sat at Starbucks today on my 2nd cup of coffee. I was feeling irritable, this guy kept bumping my chair, I turned around and almost got in a fight. It’s weird I’m sensitive, and had a sibling verbally torture me. When I feel I’m being pushed , I almost lost it. It seems like PTSD, does anyone know about PTSD from emotional abuse? Luckily I’m highly creative in art, writing and cooking to help me deal with my sensitivity. Any sensitives who are also highly creative in more than one field, e mail me shineonu@aol.com cheers Gary
I’m sensitive to caffeine. I’m 35 and used to drink lots of strong cups of freshly ground coffee each day it would focus my work and I worked long office hours and then would burn the candle at the other end spending a lot of time in the gym. I found that I would get very stressed and my skin started going dry A little bit and I would see floaters and I knew I had to cut back a bit. So I did. Cutting back wasn’t easy, and its very difficult to fathom what’s affecting what when having caffeine makes symptoms sych as tiredness go away but at the same time was making me more exhausted. At the same time as this I had a lot of stress in my life from other sources and I was getting disassociative stress where I didn’t feel I was in my own body and felt spaced out. I have been very anxious and this heightens rapidly with caffeine for me. Coming down from caffeine now I now get cloudy vision after about a day and feel bad for about 3-5 days off what I would call trace amounts. I check everything now, even cold and flu capsules. At one point I thought green tea was the answer but realised how it had been affecting my mood and irritability and worked out there was caffeine in it. It’s been hard coming to the conclusion over the years about caffeine with matching cause and effect and trying reduced amounts and am I just fatigued and stressed and working out where the triggers are coming from which cause the symptoms but I have rested on caffeine and have been trying to cut it out. I’m on zero intake now if I can keep avoiding as I don’t like the come down or caffeine hangover which lasts for days. I don’t take alcohol either as again I don’t process that and stay hung over for days too I stopped that a long time ago which was much easier, and I think as caffeine and alcohol in the same way as a demand on the body which my body has to handle. I have poor memory with caffeine and get anxious to panic attack level and certainly understand fight or flight from it. Sorry about the long post and nice to see all the previous comments.
Gary,
Not to diagnose you, because I am not a psychologist, but it might be worth talking to a counselor about your symptoms and experiences. I am sure that your early experiences have an effect on you in some form. Especially if you feel out of control, it would be good to talk to someone about it. I know that anger is a symptom of PTSD. Also, I just bought some paints today to explore some of the other arts besides music. I hope you stay creative in all ways!
Background: same as most of the above: a very sensitive creative empath, never able to tolerate coffee. Decaf once in a blue moon and before 11 a.m. is an option, as is half a cup of green tea, but I avoid them generally. Also chocolate, which I love and crave, but haven’t had in ages. If I overdo it, I get long term digestion issues that take around two months to cure (IBS-C, reflux, consequently lack of sleep etc.).
I have however found that I tolerate artifical caffeine better than then the natural one. I can have a glass or two of Coke every other day without major consequences. And when phisically accelerated (traveling for vacations, intense field work), I tolerate much more, something like a Red Bull a day for several days in a row. I do however have to eat extra healthy during that time to compensate — mega doses of fiber and PPI meds (Nexium etc.).
Now, I have tried using Modafinile for a while, as recommended by a psychologist when researching something non-habit forming for my ADD. That stuff is potent; being hyper sensitive to stimulants I’d take a quarter of the adult dose (so 50 mg) around 7 a.m. and it would get me going until the evening (some small sleep distruption here and there, but nothing critical). It did cause a mild stomach upset, so I would take it for two days, then rest for two or three, go like that for two weeks, then rest for a month. It is a potent diuretic, so extra liquid is a must. But it got me great through several complex projects that required super focus. If not abused, there are no known long term negative side effects.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Marko!
Hey everyone I know this is a old post but… here I go I am very caffeine tolerant. I LOVE my monster I started drinking it while I’m army n was drinking 5 a day ish for awhile. Well now down to 2-3 a day (mind you I get up at 3am n my last one is at 7 when I fully drank it . But I can drink a monster or whatever for that matter while I’m bed and fall asleep.. caffeine don’t do much ,if I don’t have it and ain’t focused on something I’ll get headache and stuff . I’m hyper naturally so maybe that’s why !?! Thanks for listening to my rant have a good day!
I stumbled across this through google and I am so happy to find fellow caffeine-sensitive people! I often feel like an idiot when I say I dont’t want to have a coffee, saying that it makes me feel awful, and nobody else gets it. Everyone drinks coffee all the time and celebrates it as a ritual…and so many social outings are coffee dates, and not all cafés offer decaf coffee so I repeatedly fall into the trap of having a cup of cappucino, hoping that this time my body will handle it better…but no, I just end up feeling like I have to give a speech on a topic I know nothing about, in front of 1000 people, wearing just my underwear. The feeling of nervousness and anxiety is so awful and caffeine also has a bad effect on my mood, making me unhappy and/or sad. I actually love the taste though and have tried to de-sensitize myself but it did not work.
I’ve always felt like I was the only one who had this reaction to caffeine. Haven’t had a soda with caffeine or coffee since 2004. Certain medications with stimulants cause the same issue as the caffeine. So 13 years now this has been my life.
It’s 2:48 AM and I found this post while unable to sleep after accidentally getting a fully caffeinated coffee ( I can always tell when they give me the wrong order although too late) today when I ordered decaf. I only drank about a third of it, but my hand was shaking so bad I could barely write or use a fork. I seem to do OK with most teas or chocolate. Don’t drink soda anymore so I’m not sure how that would affect me. I got about halfway through the HSP book…I think scored about 22 on the self test. So far what I’ve read hasn’t really helped much. Too bad there isn’t more research about the physiological or root cause of the condition. Was hoping to get my therapist on board with this but don’t want to feel like I am telling him how to counsel. Not sure how to approach it. Anyway, just thought I’d share!
I found this post because I am experiencing the caffeine related anxiety again.
I always try to avoid coffee. And I did not eat any for today as well. So what did I eat today? 72% CHOCOLATE. I cannot drink too much milk tea or green tea either 🙁
It gives me unreasonable anxiety, because my heart is racing. Unlike other people, I don’t get any kind of boost or productivity either.
…because all chocolate has caffeine in it. And the darker it is, the more it has. It’s not on the ingredients list because it’s naturally occurring in cocoa… which is too bad, because dark chocolate has less sugar and more healthy stuff than milk chocolate does. Like most folks here, I’m hyper-sensitive to caffeine. I can’t have more than a swallow of coffee early in the morning, or I can’t sleep at night. That sucks because coffee is my favorite flavor in the world. I do get decaf sometimes, and it’s usually okay. Once I noticed that I was having a really hard time sleeping on nights when I played cards with friends. I finally figured out that it was because our favorite snack on card night was chocolate M&Ms…
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with caffeine. I’ve been looking everywhere to see if others have the same symptoms as me and haven’t really found much up until I discovered this blog post. This is the first place I’ve seen anyone mention something about breathing issues, which is one of the more prominent symptoms I experience. Recently when my husband was out of town he would mention my breathing every time we were on the phone and was worried about it. That’s when I really started to pay attention to it. I love coffee so much, but am realizing that it contributes to my anxiety, bad mood, heightened / near the surface emotions, lashing out, and inability to see situations straight. I noticed others talking about derealization / depersonalization and had to look it up. I had no idea that these weird sensations I’ve experienced my entire life could be connected to caffeine (from soda as a child and coffee as an adult) and being a highly sensitive person. I’ve known for awhile that I really should cut coffee out but love the taste and ritual of it. For now I am trying to replace with herbal teas (which I also love, but not the same) on most days and be more intentional when I do have a cup of coffee rather than reach for it as the default. Very eye opening discussion here and much appreciated.
I wish they would put the caffeine amounts on the nutritional labels! I drink decaf (alot!) but still sense some caffeine in there. If I have caffeine I feel like I need a Valium to counteract it. If we pressure the FDA maybe they can include it on labels. It would be helpful for me.
Man, it is great to see people that understand how I feel. I drank coffee for about 5 years and finally noticed it was making my anxiety worse. Now my caffeine sensitivity has gotten so bad that if I drink soda I have a panic attack, my heart is racing, and I feel this pressure in my chest and head. I mistakenly had a Dr. Pepper this morning and at 3:30 am still suffering the side effects. What’s keeping me from going into a full blown panic attack is reading these posts. It helps keep me calm along with a ton of water to dilute it. For a 20 oz bottle of soda, I need to drink about 80 oz of water to get it through as fast as possible. I don’t know if any of you know but the water might help next time you get the symptoms after thinking you can have that caffeine and it’ll be alright hahaha. That’s me, “Oh, I can drink this Dr. Pepper, I’ll be okay”. 30 minutes later nauseated and freaking out.
There is now a dr pepper flavor
This is exactly me. I didn’t know other people were going through this. I legit thought I had a heart condition or nervous condition. The anxiety a cup of coffee gives me is ridiculous. No one understands hahah!! The woman at dunkin 100% gave me a regular coffee instead of the decaf I normally order…. and it’s 12:20 am and here I am. Over 12 hrs later, still having anxiety. Ok goodnight 😂
I was able to drink caffeine until I was just over 30 years old, and then like a switch was flipped, I got violently ill from it all of a sudden.
It took my a while to figure out what was causing it.
My heart and brain would feel like it was beating against the walls and ceiling and I would throw up mulitpe times.
Sleep has been a problem all my life, but after coffee it would be impossible.
Hi, thank you so much for sharing your experience with caffeine, it resonates so much. I generally avoid coffee. The last time I unintentionally consumed it I was eating an energy bar. I was unaware it had caffeine in it. I could not sleep the whole night, my heart was racing so fast and I felt some kind of pain in my chest. It was a truly horrible experience. I often had problems falling asleep but caffeine takes that to a whole different level. I did not know that I might be a highly sensitive person until a few days ago when a friend of mine pointed out to me that I might be and I watched and interview with Elaine Aron. And now so many things just make sense including this one. So thanks again for sharing. It is nice to know that I am not the only one experiencing this. Much appreciated. Sending love and I wish you all lots of restful sleep.
Hi, thank you so much for sharing your experience with caffeine, it resonates so much. I generally avoid coffee. The last time I unintentionally consumed it I was eating an energy bar. I was unaware it had caffeine in it. I could not sleep the whole night, my heart was racing so fast and I felt some kind of pain in my chest. It was a truly horrible experience. I often had problems falling asleep but caffeine takes that to a whole different level. I did not know that I might be a highly sensitive person until a few days ago when a friend of mine pointed out to me that I might be and I watched and interview with Elaine Aron. And now so many things just make sense including this one. So thanks again for sharing. It is nice to know that I am not the only one experiencing this. Much appreciated. Sending love and I wish you all lots of restful sleep.
I’m so glad I found your page, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. I’ve been doing more Google diagnosing in the past couple of years than I have my entire life. I finally figured out that it was the caffeine causing a sensitivity reaction… but the sensitivity is just getting worse.
I used to drink 4-6 large (16 oz.) cups of caffeinated coffee when I was in college (about 15 years ago) and I would still feel tired, like I could never get enough coffee… if I had more breaks between classes I would have.
After college, I quit drinking coffee for about 7 years, I still drank caffeinated Earl Grey tea and it didn’t affect me.
Then I started drinking coffee again, about a year in I started to get these really debilitating headaches. I started drinking diet soda instead of regular soda to lose weight and about 2 weeks after starting the coffee and diet soda combination, I went into shock and had to be rushed to a hospital.
The gave me fluids and an anti-anxiety med drip. The doctor said “water is important” and my cardiologist advised me to eat chicken (I’m a vegetarian, great advice– I know).
I kept drinking coffee and started to notice I was getting severe anxiety at work. I thought I hated my job but then I started getting it at home when I drank coffee in the afternoons.
I’m a slow learner but eventually realized I had a caffeine sensitivity, so I switched to decaf. All was good in the world, for a couple of months.
I started to get this derealization that everyone is talking about, I thought I was developing schizophrenia. On top of that, I started to hear a loud buzzing in my ears combined with severe headaches and an uncomfortable chest pain.
Yesterday I went for a walk with my dog and forgot my decaf coffee in the house– no chest pain, no shortness of breath, no dizziness, what changed?
I realized it was the coffee. I drank decaf coffee this morning at a specific time as an experiment to see if that was the cause. I purposely waited until later in the day to drink and a low and behold, I’m having these same horrible symptoms.
I’m really glad I found this forum because I didn’t know that even decaf coffee could do this to you. I thought I was having a heart issue or something serious– doctors have assured me that there are no issues with my heart on several occasions.
Although I wish there were none who suffered from caffeine sensitivity, it’s comforting to know that I’m not alone and that something as simple as a small alteration to the diet can reverse these terrible symptoms.
Yes! I am so sensitive to caffeine. I had one cup in the morning—hazelnut latte from my sweet, thoughtful hubby, then for the next 5 hours! I was so jittery, hands shaking, heart racing, anxious, nauseous, felt sick. Then later that night I couldn’t get to sleep until nearly 2am!!! I hate it! I told my husband never again! I had to drink so much stress-relief tea just to feel halfway normal.
I’m so glad to read about this sensitivity to caffeine and know that others share it. I once took a No-Doz tablet in college to study for exams (it’s just a caffeine tablet) and was awake for almost 48 hours. I started drinking coffee in my 30’s because I was tired from dealing with two toddlers, and was able to tolerate a cup or so until in my 50’s, when I started getting atrial fibrillation. Now I cannot drink even decaf without my heart getting out of rhythm. I also have never been able to tolerate any medicine like Sudafed or pain meds, which make me feel disconnected to my body, like I’m on another planet. I had no idea this physical sensitivity to “uppers” was common among HSP’s, a group I have come to realize I am a member of!