Caffeine

How much caffeine per day is too much? What kind of effects are at regular high doses?

Hi,

being the "knowitall" that i am i just have to respond to your thread! hahaha

i am a really big coffee drinker meaning i just love the stuff and choose to drink it daily.

i have Bipolar Disorder and have been told some with that cant drink coffee without ill effects so i have always watched for that in particular. i average 2 - 4 cups a daily, mostly, and i am told that is the norm amount for being considered acceptable.

so if that is true then 5 cups or more would be considered a too high amount. i do know that symptoms of too much coffee for many would be: irritability, edgy, lack of concentration, poor memorary, overly-emotional, careless, running constantly to he toidy (its a diuretic) and i have heard of the symptom of even being anxious, so high anxiety. those are all i can recall just top of my head, but, i have read some about this so this is not just my opinion.

also, by the way, i dont have those awful symptoms myself with my amount of coffee drank each day. also if drank after say 7 pm at night coffee definitely can keep some people awake at night or if they do fall asleep will often wake up thru the night and be very restless. now this is one symptom that if drinking coffee caused me i would easily be able to put the coffee away for that reason alone. The others, tho, i might likely tolerate a bit of that cause i just love coffee that much! go figure?

i hope that helps and i will be watching this thread myself. very interesting!

Denise

Inkblot - The amount of caffeine varies according to the individual make-up of the person. My personal view is that if the caffeine is interfering with sleep &/or daily functioning, then it is probably time to cut back. If you find yourself unexplanably edgy, nervous, or short with family and friends, caffeine may be contributing.

Another rule of thumb I use is if you think you are ingesting too much caffeine, you probably are.

I hope that this is some help. - Cam

I'm okay with the amount of caffeine, but I've heard it can cause problems. The thing is that I tend to have phases of not eating or barely eating, so it's taken on an empty stomach. A few people seem to think that I have an eating disorder. I'll give it a maybe. I'll take 2 or 3 caffeine 200mg pills a day. Not usually any more than that. Thanks for your answer!

LOL and I think it depends what's wrong with you too. I can drink a TON of coffee without getting edgy nervouse or having a problem NOT falling asleep. Was told that it was because I have problems with ADD and instead of aggrevating my system of course it over stimiulates and helps me concentrate. I can remember in a school once I took a huge dose of those caffine pills to stay wake in class after being up all night. Everyone else was tap dancing in their seats and I was snoring. When I woke up I felt like it was some of the best sleep I had ever gotten. Mind you the Teacher wasn't impressed... ah well. To find a stimulant that DOES help keep me awake used to be the goal.. LOL

Arlene (2-3 cups on the avg.)

The subject on coffee and caffeine actually makes me angry. I love coffee so much and drank it all the time in college. Now, it instantly makes me dizzy and "edgy". It doesn't wake me up but actually fatigues me??? I will still drink a cup (of the real stuff) every week even though I know what it is going to do to me (if guess i'm an addict). The decaff just isn't the same, just isn't. Drink some for me will you!

startingrtnow, somebody told me that caffeine is almost like alcohol, that it is, in the end, a depressant. Even with this knowledge, I still drink coffee - just to wake me up a little. Then I get sleepy again.

You gotta be kidding me, in this world where people suffer from drug and alcohol problems! Come on, if your so concerned about caffeine! Yea, too much can be bad for you, if you suffer from anxiety even worse, a couple of cups a day. But if you've ever suffered from, drug, alcohol or food addiction then I'm sure caffeine worrys would not even bother you! Your gotta be kidding man, you gotta be kidding!

Gorgey - for one thing - caffeine is a 'drug'. And believe it or not, caffeine withdrawal can cause lots of problems. Actually, caffeine can cause problems too.

I'm glad somebody posted this, because I'm learning more about caffeine, how it affects people, etc.