Self-help prevention: caffeine poisoning


        SELF-HELP PREVENTION: CAFFEINE POISONING

A condition caused by drinking caffeine-containing drinks. The commonest of these are coffee, tea and cola drinks. There is also caffeine in certain cold remedies, pain-killers and stay-awake aids.
The signs of caffeine poisoning are shaky hands, buzzing in the ears, hallucinations, headaches, irritability, restlessness, frequent passing of urine (often making the person get up at night), palpitation, insomnia, indigestion and heartburn, and a general feeling of anxiety. Millions of people around the world have one or more of these symptoms almost all their lives, yet are amazed to learn that caffeine is the culprit.
There are many people in mental hospitals who are suffering only from caffeine addiction. A study reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 1976 found that of 135 patients on an acute psychiatric ward thirty-four were 'high users' of caffeine (more than 5 cups of coffee per day). The study also found that these thirty-four people had a higher incidence of psychosis than other patients. At first the researchers asked themselves why it was that such seriously ill people drank so much coffee, rather than looking at it the other way round. The team involved now believes that caffeine triggers psychoses (serious mental disorders) by its action on normal brain transmitter chemicals.
Caffeine taken in even normal doses can cause less dramatic but nonetheless troublesome symptoms. Light-headedness, headaches, irregular heartbeat and anxiety are common in some people drinking relatively few caffeine-containing drinks. One expert has found that high doses of caffeine can produce symptoms totally indistinguishable from anxiety neurosis. A dose of 250 mg or more of caffeine can produce troublesome symptoms at once in many people. The caffeine content of drinks is as follows: Cup of strong, black coffee 150 mg Cup of strong tea 100 mg 12oz can of Coca-Cola 64.7 mg 12 oz can of Pepsi-Cola 43.1 mg

Prevention
• Cut out or cut down on all caffeine-containing substances including coffee, tea, cola drinks, pain-killers and cold cures that contain caffeine (look at the labels). Throw away your coffee percolator.
You will notice signs of withdrawal-after all, you are coming off a potent drug. Caffeine is probably the most commonly abused drug in the world. Symptoms you can expect as you wean yourself off caffeine are headache, irritability, inability to work effectively, nervousness, restlessness and lethargy. Because you are trying to break an addiction, go slowly. Start drinking your tea and coffee weaker, and gradually reduce your joint intake of the two drinks to two or three cups per day.
If you find it easier, wean yourself off coffee on to strong tea, and then reduce the strength and the number of cups of tea. Using tea bags and a metal container cuts back on the caffeine in the tea you are making. Loose tea-leaves brewed for the same amount of time or to the same colour will have more caffeine than tea brewed in a bag.
• Substitute healthy drinks for the fluid you would have taken as tea, coffee or cola drinks. Drink fresh orange (diluted if it is too expensive to drink neat). Drink water, especially with meals. Take up drinking herbal teas-there are many to choose from and they are delicious.

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GENERAL HEALTH

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