So is coffeine a new office designer drug?

Personally, I don't do the stuff. Terrible headaches from withdrawal on the weekends.

I've actually switched from coffee to tea (black teas & green teas) as coffee left me feeling tired often later in the day with that feeling compounding after long use over the last few years.

Tea for me gives me a nice boost in the morning and doesnt drag me down later in the day. Also i habitually have a nice hot cup of green tea before bed. For me its very relaxing. Best way i've found to prepare tea was to take a Keurig coffee maker and use one of those re-usable mesh cups with the tea-leaves from a ripped open tea-bag. It makes a perfect cup every time and cleanup is easy.

There have been periods which for whatever reason i've temporarily switched back to coffee and re-discovered those negatives again and quicky switched back. Which is a shame because i'm one of the few people who love the rich deep taste of a well made black coffee, but then again, maybe thats what easily allowed me to switch to tea as a better replacement. Who knows?

My girlfriend becomes extremely excitable, irritable and head-ached from any amount of coffee, but she's relaxed by chocolate. It's not likely just placebo, as she'll break out in hot flushes and sweats, as well as the behavioural changes, even from desserts where she didn't know there was coffee in them.

It's like hating all pasta dishes, because you had a seafood pasta once that you didn't like

I drink coffee twice a day. After getting up and making that coffee, and after lunch. I generally have low blood pressure (not clinically low), and coffee helps to regulate it (without coffee, I often have headaches. I don't think it's just placebo, because sometimes it's hard to get coffee (holiday or something) and I usually realise I didn't have coffee when my head starts to ache).

My girlfriend often talks me into drinking another coffee (but usually instant) in the evening if we are working on something.

At my new job, sometimes I have two coffees at work-time, the first is the social one.

Other drinks: only water. I never got into the coke thing, it can be wonderful from time to time, but after drinking up some amount (0.5-2 liters) I usually don't desire it for months. No energy drinks either, only when I drink alcohol.

My girlfriend becomes extremely excitable, irritable and head-ached from any amount of coffee, but she's relaxed by chocolate. It's not likely just placebo, as she'll break out in hot flushes and sweats, as well as the behavioural changes, even from desserts where she didn't know there was coffee in them.

Apparently she figured it out later.
So she somehow knew coffee was involved.

I will take you on your word that physical changes such as hot flushes etc. were involved, which I would assume are not possible to fake, but if possible, could you dose her with coffee in any other situation and see the effects? Assuming no risk to your relationship with her once she finds out and assuming she will not undergo too much stress from it.

It’s just that the “natural” effects of caffeine, being more alert and more awake, are already leaving me considering that it’s just a placebo in the first place, but what you describe is completely and totally impossible to me. Of course I accept that different people react differently to different substances, but it’s really hard for me to swallow how such a world-wide product could be so vastly different between us.
Not that I am assuming you are lying either. Just that I would like to know the results of a more controlled experiment.

I had a coworker from Portugal who needed a dose of coffee every morning to get to work.

When he started having the same heart problems I was, he stopped drinking coffee. I couldn’t notice any change in his performance, although he claimed there was.
Ironically, that is about the same time I had a few cans of coffee from our in-house vending machines on a few days that I was exhausted from no sleep due to my heart problems and sleeping problems (the sleeping problems have stayed with me since I was around 5 or so).

The result: Before, when I had a sleepless night, I would go to work 1 hour early and sleep for 1 hour in the office sometime in the morning.
After, I thought about what he said and I bought 1 or 2 cans of coffee and drank them all at once. Shots are always more powerful than slowly drinking.
And then I slept at the office for about 1 hour anyway.

I’ve done experiments with it by buying up to 3 cans and drinking them all at once, like shots, in order to maximize the impact.
Nothing.

I can accept that I might have some natural tolerance, but even with that I should have experienced something. No natural tolerance in the world eliminates something 100%. I should still have felt 20 or 30%. But nothing.

I’d like to see controlled experiments done to really prove it is more than just a placebo.

It's like hating all pasta dishes, because you had a seafood pasta once that you didn't like

When I started my experiments based on my coworker’s explanation, I tried a few brands. Most of which I really did not like, but I found one that was decent (not delicious, just decent).

But now that you mention it, I have a question.
The one I tolerated was whiter than the others. Is dark coffee more potent than creamed coffee? I would assume they are the same, because all it is is the same coffee, but then cream is added. It won’t change the potency of the caffeine. Am I wrong?


L. Spiro

It is entirely possible you have very good concentration levels and don't get tired easily. Also some coffee is just plain crap and won't do a damned thing but make you shiver and/or feel sick. Caffeine is a well documented drug and there are many more cases to demonstrate its effects against your 1 claim to caffeine being a placebo. Its more likely your having a placebo effect because you believe it has no effect and are merely being selective with how you perceive your current state of mind.

To add, I find nicotine non-addictive in anyway. It gives my head a buzz and keeps me awake but I don't get cravings, I find alcohol more addictive which scientifically has no physical addiction. No doubt my body is good at breaking down nicotine quickly so that 1 nights sleep is my fast track through withdrawal.

Drug companies put caffeine in painkillers to reverse the effect of painkillers making people tired.

There was a small time during my life that I was into coffee, espresso and all those fancy Italian hot drinks, now its green tea (and white tea when I can find it), I have 6 - 7 cups of green tea a day. Havent noticed anything bad from the consumption and it has its fair share of caffeine too. Back in the days, coffee made me feel dry and irritated more often than anything.

I always have a jug of water near me too, I gave up completely on soft drinks 10 years ago

but then I discovered that fresh coffee is almost an entirely different drink than instant!

Fixed.

No natural tolerance in the world eliminates something 100%.

Sure there is. My father is 100% immune to the effects of poison ivy. I'm not even remotely immune. Not only that, but it's an immunity that can be gained or lost at some point during your life as well. Pretty much all allergies are cases of little to no 'natural' tolerance.

The one I tolerated was whiter than the others. Is dark coffee more potent than creamed coffee? I would assume they are the same, because all it is is the same coffee, but then cream is added. It won’t change the potency of the caffeine. Am I wrong?

Are all grapes the same? Are all apples the same? Are all wines the same? Is all mari... nevermind that last one. Like just about any consumable plant on earth, how and where it is grown, how it is harvested and stored, and how it is prepared can all have a significant influence on how the end product tastes to the consumer. Sometimes the variations can be subtle, and other times the variations can be quite stark, but it is most definitely not all the same coffee.

Drug companies put caffeine in painkillers to reverse the effect of painkillers making people tired.

That’s actually why I would like to see some scientific evidence.

And here you go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine

A very good article indeed.

It’s just that the “natural” effects of caffeine, being more alert and more awake, are already leaving me considering that it’s just a placebo in the first place, but what you describe is completely and totally impossible to me. Of course I accept that different people react differently to different substances, but it’s really hard for me to swallow how such a world-wide product could be so vastly different between us.
Not that I am assuming you are lying either. Just that I would like to know the results of a more controlled experiment.

If the coffe is strong you just feel it in your head (as a hodgman said) and in your body and heart for example in your legs and hands - for example when I drunk some

strong once I bacame to wave/sway my hands with

unusual inclination, I felt coffe (effect) in hands

As to chocolate - some kinds of dark chocolate I eat have it (milk chocolate I eat do not have it) and the dark chocolates I know In my shop have a very strong effect on me - even a half of a block works on me like a strong coffe

I think I am oversusceptible on coffeine in all forms now, :/

As to tea I loved it at a school times (only some assam kinds, not yunan | caylon) and drinked it dont know maybe 8 a day with great pleasure, but when i decidet to drop on coffeine few years ago I do not drink it now - but I liked it it also had strong influence on me - If I would drink weak one now (20:19 here) I would not go to sleep til 2 past mindnight, usually i go sleep about midnight)