Medical Questions > Mental Health > Schizophrenia Forum

Caffeine and Schizophrenia symptoms

Must Read
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a lifelong brain disorder. But how do doctors define it? And is there a cure?...
Read more >>
Schizophrenia Causes and Risk Factors
What causes schizophrenia? And what are the risks of developing this treatable mental illness?...
Read more >>
Schizophrenia Symptoms
The first signs of schizophrenia may be difficult to identify. Learn the most common signs and symptoms of schizophrenia and know when to ask for medical help....
Read more >>
Mental Health
Caffeine
Caffeine Addiction
High Anxiety: Avoid Caffeine And Salt
Schizophrenia
tactile hallucinations!!!!!!
Schizophrenia and Epilepsy
I urgently need help for my friend.
Related Topics
ABOUT Caffeine
Caffeine?
Caffeine And Hemorrhoids
March 13th, 2009
Here's my story:

At around the age of 15, I discovered coffee and fell instantly in love with it. I would not go a day without it and I would drink it everyday, multiple times a day, for several years. The dosages steadily increased as the months went by. Along the way, I stopped loving it and I started needing it. It turned from being something enjoyable into something which was needed for survival purposes. I would get up in the mornings, completely exhausted. It got to the point where I no longer felt the super-human effects, instead I became confused and I would spend my days on autopilot without much working under the hood... Or perhaps, it was working overtime and I no longer felt apart of it. My thoughts were there, but it felt like they were too fast for me to notice the content. Does that make sense? Let me try again: on the one hand, I felt like I could not manage to think properly and fully. It was as if I always had the answer right in front of me. However, on the other hand, it was as if I was constantly thinking, but I could not consciously understand what it was, because everything was moving too quickly. Now, the commonality between those two is that I could no longer seem to enjoy my thoughts.

I have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, even though no one in my family has it.

Is there a link (read title)? I've heard that there is. It's an allergy to caffeine, developed from drinking too much of it, and - from what I can gather - it's a build-up of caffeine in the brain that slowly damages it...

What do you think? By the way, I've noticed that my symptoms got worse while on caffeine. I didn't make this connection since recently. It's my 5-6th day off the stuff. ARGH!!!

If you find info pertaining to this topic, then please share and I'll do the same. Thanks!
Did you find this post helpful?
|
bu0461
replied April 12th, 2009
indeed
coffee always change my thought process. It always make my thought louder. Eventually I'll think in a very psychotic tendency, and next day I would feel horrible.
Hope that helps
|
Did you find this post helpful?
blackjack289
replied November 20th, 2009
I can relate to this so much.
And I have increased schizophrenic tendencies with caffeine as well.

As well as caffeine withdrawals, If I don't drink something with caffeine I start to feel "flat" and I feel a lot of pressure in my skull. I lose peripheral vision and become irritated.

When I was 15 I drank 2 sodas every morning and throughout the day. I felt great until late-afternoon, I would crash hard. I also didn't eat a lot, only a sandwich for lunch and a very small portion of dinner.

I'm 20 now and I feel like I'm losing it, if you read my other post.

I also have a developing heart condition as I was recently diagnosed with an abnormal EKG.
|
Did you find this post helpful?
Aj77777
replied September 27th, 2011
TipTopHealth, did you stay off caffeine?

I think caffeine causes immense damage and the correlations with schizophrenia are strong (see http://ehealthforum.com/health/coffee-and- schizophrenia-t295406.html)
|
Did you find this post helpful?
LittleTex
replied January 6th, 2012
I was once diagnosed as schizoaffective. After giving up sodas after having the stomach flu for three weeks, and having to give up all medications and the normal foods I loved, I realized something was odd when I started drinking sodas again. In fact, sodas fit a much larger medical pattern that I was completely oblivious to. Until that moment.. And it was Sodas! I was poisoning myself! Damn addictions. It took some time, but I'm well over many many years without 1 single med, and no longer need to even see a doctor.. but I did go through a long process with a doctor to confirm I was right about caffeine.

That same doctor was quiet curious my very last visit. She ended up having another patent who was worse then I was with caffeine. Even a small teaspoon of something with caffeine in it would send the patient into psychosis.. ekk.. and I thought I had it bad.

Work with your doctor, if you find the doc isn't listening, fire him and find a woman doctor that does have listening skills
|
Did you find this post helpful?
scowloser1992
replied June 29th, 2012
okay , ive been drinking caffene ever sence i was 14, and ive been dijagnosed with schizophrenia wen i was 17, i am now 20 years old , and my voices seem to be louder each time i drink caffene , and smoke alot, and i feel drouzzy wen ever i dont have an energy drink, ive been drinking energy drinks every day, i stoped for a week , and i started feeling more energy, and better , more focused , and less anxious, but every now and then , i feel like i have to have caffene, and wen ever i dont have it , i get upset and out of control , is there eny way or advise or treatment to quit caffene , ?!?!?
|
Did you find this post helpful?
Microwave
replied November 12th, 2012
I started taking caffeine pills when I was about 14-15, it started with two a day (they're 50mg of caffeine each) and now it's just off the scale. I get people staring at me in wonder as I have to take up to fifteen tablets a day to stave off the migraines and complete exhaustion. I've tried coming off it several times, once successful, but after a while I realised I was so hooked on it I enjoyed the "high" you got when you had just over too much and you go pretty spacy. That got me back into it. Recently I've started taking astronomically high doses of caffeine again, and definitely my symptoms are much worse. I find after I flood my system with 5 or 6 caffeine pills on the train in the morning at college I'm either out of it completely or feeling extremely confused and delusional. I get very intense feelings of unreality when I take too much, but that's kind of what keeps me hooked. It's a vicious circle... best not to get into it in the first place.
|
Did you find this post helpful?
Sign up for FREE weekly health tips!
... Saving
Ask a doctor

eHealthPedia Articles
Mental Health Basics
Mental Health Risks
Mental Health Screening
Schizophrenia Causes and Risk Factors
Schizophrenia Diagnosis