Please - try going without caffeine

There is a substantial research base on how caffeine effects anxiety: http://caffeineevaluation.blogspot.co.uk/

On one study 25% of GAD and PD sufferers saw symptoms disappear or reduce substantially when they exited.

I know many sufferers feel they need caffeine for self-medication, but it has to be worth trying without?

Going without caffeine has changed my life; my past anxiety is massively reduced. Indeed I haven't woken once with my old early-hours terrors for several months now.

JohnCampbell, I second your post. I was a frantic coffee drinker, but after I stopped drinking the caffeine, my anxiety improved. Not sure what happened in scientific terms, all I can say is that my quality of life improved, with my thinking becoming less irrational and me feeling noticeably calmer.

I wouldn't say going without caffeine has changed my life but it eliminated one glaring contributor to my anxiety.

Someone said I should get off the pill for the same reasons. Not sure about this one.

JohnCampbell wrote:On one study 25% of GAD and PD sufferers saw symptoms disappear or reduce substantially when they exited.

I know many sufferers feel they need caffeine for self-medication, but it has to be worth trying without?

I used to live on caffeine - would drink a whole mocha stove pot to myself in the morning if i made one. I don't drink much caffeine nowadays, more days without coffee than with - just tea, and sometimes types that don't contain any.

As far as self-medication goes, if I don't drink the stuff, sometimes I won't do any of the things I need to do, e.g. for basic survival, and would be stuck living here for the rest of my life. I can't afford to be just taking time out to get help before I go off and function normally because I'm not getting any, so if I drop everything, its gonna stay dropped. I try not to drink coffee any 2 days in a row though - 1 day on 2 days off at worst.

Adrenaline is worse than coffee - give me naturally dangerous/seriously conflicted situations and I thrive off those and get high. Its hard to switch it off once its switched on, and I used to maintain that state constantly. Not in a "psychologically healthy enough place" to function with it switched off. Caffeine is a mild and more easily controlled replacement.

I'm answering cause PD was included above. Anxiety isn't the main problem for me, coffee makes me annoying and hyper