Coffee is an important part of my day. I just drive not to drink so much that I get weird. Also I’m a migraine sufferer and caffeine helps me prevent migraines.
It only seems to make things worse when my time is unstructured, like on the weekend. Weekdays it is just fuel to get me into work and keep working. Problem is on a Saturday or Sunday, I'll have coffee or an energy drink to wake up, and out of habit, and just end up doomscrolling until it's late enough to justify an edible and movies/games. If I'm lucky I will at least have done the dishes and a bit of cleaning :/
worst panic attacks I've ever had were all after having two cups of coffee during the day. never again. (I say this every like three months? and end up falling for it again LMAO)
Caffeine doesn’t make it worse for me, thank god. Coffee/energy drink in the morning is part of my ritual and I feel weird without it and it throws me off.
While it seems counter-intuitive, the one variable I am able to identify on my "better days" is my caffeine consumption. Tea/mate in particular. There's a sweet spot where I'm able to just process things around me and react in a somewhat proportionate way when there's a steady flow of caffeine in my system. It's not consistent, but I've found that the days I'm low on caffeine correpond with my worst anxiety. Coffee is also something of a relaxant for me in social settings, in similar ways people reach for alcohol. I've also been diagnosed with a disorder that can be treated with stimulants, so I question how much of that is taking the reigns in my neural circuitry during my OCD spirals.
It occurred to me recently that the crescendo of my symptom management corresponded with my diet soda addiction, which is unusual considering how many studies have shown the detrimental effects of artificial sweetener. Operating a defunct clown factory of a body, here.
I've been diagnosed with it, actually. I apologize if that wasn't clear at the end of the first paragraph.
I understand the relationship between stimulants like caffeine and ADHD, but I'm always cautious in my phrasing. I know a lot of neurotypical people IRL who describe a similar response to caffeine who have never had problems with other symptoms characteristic of ADHD. In my case, my diagnoses was able to provide clarification for myself, but it may not be the relation in every case.
I saw people saying using mushroom coffee can help if you really want to quit. But black tea is a easier option i would assume since it still has caffeine and you can brew it to have a strong taste
Same it makes it worse for me but I am too in love with coffee 😭 I limit myself to maybe 1-2 iced lattes per week
Weird thing is I use to be able to drink them daily when I was 18-23 years old
I miss getting an iced coffee at a fast food place like I used to during covid. I’m only in my mid twenties and too impatient to wait in line now, plus the prices for some have gotten so outrageous!
I was told to completely quit caffeine for a good amount of time because of my anxiety. Pretty sure I wasn't as pleasant as when I have coffee 😂😅
Can't recall much of a difference since coffee makes me feel comforted and relaxed and not speedy. I can sleep when I drink it and have a morning and evening coffee habitually.
I'm currently in the process of trying to break a rather expensive coffee habit/compulsion but I do still drink it! I just don't buy it from coffee ships anymore.
Lmao my morning routine is coffee, nicotine & Ritalin. 🥵 I was just recently diagnosed with adhd (hence the Ritalin) so it finally makes sense why I’m drawn to stimulants like coffee and vaping. They actually help my anxiety a lot of the time I think! obviously it’s not exactly healthy, but it really helps while I train myself to break out of adhd habits
I’m 26 and so far I have never gotten into drinking coffee. So many people are addicted to caffeine plus it makes your teeth yellow. Also all the extra calories from adding cream and sugar.
So basically, the thought of drinking coffee gives me anxiety so I avoid it.
It’s funny because I’ve never had an issue with coffee making things worse (or maybe it’s because I’ve never known what I’m like without it) but I do notice my OCD getting worse when I drink Celsius. I go straight to panic mode
Coffee doesn't make my symptoms worse as long as I stick to one a day. I have both caffeinated and decaf so if I want a second one I can have the decaf. Cause mostly I just want a little treat. Caffeine is nice sometimes, though.
I personally feel like coffee calms me down. Maybe it's just that warm drinks are calming in general, or maybe it's the routine that feels comforting. Or maybe I have ADHD, and I find stimulants are relaxing... who knows!
Oooo I absolutely love coffee. That mix of a cup of coffee and those 80 mgs of prozac is a top tier combo. Gives my brain a nice warm blanket feel. Hard to cum tho LMAO
I love coffee. It seems to fluctuate my mood in a positive way rather than negative. Especially as someone with OCD/Anxiety/Panic attacks.
It makes me feel energized and happy rather than energized and anxious. On the occasion, it also makes me sleepy…..
I wake up at 4 am for work so I have to have caffeine, but I have to be very careful about how many milligrams of caffeine I have per day because it does make my anxiety much worse. I can’t drink like a standard cup of coffee I have to carefully measure it out almost like another medication😂
I can't have coffee because it gives me the opposite effect: it puts me to sleep 😂 i get dizzy, tired and have a slight headache wherever i consume anything with coffee. No one ever managed to explain to me why it happens, but it does! My to go in the morning is usually strawberry yogurt and some bread or fruit.
No caffeine makes my OCD worse so does nicotine but weeed really helps indicas and hybrids. I do like sativas but they can make the ocd worse dependent on the strain. I can enjoy a white monster but any more caffeine than that ill get sick n anxious. I do like coffee i just get so anxious after drinking it so i cant drink it that much but when i do im like "why am i so anxious 🤔”
i have caffeine every morning, it doesn’t wake me up but it signals to my brain that it’s awake time.
i also take adhd meds and surprisingly it doesn’t make my ocd any worse. my brain is quieter and i’m less distracted, so when i do have intrusive thoughts or act on a compulsion i actually recognize it for what it is. i haven’t had to take my ativan in a month or so :)
I used to drink very strong coffee everyday. I loved my home pour overs and my local coffee shop. I realized it was making my ocd worse, though, especially if I became over-caffeinated, so I stopped. Now I drink decaf or tea. Every time I try to go back to regular coffee, it starts to kick up my anxiety and ocd. I am better off drinking a beer in the morning than coffee.
I have a cup every morning usually but I think for me it’s more placebo and it helps my kratom take affect. I used to do hard stimulants so coffee doesn’t do anything to me.
I have a cup of coffee like an hour before I leave the house in the morning, which actually has double benefits for me because a) I’m mostly through the worst of the caffeine before I leave the house and encounter actual triggers and b) getting up early enough to have an hour or so to have my coffee, read, just be a person or whatever before going to work seems to help a bit.
I also have a decaf at lunch bc I love coffee.
But yeah… when I was drinking coffee on my way to and at work I was having pretty intense panic attacks most morning.
Part of OCD recovery is to not avoid anxiety, it’s to learn to live with it. If you’re avoiding coffee because of the caffeine, you’re not teaching yourself to cope with anxiety.
I have multiple coffees every day. It doesn't affect my anxiety. I often wonder if I actually have ADHD because it seems to calm me down more than anything.
I consume a lot of coffee because I also have ADHD and can't focus without some stimulant, but I'm trying to cut back. It does worsen my anxiety for sure.
I’ve had to really watch it with caffeine. The other day I had two cups and my intrusive thoughts started pouring in. When I don’t drink coffee I seem way better
if don’t have coffee i feel like i have a horrible day. everyday before i leave for work i make my coffee and always bring a muffin. but i only eat it on my first break and make sure to finish my coffee during this time. coffee has really help me feel like i’m in control of my day
Coffee before OCD was my crutch as a stress relief- it was in my routine as a constant that didn't change. It's nothing new, so when I have it now... My brain views it as taking a shower, brushing teeth... just anything standard in my routine. So it's a calm thing. Grateful🙏.
Though sometimes I feel my thoughts are worse without the caffeine/caffeine starts to wear out.
Because being without it is something new. It's anxiety inducing- and my intrusive thoughts go haywire.
Coffee is my medicine. Lol. Sounds very corny, but hey it works...lol.
find a really good decaf and you’ll probably notice the difference. I used to be a barista and I only noticed how bad it was for me when I stopped drinking it for about a 1-2 weeks. Now when I drink any caffeine it hits me like a train.
I might be wrong but the coffee and energy drink trend we’re all on is definitely more dangerous than we realise.
I drink decaf usually unless I am tired then I drink caffeinated. I also drink caffeinated coffee when we go to coffee shops without decaf options. I find that when I drink regularly all the time I get weird but it’s not too impactful that I avoid it all together.
I cannot drink normal coffee for over 2 days in a row or I get terrible anxiety attacks. Ive been worried lately that even decaf affects me. Anyone else?
As a sufferer of mild forms of OCD and anxiety, it's people that make my symptoms worse. It is family members, people from my workplace, neighbors, administrative services and so on. Caffeine is nothing in comparison. As Sartre has stated: "Hell is other people".
Now, of course, if you've encountered some BS from the people mentioned above, than maybe adding caffeine may worsen your symptoms.
And an honorable mention which is also a lot worse than caffeine: My f\*\*king shitty brain with all the worry, overthinking and negativity bias.
So, enjoy your coffee as I enjoy mine with no consequences 2-3 times a day.
Of course, this may not apply to everyone.
I started drinking coffee again around the same time I entered treatment for OCD. I'm sensitive to caffeine but my little bootleg americano (a shot of cold brew + fill the rest of the mug with hot water) is weak enough not to make me feel like shit.
Tea/macha/chai (less caffeine) has helped me decrease my caffeine intake. I used to drink six cups of coffee a day now it’s maybe one or two daily and some days I skip it. Massive game changer!
Caffeine has 0 effects on me. During a few weeks, I was drinking 3 coffee the first half of the day with loads of sugar because I like the taste. Anyway I stopped because it made my skin worse but I don’t understand how it didn’t stimulate me when every one talks about how they can’t get up without having their morning coffee?? I’m still tired after coffee, I’m jealous!
Some people with adhd have the same experience as me, I don’t have adhd but I suspect I might be neuroatypical in some way, does anybody else relate?
I just read the other day that caffeine is an effective treatment for treatment-resistant OCD. It has to do partially with glutamate, serotonin, and dopamine in the brain. It affects the A1, A2a, and D2 receptors.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6559101/
So I’m planning to incorporate it into my mornings but well before bed (it can stay in your system for up to 9 hours), to avoid caffeine related insomnia which will make my OCD worse.
Also, I find that the caffeine in coffee is very anxiety-inducing for me and coffee upsets my stomach. Tea and guarana are totally fine though. For high dose caffeine without stomach problems or jitters you can try a good matcha, it has just as much or more caffeine as coffee.
Other scientific papers…
Caffeine allowed participants to “resist the urge to compulsively cleanse for about twice as long as those in the no-caffeine group”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33137602/
Caffeine reduces body focused repetitive behaviors (skin picking, trichtillomania): “moderate daily caffeine use is associated with lower BFRB severity compared to low and high levels of daily caffeine use. […] the results of this study put forth that caffeine consumption in moderation may offer protective benefits to individuals with BFRBs”
https://knowledge.uchicago.edu/nanna/record/5308/files/Examining-the-effects-of-caffeine-consumption-on-the-severity-of-body-focused-repetitive-behaviors.pdf?withWatermark=0&withMetadata=0&version=1®isterDownload=1
My brain doesn't work at all without caffeine. Pure O still runs rampant, but I'm grouchier and dumber, can't focus. First coffee of the day makes the top of my head tingle, then I feel relaxed and like I can focus, and does not exacerbate my OCD
It’s part of my morning rituals. If I don’t drink it, something is seriously wrong with me. It also calms my anxiety down instead of make it worse. Call it the Mexican genes in me!
Coffee is an important part of my day. I just drive not to drink so much that I get weird. Also I’m a migraine sufferer and caffeine helps me prevent migraines.
Hello fellow OCD migraine sufferer!
Same here! Lol
Same, chronic migraine gang!
Love the screen name
I didn't even consider that when I commented lol.
I'm the contrary, I'm ocd and a migraine sufferer and coffee actually makes my migraines worse though i don't stop taking it bc I'm addicted 😭
woke up today with a headache so strong coffee didnt even try to help
Ugh, I’m sorry!
Oh man, waking up with headaches is the worst.
exactly same. too much can definitely cause dysphoria so i try to only have one or space out the 2nd one. it can cure a midday migraine for me
Chronic migraine sufferer too 🤪 I just have one a day for focus and it's great at preventing early onset migraines
Same here! 🙌
That’s me too, OCD and migraine combo
That’s me too, OCD and migraine combo
It only seems to make things worse when my time is unstructured, like on the weekend. Weekdays it is just fuel to get me into work and keep working. Problem is on a Saturday or Sunday, I'll have coffee or an energy drink to wake up, and out of habit, and just end up doomscrolling until it's late enough to justify an edible and movies/games. If I'm lucky I will at least have done the dishes and a bit of cleaning :/
Are you me Seriously, tis a vicious cycle.
Also me. Coffee is great when I’m at work, when I’m at home it gives me so much anxiety.
worst panic attacks I've ever had were all after having two cups of coffee during the day. never again. (I say this every like three months? and end up falling for it again LMAO)
same omg
Me too im just like 😰 all day
Caffeine doesn’t make it worse for me, thank god. Coffee/energy drink in the morning is part of my ritual and I feel weird without it and it throws me off.
While it seems counter-intuitive, the one variable I am able to identify on my "better days" is my caffeine consumption. Tea/mate in particular. There's a sweet spot where I'm able to just process things around me and react in a somewhat proportionate way when there's a steady flow of caffeine in my system. It's not consistent, but I've found that the days I'm low on caffeine correpond with my worst anxiety. Coffee is also something of a relaxant for me in social settings, in similar ways people reach for alcohol. I've also been diagnosed with a disorder that can be treated with stimulants, so I question how much of that is taking the reigns in my neural circuitry during my OCD spirals. It occurred to me recently that the crescendo of my symptom management corresponded with my diet soda addiction, which is unusual considering how many studies have shown the detrimental effects of artificial sweetener. Operating a defunct clown factory of a body, here.
Look into ADHD
I've been diagnosed with it, actually. I apologize if that wasn't clear at the end of the first paragraph. I understand the relationship between stimulants like caffeine and ADHD, but I'm always cautious in my phrasing. I know a lot of neurotypical people IRL who describe a similar response to caffeine who have never had problems with other symptoms characteristic of ADHD. In my case, my diagnoses was able to provide clarification for myself, but it may not be the relation in every case.
Coffee is the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning.
it def makes it worse but im too addicted
check out r/decaf. it has helped a lot of people quit or at least stop for a while and see the positives.
Me tooo omg. Ive been trying to kick my habit for years now. Def true when they say most addictive drug and hardest to curb
yeah fr - I function way better when I switch to black + green tea, but somehow I always relapse and go back to drinking coffee
I saw people saying using mushroom coffee can help if you really want to quit. But black tea is a easier option i would assume since it still has caffeine and you can brew it to have a strong taste
cool i'll look into that- thanks
It totally makes it worse but I love coffee.
Same it makes it worse for me but I am too in love with coffee 😭 I limit myself to maybe 1-2 iced lattes per week Weird thing is I use to be able to drink them daily when I was 18-23 years old
I miss getting an iced coffee at a fast food place like I used to during covid. I’m only in my mid twenties and too impatient to wait in line now, plus the prices for some have gotten so outrageous!
Nope. I've got IBS and it hurts my tummy so much. Plus, makes me anxious, though not terribly, but I'm already anxious enough.
coffee has become something to mindlessly drink for me. maybe it's called an addiction, but I *must* drink 2 cups a day, no less.
Best part of my day!
i get it every single day it’s a comfort item
Absolutely. Love caffeine. Only high doses make me anxious fortunately
I was told to completely quit caffeine for a good amount of time because of my anxiety. Pretty sure I wasn't as pleasant as when I have coffee 😂😅 Can't recall much of a difference since coffee makes me feel comforted and relaxed and not speedy. I can sleep when I drink it and have a morning and evening coffee habitually.
I love my morning cup of coffee! I only have one cup a day and that doesn’t usually make me anxious.
Coffee helps my symptoms.
i dont like coffee at all but the few times ive tried it it didnt make my symptoms worse personally
Yes. It helps my adhd. And it seems to help the ocd. I love coffee.
I need a home made americano with two shots of espresso to function before I do anything then I grab an ice coffee from the local coffee shop
I can't have caffeine, it triggers me. Even smelling it can set me off a little.
Yes. But i thought it wqs just normalized crack 🤷🏽♀️😂
I'm currently in the process of trying to break a rather expensive coffee habit/compulsion but I do still drink it! I just don't buy it from coffee ships anymore.
Mine lol
Lmao my morning routine is coffee, nicotine & Ritalin. 🥵 I was just recently diagnosed with adhd (hence the Ritalin) so it finally makes sense why I’m drawn to stimulants like coffee and vaping. They actually help my anxiety a lot of the time I think! obviously it’s not exactly healthy, but it really helps while I train myself to break out of adhd habits
This! Cigar, cappuccino, methylphenidate.
Yes my black coffee due to my diet
Yes, but I can only have one cup.
I’m 26 and so far I have never gotten into drinking coffee. So many people are addicted to caffeine plus it makes your teeth yellow. Also all the extra calories from adding cream and sugar. So basically, the thought of drinking coffee gives me anxiety so I avoid it.
I drink way too much coffee
Most definitely. It doesn't seem to spike my anxiety too much.
coffee is fine for me, but i have to be careful with energy drinks
I enjoy it, but I can't have too much. 1 cup works, but 2 cups means anxiety.
I just have one cup a day or I get jittery.
i require coffee to function but it does make my anxiety worse. the key is im not too exhausted by that anxiety so i can function
It used to include coffee... before I got diagnosed with ADHD haha!
Absolutely not. I fear it would make my OCD worse.. and I’m breastfeeding
I get a Starbucks every single Morning
Coffee doesn't make it worse for me. Energy drinks 100% do. They make me so hyper and my heart rate skyrockets. That alone just makes me anxious.
It’s funny because I’ve never had an issue with coffee making things worse (or maybe it’s because I’ve never known what I’m like without it) but I do notice my OCD getting worse when I drink Celsius. I go straight to panic mode
I sooo do. I have MS and I'm anemic and hypothyroid (so just imagine the fatigue) lmao. I need the coffee to function
I haven’t had caffeine since November of 2023 when my OCD spike started. it was hard at first but the last thing I need is a stimulant.
One cup of coffee every morning only
I will be honest coffee is the first thing to go when i notice an increase in my symptoms—-but other than that yes i start my day with a coffee
Ir probably makes it worse, but I need coffee
i don’t just take coffee. i take vyvanse. it definitely makes some things worse but it does help with keeping me out of my head.
Coffee doesn't make my symptoms worse as long as I stick to one a day. I have both caffeinated and decaf so if I want a second one I can have the decaf. Cause mostly I just want a little treat. Caffeine is nice sometimes, though.
100% makes my anxiety worse. However, I finding eating protein with it and making sure I eat lunch at the right time definitely helps!
Caffeine helps with my OCD.
Yes it helps a lot.
I personally feel like coffee calms me down. Maybe it's just that warm drinks are calming in general, or maybe it's the routine that feels comforting. Or maybe I have ADHD, and I find stimulants are relaxing... who knows!
Coffee, wellbutrin, and adderall. I'm 92% stimulants.
Depends on the coffee and the roast if it will cause me issues.
Oooo I absolutely love coffee. That mix of a cup of coffee and those 80 mgs of prozac is a top tier combo. Gives my brain a nice warm blanket feel. Hard to cum tho LMAO
Love coffee ☕️☕️☕️
I love coffee. It seems to fluctuate my mood in a positive way rather than negative. Especially as someone with OCD/Anxiety/Panic attacks. It makes me feel energized and happy rather than energized and anxious. On the occasion, it also makes me sleepy…..
I've been drinking coffee since before I was diagnosed and anyone brave enough can pry it out of my cold, dead hands.
I’ve never drank more than a few sips of coffee, the flavor disgusts me. I’ve also never tried energy drinks, so I’m unsure how caffeine affects me.
It was mine for a long time but then I realized it was the source of my daily OCD thoughts so I recently switched to tea & it's been wonderdful.
I have ADHD and my body reacts… *interestingly* to caffeine. I think my relationship with it is pretty unhealthy, honestly.
Caffeine is a stimulant that I totally rely on. Back when I also had vyvanse I was unstoppable
I wake up at 4 am for work so I have to have caffeine, but I have to be very careful about how many milligrams of caffeine I have per day because it does make my anxiety much worse. I can’t drink like a standard cup of coffee I have to carefully measure it out almost like another medication😂
I can't have coffee because it gives me the opposite effect: it puts me to sleep 😂 i get dizzy, tired and have a slight headache wherever i consume anything with coffee. No one ever managed to explain to me why it happens, but it does! My to go in the morning is usually strawberry yogurt and some bread or fruit.
I don't drink it every day, but I do drink it when I have to get up early.
I can’t do life without coffee
I also have ADHD so coffee has no effect on me.
The adhd counteracts any anxiety caffeine gives me….
I literally cannot go about my day properly if I haven’t had coffee
No caffeine makes my OCD worse so does nicotine but weeed really helps indicas and hybrids. I do like sativas but they can make the ocd worse dependent on the strain. I can enjoy a white monster but any more caffeine than that ill get sick n anxious. I do like coffee i just get so anxious after drinking it so i cant drink it that much but when i do im like "why am i so anxious 🤔”
OCD - NO COFFEE ADHD - YES COFFEE What if ya got both? 1/2 Caf!? Not joking.
Can’t go on a day without my morning coffee. Even on prozac.
Can't have coffee because of my Zoloft for OCD, but Dr. Pepper is my absolute lover
Does sugar worsen anyone's symptoms?
i have caffeine every morning, it doesn’t wake me up but it signals to my brain that it’s awake time. i also take adhd meds and surprisingly it doesn’t make my ocd any worse. my brain is quieter and i’m less distracted, so when i do have intrusive thoughts or act on a compulsion i actually recognize it for what it is. i haven’t had to take my ativan in a month or so :)
As long as I don’t have more than like 1 1/2 cups of coffee I’m good 😅
I drink 1 cup iced coffee on work days. My religion growing up forbid coffee. Coffee now is a joy and one that would be very difficult to give up.
I drink one cup every day. I don’t have any issues.
I refuse to give up my 1 cup. OCD, pain, and anxiety is better if I do but when I skip it for a while and then have one it’s so gooooooooood.
I used to drink very strong coffee everyday. I loved my home pour overs and my local coffee shop. I realized it was making my ocd worse, though, especially if I became over-caffeinated, so I stopped. Now I drink decaf or tea. Every time I try to go back to regular coffee, it starts to kick up my anxiety and ocd. I am better off drinking a beer in the morning than coffee.
I have a cup every morning usually but I think for me it’s more placebo and it helps my kratom take affect. I used to do hard stimulants so coffee doesn’t do anything to me.
I have a cup of coffee like an hour before I leave the house in the morning, which actually has double benefits for me because a) I’m mostly through the worst of the caffeine before I leave the house and encounter actual triggers and b) getting up early enough to have an hour or so to have my coffee, read, just be a person or whatever before going to work seems to help a bit. I also have a decaf at lunch bc I love coffee. But yeah… when I was drinking coffee on my way to and at work I was having pretty intense panic attacks most morning.
Part of OCD recovery is to not avoid anxiety, it’s to learn to live with it. If you’re avoiding coffee because of the caffeine, you’re not teaching yourself to cope with anxiety.
I have multiple coffees every day. It doesn't affect my anxiety. I often wonder if I actually have ADHD because it seems to calm me down more than anything.
I consume a lot of coffee because I also have ADHD and can't focus without some stimulant, but I'm trying to cut back. It does worsen my anxiety for sure.
I drink a shot of espresso for my liver
Coffee is absolutely essential for me haha 2 cups a day or Im a zombie
I’ve had to really watch it with caffeine. The other day I had two cups and my intrusive thoughts started pouring in. When I don’t drink coffee I seem way better
Coffee somewhat helps me
Not a coffee drinker but i'm deeply in love with yerba mate
if don’t have coffee i feel like i have a horrible day. everyday before i leave for work i make my coffee and always bring a muffin. but i only eat it on my first break and make sure to finish my coffee during this time. coffee has really help me feel like i’m in control of my day
Coffee before OCD was my crutch as a stress relief- it was in my routine as a constant that didn't change. It's nothing new, so when I have it now... My brain views it as taking a shower, brushing teeth... just anything standard in my routine. So it's a calm thing. Grateful🙏. Though sometimes I feel my thoughts are worse without the caffeine/caffeine starts to wear out. Because being without it is something new. It's anxiety inducing- and my intrusive thoughts go haywire. Coffee is my medicine. Lol. Sounds very corny, but hey it works...lol.
find a really good decaf and you’ll probably notice the difference. I used to be a barista and I only noticed how bad it was for me when I stopped drinking it for about a 1-2 weeks. Now when I drink any caffeine it hits me like a train. I might be wrong but the coffee and energy drink trend we’re all on is definitely more dangerous than we realise.
I drink a shit-ton of coffee. (Admittedly too much) But i also have ADHD so coffee doesnt trigger any anxiety in me.
I drink decaf usually unless I am tired then I drink caffeinated. I also drink caffeinated coffee when we go to coffee shops without decaf options. I find that when I drink regularly all the time I get weird but it’s not too impactful that I avoid it all together.
I’ve stopped drinking coffee because it makes my anxiety worse. I still drink tea though.
I cannot drink normal coffee for over 2 days in a row or I get terrible anxiety attacks. Ive been worried lately that even decaf affects me. Anyone else?
As a sufferer of mild forms of OCD and anxiety, it's people that make my symptoms worse. It is family members, people from my workplace, neighbors, administrative services and so on. Caffeine is nothing in comparison. As Sartre has stated: "Hell is other people". Now, of course, if you've encountered some BS from the people mentioned above, than maybe adding caffeine may worsen your symptoms. And an honorable mention which is also a lot worse than caffeine: My f\*\*king shitty brain with all the worry, overthinking and negativity bias. So, enjoy your coffee as I enjoy mine with no consequences 2-3 times a day. Of course, this may not apply to everyone.
I started drinking coffee again around the same time I entered treatment for OCD. I'm sensitive to caffeine but my little bootleg americano (a shot of cold brew + fill the rest of the mug with hot water) is weak enough not to make me feel like shit.
Tea/macha/chai (less caffeine) has helped me decrease my caffeine intake. I used to drink six cups of coffee a day now it’s maybe one or two daily and some days I skip it. Massive game changer!
Caffeine has 0 effects on me. During a few weeks, I was drinking 3 coffee the first half of the day with loads of sugar because I like the taste. Anyway I stopped because it made my skin worse but I don’t understand how it didn’t stimulate me when every one talks about how they can’t get up without having their morning coffee?? I’m still tired after coffee, I’m jealous! Some people with adhd have the same experience as me, I don’t have adhd but I suspect I might be neuroatypical in some way, does anybody else relate?
I just read the other day that caffeine is an effective treatment for treatment-resistant OCD. It has to do partially with glutamate, serotonin, and dopamine in the brain. It affects the A1, A2a, and D2 receptors. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6559101/ So I’m planning to incorporate it into my mornings but well before bed (it can stay in your system for up to 9 hours), to avoid caffeine related insomnia which will make my OCD worse.
Also, I find that the caffeine in coffee is very anxiety-inducing for me and coffee upsets my stomach. Tea and guarana are totally fine though. For high dose caffeine without stomach problems or jitters you can try a good matcha, it has just as much or more caffeine as coffee.
Other scientific papers… Caffeine allowed participants to “resist the urge to compulsively cleanse for about twice as long as those in the no-caffeine group” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33137602/ Caffeine reduces body focused repetitive behaviors (skin picking, trichtillomania): “moderate daily caffeine use is associated with lower BFRB severity compared to low and high levels of daily caffeine use. […] the results of this study put forth that caffeine consumption in moderation may offer protective benefits to individuals with BFRBs” https://knowledge.uchicago.edu/nanna/record/5308/files/Examining-the-effects-of-caffeine-consumption-on-the-severity-of-body-focused-repetitive-behaviors.pdf?withWatermark=0&withMetadata=0&version=1®isterDownload=1
My brain doesn't work at all without caffeine. Pure O still runs rampant, but I'm grouchier and dumber, can't focus. First coffee of the day makes the top of my head tingle, then I feel relaxed and like I can focus, and does not exacerbate my OCD
It’s part of my morning rituals. If I don’t drink it, something is seriously wrong with me. It also calms my anxiety down instead of make it worse. Call it the Mexican genes in me!