are caffeine pills bad?

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i've been taking caffeine pills (200 mg/pill) lately to keep me awake while i study, and it's been working well. when should i quit?
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i've been doing that too... just wondering if anyone knows if it's necessarily that "bad" for you... people tell me that... but alot of people have at least a cup of coffee a day and nothing's wrong with them... is there anything different with caffeine pills?
 
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well i guess, just as coffee it casn make you addixctive or wreck your stomach but on short term, i really wouldn't worry about it.

To the OP, i would not stop taking it now if you are well adjusted to it. It can really screw up your system before the exam if you start changing your routine now.
 
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yeah that was i was thinking too... short term shouldn't be too bad... and he's right don't do anything different to your body that you have been doing for the past 2 months... it's too soon to change...
 
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Well, comparitavely how many mg are in an average cup of coffee?
 
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In that case I would be extremely cautious. According to the information Pyscho has provided, every pill you take is about the equivalent of 2 cups of coffee. One tab a day, although probably not the best thing for you, shouldn't harm you. Once you start exceeding 2 tabs a day, your heart rate probably sky rockets. Hey I'm just wondering, anyone remember that soda jolt? How much advertised caffeine was in that?
 
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I didn't read that link, but I also take caffeine pills occasionally; I only take them as indicated (one pill every 3-4 hours), and only when I have to pull all-nighters (which is usually once every 2-3 weeks, and about 3 times/week during finals week :p).

On the bottle, it says that each pill contains 200mg of caffeine, or "about the same as one cup of coffee"; if, in fact, it is more like two cups of coffee per pill, how can they get away with providing such misleading and potentially dangerous information?
 
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supplements are not heavily regulated and that information is subjective.

CJMPre-Med said:
in fact, it is more like two cups of coffee per pill, how can they get away with providing such misleading and potentially dangerous information?
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stoleyerscrubz said:
supplements are not heavily regulated and that information is subjective.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that a product as visible and well-known as "Vivarin" is allowed to get away with some sort of lying about their product? How can the info be "subjective"? Is there really that much of a difference in caffeine content between different brands of coffee? If not, why not just brew a pot, take a cup, and measure the amount of caffeine? Doesn't make sense...

I'm not being argumentative or anything, I'm just curious as to how they can get away with something like this if it's true.
 
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im taking Savon's "Stay Awake" generic caffeine pills.. it says "200 mg Caffeine... equal to about TWO cups of coffee." it doesn't say one cup on mine. anyway, i took one this morning at 7am... and i took another at 7pm cuz i got sleepy. AHHHHH!!!!! when would be a good time to quit? should i take it every day till the mcat, or quit this weekend? :eek:
 
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synapse said:
im taking Savon's "Stay Awake" generic caffeine pills.. it says "200 mg Caffeine... equal to about TWO cups of coffee." it doesn't say one cup on mine. anyway, i took one this morning at 7am... and i took another at 7pm cuz i got sleepy. AHHHHH!!!!! when would be a good time to quit? should i take it every day till the mcat, or quit this weekend? :eek:
Click to expand...

Whoa, weird. Because both Vivarin and No-Doze (I have them right here) display the same 200mg of caffeine in the listing, but in the text say that it is equivalent to one cup of coffee. Skullduggery is afoot! :p
 
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Depends what kind of coffee. I tried Wakeups which are 100mg and I read somewhere (can't remember the site), that a regular cup of starbucks coffee is 106mg. But what size exactly is 'regular'.
 
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CJMPre-Med said:
I didn't read that link, but I also take caffeine pills occasionally; I only take them as indicated (one pill every 3-4 hours), and only when I have to pull all-nighters (which is usually once every 2-3 weeks, and about 3 times/week during finals week :p).

On the bottle, it says that each pill contains 200mg of caffeine, or "about the same as one cup of coffee"; if, in fact, it is more like two cups of coffee per pill, how can they get away with providing such misleading and potentially dangerous information?
Click to expand...

GEEZ CJM!!! i thought i took to many! i've been takin once a day for the past 1.5 months... and during finals week i took quite a bit too... last quarter i slept 7 hours in 4 days during finals week... once every 3-4 hours is alot isn't it? that's what i did during finals and i was wwwiiirrreeeddd... and that's every 10+ weeks! you do it every 2-3 weeks! WOW! haha

so all in all... after all this debate... caffeine pills aren't THAT bad right? i mean as long as you don't get addicted to them and use them ocassionally i guess... not every day for all 4 years of undergrad and 4 years of med school hopefully!
 
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CJMPre-Med said:
Whoa, weird. Because both Vivarin and No-Doze (I have them right here) display the same 200mg of caffeine in the listing, but in the text say that it is equivalent to one cup of coffee. Skullduggery is afoot! :p
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I bet that it may have to do with the fact that one cup of coffee probably has around 100 mg of caffeine (see: http://coffeefaq.com/caffaq.html). Their definition of a cup is 7 oz (probably leaving 1 oz for sugar and cream), and they claim that depending on brewing method and coffee type, a cup can contain anywhere between 80-175 mg per 7 oz. To confuse things even more, a "cup" that most people drink is probably at least 16 ounces, and therefore has at lease twice as much caffeine as quoted above. So, it's really just a matter of what kind of cup, as well as what kind of coffee and brewing methods. So, 100 or 200 mg of caffeine could easily be the equivalent to a "cup" of coffee.
 
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This is what i meant. There are many ways to make "one cup" equal 200mg


ken37 said:
I bet that it may have to do with the fact that one cup of coffee probably has around 100 mg of caffeine (see: http://coffeefaq.com/caffaq.html). Their definition of a cup is 7 oz (probably leaving 1 oz for sugar and cream), and they claim that depending on brewing method and coffee type, a cup can contain anywhere between 80-175 mg per 7 oz. To confuse things even more, a "cup" that most people drink is probably at least 16 ounces, and therefore has at lease twice as much caffeine as quoted above. So, it's really just a matter of what kind of cup, as well as what kind of coffee and brewing methods. So, 100 or 200 mg of caffeine could easily be the equivalent to a "cup" of coffee.
Click to expand...
 
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DrJohnSez said:
GEEZ CJM!!! i thought i took to many! i've been takin once a day for the past 1.5 months... and during finals week i took quite a bit too... last quarter i slept 7 hours in 4 days during finals week... once every 3-4 hours is alot isn't it? that's what i did during finals and i was wwwiiirrreeeddd... and that's every 10+ weeks! you do it every 2-3 weeks! WOW! haha

so all in all... after all this debate... caffeine pills aren't THAT bad right? i mean as long as you don't get addicted to them and use them ocassionally i guess... not every day for all 4 years of undergrad and 4 years of med school hopefully!
Click to expand...

Actually, I use them once every 3-4 weeks usually when I have to pull an all-nighter, and about 3 times/week during Finals to stay up all night as well. I'm a procrastinator, so they help bail my sorry butt out of some tight jams. :p

I've never felt "wired" at all from them (hell, they barely keep me awake), though I drink a LOT of soda (caffeinated), so that's probably why it doesn't affect me as much as it does you; you're likely not a big soda/coffee drinker in general, and so are not as desensitized as I am to the effects of the caffeine.


Ken37, thanks for the explanation about the coffee stuff. :)
 
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i wouldn't be against taking them for late night studying, but i don't see their benefits while taking an exam.
 
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