^End Caffeine Use Before Med School Thread^
Started by Tropicana100
haha i think there are better ways to prevent cancer than drink lots and lots of caffeine.😀
So I guess this is a good time for me to be nerdy about methylxanthine pharmacokinetics since I don't think that caffeine is the bane of society that some people here do: Caffeine (at a dose of 100mg) is completely absorbed from the stomach within 30-60 minutes. The Tmax is 4 hours, and then it's quickly oxidized by cytochrome P450 (what isn't, right? Heyoo!) into paraxanthine, theobromine, and theophylline. Those metabolites, which are still adenosinergic (they'll keep you awake) can stick around for 4-12 hours afterward.
Long story short, drink it early, keep it below 300mg a day (maximum, since this is the dosage at which people start to develop caffeinism), and invest in Folger's, since coffee is the second largest US import (behind oil).
Long story short, drink it early, keep it below 300mg a day (maximum, since this is the dosage at which people start to develop caffeinism), and invest in Folger's, since coffee is the second largest US import (behind oil).
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Just like there are better ways to prevent heart attacks than eliminating essential nutrients from your diet
😀 I was being pretty sarcastic...I am a FIRM believer in everything in moderation...including caffeine. I actually try to avoid the stuff because I have a mild arrhythmia that is exacerbated by too much, but I still like a good Coke every now and then!
I do think that people tend to overdo it though. People at my school go to Starbucks multiple times/day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lacesoutdan
😀 I was being pretty sarcastic...I am a FIRM believer in everything in moderation...including caffeine. I actually try to avoid the stuff because I have a mild arrhythmia that is exacerbated by too much, but I still like a good Coke every now and then!
I do think that people tend to overdo it though. People at my school go to Starbucks multiple times/day.
It's true, it's an expensive habit (which is why it's such a big import). Interestingly, in places like Sweden and The Netherlands, caffeine consumption on average tops 400mg/day.
And my posting thingy is all wonky.
Originally Posted by lacesoutdan
😀 I was being pretty sarcastic...I am a FIRM believer in everything in moderation...including caffeine. I actually try to avoid the stuff because I have a mild arrhythmia that is exacerbated by too much, but I still like a good Coke every now and then!
I do think that people tend to overdo it though. People at my school go to Starbucks multiple times/day.
It's true, it's an expensive habit (which is why it's such a big import). Interestingly, in places like Sweden and The Netherlands, caffeine consumption on average tops 400mg/day.
And my posting thingy is all wonky.
SDN Caffeine Rehab:
Tropicana100 - caffeine free since 1/14/08
DoctorDreamer - caffeine free since summer 2004
Tropicana100 - caffeine free since 1/14/08
DoctorDreamer - caffeine free since summer 2004
wow u guys r giving up caffine...i just started. i'm only a freshman though. i wasnt really big on coffee until this semester. 4 major things happened...
1. I got saddled with 8am classes and a lab 4 days a week
2. I got a job
3. I joined the honors college
and
4. MY SCHOOL GOT A LATTE MACHINE!!! muahahaha!
1. I got saddled with 8am classes and a lab 4 days a week
2. I got a job
3. I joined the honors college
and
4. MY SCHOOL GOT A LATTE MACHINE!!! muahahaha!
wow u guys r giving up caffine...i just started. i'm only a freshman though. i wasnt really big on coffee until this semester. 4 major things happened...
1. I got saddled with 8am classes and a lab 4 days a week
2. I got a job
3. I joined the honors college
and
4. MY SCHOOL GOT A LATTE MACHINE!!! muahahaha!
Starbucks was part of my meal plan in college...man, that was awesome. "Free" lattes whenever I wanted them.
I finally caved a bought a coffee maker this year. I'm slowly becoming dependent....it's not good.
And I'm so not participating in this thread's goals. I need coffee! Or, at least, I need it like 3 days a week!
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free starbucks...that IS awesome. i used to always make my bf buy it for me. it kinda shows how much we need caffine that our coffee machine is almost always empty. luckily since i have those 8am's i'm always first to get my fix.
SDN Caffeine Rehab:
Tropicana100 - caffeine free since 1/14/08
DoctorDreamer - caffeine free since summer 2004
Depakote- caffeine free since sping 2004
Tropicana100 - caffeine free since 1/14/08
DoctorDreamer - caffeine free since summer 2004
Depakote- caffeine free since sping 2004
i had major withdrawal last night. i felt like my head was splitting open so i went to bed at 9:30 and got up at 7am. now i feel great. i didn't even bother with the decaf this morning. Day 3 and i'm doing awesome!
+1👍
I've entertained the thought of snorting it or injecting it directly into my eyes on occasion...
Just like alcohol and food....everything in moderation. 😎
You're nuts. Caffeine is one of the greatest drugs ever, perhaps second to nicotine. It energizes, makes one more sociable and confident, helps concentration; it has absolutely no significant health risks associated. A life on caffeine and nicotine is surely the richest life of all. If cigarettes wouldn't kill me, I'd still be smoking them today, and if caffeine didn't disrupt my sleep, I would drink coffee and Monsters all day.
true. i always thought you can't drink too much water. until i heard the story of a lady who died from drinking too much water trying to win a video game console for her kid.
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Caffeine is great. In fact, I sleep during the day and am up at night. I get much more studying done when everyone is asleep.
Yeah...It was on a radio show and it was called "Hold Your Wee For A Wii".
There's quite a few studies about people working the night shift (kinda like you) and serious health problems, like hugely increased risk of heart disease and cancer.
As soon as I read that I couldn't stop laughing. Where did you hear this?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16614865/
I heard clips of the show on Opie and Anthony when it happened. It was pretty twisted. The hosts were egging her on to drink more and making fun of her. Then a nurse called the show to tell them it was dangerous and they basically laughed it off. The DJs and all of the station's management got fired and they're being sued.
there is no way i could give up coffee. i'm up to drinking like 5 cups a day. big cups. such an amazing and wonderful drug
NOOOOO! I gave in. 🙁 i'm drinking a double latte right now. (no caffeine since monday). the headache's just too unbearable. you guys were right about going cold turkey. i think i need take to slow.
I am starting to buy Monster M-80s before every morning. I wake up 15 minutes early, drink half a Monster, hit snooze, and go back to sleep. After the snooze wakes me up again, I am rearing to go, and I slowly drink the Monster on the way to class/volunteering. Monster is far better than coffee, and it lasts a very long time. I thought I was doomed not to be a morning person, but this morning, I was the most morning person of anyone I met.
interesting haha. a Monster M-80 is like taking 2 redbulls. better buy in bulk if you do this long term.
LOL!!!
Didn't you start the thread? Good try, my friend. I knew I couldn't make it, so I didn't sign up.Green tea forever!!!
BTW...enjoy the latte...👍
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I get free Monster since I live in the same house as my schools' campus representative. The M-80's and new coffee-flavored Monster Java are pretty good, but I think straight coffee does the trick for me alot better than Monster but that might be because I tend to only drink coffee when I need it to study for longer which is like once or twice a month. That'll probably change in the fall...
LOL!!!
Green tea forever!!!
BTW...enjoy the latte...👍
haha yeah i thought mind over matter 😛 oh well i feel pretty good right now after that latte. if at first you don't succeed...
several things:
- I love coffee and I plan on wallowing in my addiction in med school.
- Starbucks . . . I know I should hate it, but guess what? I don't. I love it. The same cup of coffee no matter where you are, that's reliability.
- Dunkin Donuts . . . Amazing iced coffee, better than Starbucks.
- If not for the the calories (I like half and half and sugar), I would drink coffee 5 times a day.
- Energy drinks - too many calories and don't really like the sugar rush. Sugar-free Red Bull is okay, but I have to be in the mood to drink it.
No reason to quit drinking coffee. I've read it has many good benefits 🙂
I used to be like you. In fact, I but months ago proposed and articulated a both a priori and empirical argument for the use of coffee over such inferior caffeinated beverages as energy drinks. Needless to say, I have converted; I was naive, and I now realize the superiority of energy drinks over so-called "coffee."
True that. Next grocery trip, I am going to be buying several 12 packs.
I feel the same about Starbucks.. i get the same thing every day.. sugar-free vanilla soy latte (low cal + protein!) haha... riiiiight....
haha, keep telling yourself that. but dude that's a lot of cash on coffee!
but hey, whatever, their sugar-free non-fat gingerbread latte got me through finals. good stuff (well, healthier version of the good stuff at least).
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i don't drink it everyday, but when you're travelling it's nice to know you rely on starbucks to get you the coffee you want.
anyways, now that the holidays are over, i'm sad that i will no longer be drinking my non-fat peppermint mocha. 🙁
I gave up all caffeine and soda the spring before I started med school. Then, a month or so later I started having palpitations/jumping in my chest that apparently turned out to be runs of premature ventricular contractions. It continued for a couple weeks until i went on beta blockers. Then I weaned myself off the beta blockers during the summer. When I started med school that fall, the PVCs returned. I started drinking caffeine again to survive the horror of biochem....and the PVCs went away. I rarely have them now. And I drink a lot of coffee every morning now.
so the moral of the story is:
no caffeine = heart arrhythmia
srsly.
so the moral of the story is:
no caffeine = heart arrhythmia
srsly.
Blasphemy. You are going to give yourself the diabetes with all that sugar.
In any case this dunkin donuts blend is so much better than folgers. Tasty.
I can't live without caffeine right now. I am mostly functioning on caffeine. I stayed up till 3am studying for biology/chemistry and got up at 7am to go to school/review.. I feel like I am asleep right now but d-Pepsi helped A LOT!
you can still order it, even if it isn't on the menu! just ask for a mocha with a shot of peppermint 🙂
(although I can't figure out what was in the gingerbread latte, so I'll have to wait until Oct/Nov to have another one, sadly)
umm, consider coming off of caffeine like coming off of any other drug....
you will have developed a dependency and the headaches (migraines) you're experiencing are symptoms of withdrawal.
I would begin reducing the intake of caffeine by about half a cup of coffee a day. So lets say you drink 5 cups of coffee a day; you would drink 4.5 cups instead. The next day you would drink 4...and so on.
A gradual waning off of caffeine (in whatever form you are ingesting it in--coffee, energy drinks, pill) will result in less painful symptoms.
🙂
matt
you will have developed a dependency and the headaches (migraines) you're experiencing are symptoms of withdrawal.
I would begin reducing the intake of caffeine by about half a cup of coffee a day. So lets say you drink 5 cups of coffee a day; you would drink 4.5 cups instead. The next day you would drink 4...and so on.
A gradual waning off of caffeine (in whatever form you are ingesting it in--coffee, energy drinks, pill) will result in less painful symptoms.
🙂
matt
thanks for the tips. i used to have 2 lattes a day and maybe a coke or two. i'm going to start off by reducing my habit to one cup of coffee in the morning only and avoiding any caffeine after 12pm. stopping altogether all of a sudden was quite impossible for me.
i guess ending caffeine all together might not be the best thing. i think a coffee in the morning is ok. Caffeine probably disrupts your sleep cycle only if you take it in the afternoon/night. i think i should have called this thread "Limit Caffeine Intake Before Med School Thread." My dad told me this morning: "Coffee is one of the greatest things about life. Live a little."
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