Hmmmm.

[e_juliana]

I think I might need to stop drinking coffee. This induces panic in me, making me wonder how I'm going to stay awake through my workday. However, the physiological effects are starting to take their toll - I can feel my muscles bunching and trying to pull away from the bone as I finish my second cup. That area in my chest that tightens whenever I haven't eaten enough/am too stressed/whatever - the place that makes it feel like I have rebar sticking through my torso and/or am having a heart attack - that's playing up, too.

It's not like the servings are huge, either. I take in probably 12 oz. of coffee total, and always before 10 a.m., else I can't sleep at night. This is ridiculous.

But the muscle bunching? So not fun. I'll try cutting down first, see if that works.


Eh. It's a small thing in the grand scheme of things.

Comments

[fiorituranotte.livejournal.com]

Do you like tea? My body can't take coffee most of the time, but tea's caffeine doesn't hit the body as fast (Alton Brown backs me up on this).

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

No, hence my problem. I don't like the tannins and the aftertaste stays with me forever.

Sodas do the same thing to me that coffee does. I may have to give up caffeine in total. The horror!

[debg.livejournal.com]

What about a small amount of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, to deliver small amounts of caffeine as a pick me up? Alice developed your caffeine reaction in her forties, but she can still do the small amounts of chocolate.

Oh! Question: I'm doing a dessert for Saturday night, obviously. Chocolate cherry or cinnamon savarin?

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

Hrm. The choc idea might work.

And I saw elsewhere that you're doing both? Awesome.

[debg.livejournal.com]

Yep, both.

[fiorituranotte.livejournal.com]

Not to be pushy, but have you tried real tea? Like a nice loose leaf blend rather than the cheap tea bag version? Maybe you could find an herbal blend that you like so that you can at least have the hot cup of something in the morning without the caffeine.

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

It's less the hot stuff in the morning and more the "OMG am so tired need to prop up my eyelids w/a toothpick" that's driving the coffee consumption.

S'okay. Thank you, though!

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

You poor girl. I'm starting to come to the same conclusion; thankfully, I like tea, so that may be the route I take.

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I think my mother wonders where I came from. She loves the country, drinks tea like it's going out of style, doesn't swear.... All of the things I'm so very much not.

[smonsterbite.livejournal.com]

I have the same problems. Knots in my back, thudding heart, and it's always a toss-up whether I'll be hyper and productive or just freaking out anxious.

I've shifted to decaf unless I REALLY need the kickstart.

Try half-caff?

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

We are like unto two peas in a pod.

WHY HAS PADDYWHACK ALLOWED THE BEAN JUICE TO BETRAY US???

[smonsterbite.livejournal.com]

Seriously, you are the only other person I know who gets the muscle knot thing. I tell people that (including doctors) and they look at me like some kind of freak, like I'm making it up. And I'm like, "Dude, my body, I keep checking and yup, same damn thing every time."

WHY HAS PADDYWHACK ALLOWED THE BEAN JUICE TO BETRAY US???

I know not, and yet, in the deepest part of me, I sense that there must be a reason, that we must have some kind of higher beverage calling...

PADDYWHACK SOOTHES YOUR CAFFEINE-INDUCED WOES. HE ALSO GIVES GREAT BACK RUBS. PADDYWHACK IS A FULL-SERVICE DEITY.