Less nicotine. Does that mean less caffeine?

Smoking:
I’ve gone from a pack a day to three a day and I’m holding. Now that I only smoke three a day, I notice my coffee intake does odd things to my head. After my second cup of coffee, my spelling and comprehension goes out the window. I have to look up words that I KNOW I can spell. My typing mistakes are more abundant. I really have to slow down. I’ve been typing things on word and then copy/ pasting so I can use the spell check. I have to double check word context like “there and their” for example. I know this… But I can really feel it slipping after the second cup. Odd.

Since my nicotine has dropped, I’m guessing I can’t handle the same level of Caffeine either. Bitter sweet, because I love that second cup of coffee. Oh well, more tea for me.

Any ideas?

2 Likes

Thank you for this. At least it’s not med related.

I’ve heard that the coffee can only be good if you drank one cup, the second one is usually doing harm, I noticed that as well, two cups seems too much for my body handle, I don’t smoke though :no_smoking:

heres some advice that is grounded in my education; caffeine is a dopamine agonist, which means it increases the flow of dopamine. dopamine is associated with psychotic symptoms, and I know that too much caffeine can make me crazy. Also, the blood level of some medications are either raised or lowered by nicotine. It depends on the medication. Psychiatrists should know how much coffee and cigarettes you consume.

I smoke about ten cigs a day and drink caffeine 2-3 times a day. It agrees with my medications. I am on Geodon (ziprasidone), and I remember my doc telling me that I should give him a heads up if I wish to quit smoking.

1 Like

I could not start my day without caffeine and so I have prepared my coffee maker already now for my morning coffee, I do it always. I do not drink coffee in the evenings so that I can sleep. I had this smoking habit years ago, maybe one pack a day, but I dropped it. In Finland it is expensive to smoke, which is why people go to Estionia and Russia to buy tobacco, but there are limits how much they can import. I would love to taste some coffee such as Blue Mountain, but because I am poor I buy coffee in Lidl, it is cheap there. I actually believe my habit to drink some espresso and other strong coffees in 1999 contibuted to my sz. I do not go any restaurants, because I must save money, coffee costs in ABC 2 euros, the price of the pack of coffee in Lidl almost that.

Thank you for this. I gave my doc the heads up. I really hope less nicotine means lower doses of meds.

This caffeine thing is very new. I guess the nicotine levels are low enough that the body is finally noticing.

I’ll cut back on the coffee and talk to the doc in a week. At least everything else is still functioning.

sounds good. Psychiatry is sort of an art and a science, my doctor tells me. He even said that experience is what makes him effective and that the textbooks in med school were childs play compared to internships and experience he’s had.

1 Like

i remember a catholic priest in a session about retreats and inner inspections, he pointed out that he know himself, and caffeine is a problem.
I once read that there are some schizophrenics who shouldn’t be given a drop of caffeine, that it sends them into a heaven that it’s hard to get them down from, well, I knew the minute I read that that I;ve always been one of those.
My point was, initially, dude, tea, coffee, nicoteen, it’s all the same thing, if you’re gonna wean yourself gradually then I can relate, but it’s all cultivating death, well it’s cultivating yin over yang but at some point in an unbalanced lifestyle it’s just purely cultivating death, all of it. What about yang, what bout sitting out under the sun or the moon and asking it for the mysterious substance that really is what our psyche needs to be inspired, i mean i cultivate death, i think it’s great for bringing order to life, but only on occasion, think that’s why they invented holidays and festivals, to contain the intense yin fire to a small part of the yang reservoir, but I noticed in america now it’s always time to party, and i was wondering if you have to live on the moon or something now if you want a day that is not a festive holiday occasion to actually occur. Actually, I just go to the zoo, it’s all NOT happenin at the zoo, that’s why i go, meditative live a cathedral, but with god showing up in person for irrational calisthenics - the Baird’s tapir is teaches immortalism, doesn’t like to let his genome evolve forward on the timescale!

Before I started meds, caffeine sent me over the edge and made me more psychotic. Now I drink about 300mg of it a day and I sleep fine. My meds cause some sedation.

I don’t drink caffeine much after 9 am anymore. Insomnia :smile: I have decaf coffee too so if you really want one try decaffeinated coffee. Also be careful of tea. I think it has as much caffeine as coffee. I drink herbal tea, it says on the packaging caffeine free. Good luck on a lower dose.