Caffeine addiction

Caffeine is a drug, it is a stimulant and it is a highly addictive substance and along with nicotine and alcohol, is one of the most commonly used drugs worldwide. Caffeine is a xanthine alkaloid. Its effects are mediated not only by the mesolimbic dopaminergic system but also by its ability to block adenosine receptors in the CNS. Endogenous adenosine has sedative, anxiolytic and anticonvulsant effects which are blocked by caffeine.

 About 10 billion pounds of coffee are consumed yearly throughout the world.

Low to moderate doses (30–200 mg/d) tend to improve some aspects of performance (eg, vigilance). The approximate content of caffeine in a (180-mL) cup of beverage is as follows: brewed coffee, 80–140 mg; instant coffee, 60–100 mg; decaffeinated coffee, 1–6 mg; black leaf tea, 30–80 mg; tea bags, 25–75 mg; instant tea, 30–60 mg; cocoa, 10–50 mg; and 12-oz cola drinks, 30–65 mg. A 2-oz chocolate candy bar has about 20 mg. Some herbal teas (eg, "morning thunder") contain caffeine. Caffeine-containing analgesics usually contain approximately 30 mg per unit. Symptoms of caffeinism (usually associated with ingestion of over 500 mg/d) include anxiety, agitation, restlessness, insomnia, a feeling of being "wired and somatic symptoms referable to the heart and gastrointestinal tract. It is common for a case of caffeinism to present as an anxiety disorder. It is also common for caffeine and other stimulants to precipitate severe symptoms in compensated schizophrenic and manic-depressive patients. Chronically depressed patients often use caffeine drinks as self-medication. This diagnostic clue may help distinguish some major affective disorders. Withdrawal from caffeine (> 250 mg/d) can produce headaches, irritability, lethargy, and occasional nausea.

Physical and psychological addiction can result from excessive caffeine intake. It is now termed as one of the fatal addictions because it is playing a major role in fabricating most of the heart and bones’ diseases. In an interview, Roland Griffiths, a professor in the departments of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said that studies had demonstrated that people who take in a minimum of 100 mg of caffeine per day (about the amount in one cup of coffee) can acquire a physical dependence that would trigger withdrawal symptoms that include headaches, muscle pain and stiffness, lethargy, nausea, vomiting, depressed mood, and marked irritability. Continued exposure to caffeine will lead the body to create more adenosine receptors in the central nervous system which makes it more sensitive to the effects of adenosine in two ways. Firstly, it will reduce the stimulatory effects of caffeine by increasing tolerance. Secondly, it will increase the withdrawal symptoms of caffeine as the body will be more sensitive to the effects of adenosine once caffeine intake stops. Caffeine tolerance develops very quickly. Tolerance to the sleep disruption effects of caffeine were seen after consumption of 400 mg of caffeine 3 times a day for 7 days, whereas complete tolerance was observed after consumption of 300 mg 3 times a day for 18 days.

In all the American and European states special counseling center have been developed to treat caffeine addiction and caffeine withdrawl as their fast paced environment is more prone to it. An institution Holistic Addiction Treatment Program not only cures other addictions but has started treating this addiction as well.

Caffeine addiction, if unwrapped to brutality causes different cancers. Thus, a timely diagnosis of this (so-called) disease is very important for one’s successful recovery and prevention from any fatal disease. Most of us don’t even know that even non-caffeinated products do contain some sorts of stimulants which can turn a normal person into an addict.

Withdrawal symptoms begin 12 to 24 hours after the last caffeine intake and become most severe after a couple of days. The symptoms die away over two to nine days:

Headache, Fatigue or drowsiness, Depressed or irritable moods, Anxiety, Difficulty in concentrating, Work difficulty, Nausea, Muscle pain or stiffness, Reduction in physical and cognitive ability.

Removing Caffeine Addiction can be problematic.  Because caffeine can cause both Chemical and  Psychological addiction patterns.