Caffeine

You know how some people say the “live on caffeine” or can’t survive without their caffeine fix? I just don’t get that. I mean, I understand how you need your caffeine fix every day or you’ll get a caffeine headache. I just don’t understand how people like living on caffeine.

I try to avoid caffeine as much as I can. I don’t drink any caffeinated beverages. The only caffeine I get comes from decaf coffee, decaf tea, and chocolate. I’m sure you all know this, but decaffeinated coffee/tea still has a little caffeine in it. Literally every time I tell someone I don’t drink caffeine, while drinking decaf coffee, they say, “you know there’s some caffeine in that, right?”. Yes. I know. According to Wikipedia, decaf generally means there is 3% or less of the original amount of caffeine left. And since I never drink full-caf beverages, that little bit of caffeine does affect me. If I’m tired and need a little pick-me-up, a cup of decaf tea has enough caffeine to do the job. So does one sip of caffeinated soda. Which is why I only drink caffeine free diet pepsi:)

Anyway, my one indulgence is Quaker True Delights Dark Chocolate Mocha Hazlenut café squares (long name!). They’re divine. But they have a small amount of ground coffee beans in them, so they have a kick. I generally eat them slowly, savoring each bite, taking about ½ hour to eat one. Not only to make the treat last, but so I don’t get a big jolt of caffeine all at once. Well, today I’m in training at work, so I didn’t have time to dawdle over lunch. By the time I got to dessert, I was in a hurry to get back, so I ate it quickly. The caffeine hit me like a truck and I felt sick. Really sick.

I should mention, Meg had a hard night last night (new teeth and a possible ear infection), so we didn’t get much sleep. I am really tired. And once the caffeine kicked in, I felt like I was being tortured into staying awake. You know when you’re sitting in a lecture or something and you start to fall asleep and your head dips forward? I felt like my head was bobbing forward then being jerked back by my hair (this wasn’t actually happening - at least I’m pretty sure it wasn’t!) I also kind of felt like my eyes were being forced open. My left eye was twitching. I felt kind of like I was going to throw up. I barely made it through the next 2 hours, but by 3:00, all of this was gone. I was still tired, but I felt human again.

Am I the only one who reacts this way to caffeine? Its not always exactly like that, but I always get very jittery. My hands shake. My eye twitches. How do you guys live like this day-to-day? Do the side effects wear off as you get used to it? Do they not happen to you?

P.S. I come from a family of Diet Coke addicts. My mom, dad, sister, and husband all drink at least 2 cans a day.