YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Hi all,

I've been on anti-depressants for most of the last 18 years (since I was 20). I'm high-functioning while I'm on them, but just ... not great. I'm still irritable and not the happiest person. I get easily frustrated by people at work and I feel like I pass most days in a sort of fog.

Last week I started drinking coffee for the first time. It made the day go by so much more quickly and easily, and I can actually be friendly with people without a huge effort. I feel kind of "naughty" about this though ... like if I need that kind of pick-me-up then maybe I should up my dose of Zoloft. I haven't talked to my doctor about it yet. I do remember that before I started taking meds I used to drink lots of mountain dew to make it through a shift at the video store and not collapse whenever anyone tried to talk to me.

Does anyone else use caffeine to supplement their meds and make life feel a little more real?

I'm in a similar boat. I drink a Red Bull and a couple cups of coffee a day and it does improve my mood and focus. Also it's a lot cheaper and less "speedy" than the Adderal I was given by a shrink years ago. If it works for you, why not go with it (assuming it doesn't develop into some compulsive 10 cups-a-day habit-type thing).

I abuse caffeine in an attempt to not sleep 18 hours a day!

Michigoose wrote:Does anyone else use caffeine to supplement their meds and make life feel a little more real?

I used to consume a lot of caffeine in college, but don't touch the stuff now because in the long-term it causes me more harm than good. Although caffeine will make you feel better for a few hours, once you adjust to its effects, I doubt it will help much with depression overall. If you are like me, increased anxiety and sleeplessness may even make depression worse. The good thing is that caffeine addiction is relatively easy to break, so you risk little by trying it.

Hell yes. I am guilty of drinking unholy amounts of Red Bull and Diet Coke every day just to retain basic mental functions. This is on top of all my meds (which are mild amphetamines in and of themselves), so I expect my heart will explode out of my chest and run off screaming any day now. Hahaha.

I require a ton of caffeine just to get up and running each day (and to stave off the suicidal depression that comes with having too much blood in my caffeine system), but it is definitely very bad for the old anxiety. Each day is basically a constant balancing act between being exhausted and de-energised vs. anxietying myself to death (and the dehydration...oh, the dehydration!). On the upside...it makes me thankful I never got into meth or some other dangerous stimulant, because I would be an absolute goner. :/

In summation: I'd love to be rid of this stupid addiction, but chances are that someday, some loved one of mine sitting at my deathbed will have to pry a Red Bull can from my cold, dead hands.

I've never been a coffee drinker either, so when I tried it for the first time last year the effect was incredible. I'm definitely afraid of getting addicted to it, though.

I didn't mention it to my psychiatrist, but I did bring it up with my therapist -- she said a big component of it is probably the fact that I have to go to a coffee shop to get my drink and forcing myself to go out and interact with people bring my mood up naturally. This makes a lot of sense for me, since I've drank Red Bull to stay up late for papers/exams and never got the same effect.

I drink up to 32 oz of Red Bull a day, mostly to keep me awake and pleasant at work and to stop my insomnia from showing. My psychiatrist keeps telling me it's not good for my anxiety and I need to stop so we can see if I have fewer panic attacks without it, but I've found that going without it actually makes my panic worse, because now I feel stuck at work, the day is dragging, I'm sleepy and sad, and I start to feel trapped, which leads to panic. The energy boost really does help my mood. I just wish there was a way to get the same effect in the evenings without making my insomnia worse because I'm so much more depressed in the evenings. I can be a normal person during the day with work and my kid to distract me from myself. But at night, when it's just me and the TV reminding me that it's my only friend, it can get bad.

Weird thing is, I can't even handle two small cups of coffee. I rarely drink it because it takes too much doctoring to make it taste good, but when I do, my heart races, my hands shake, I get that cold sweat feeling. Not sure what makes coffee's caffeine so different from Red Bull's, but it's definitely different.

Before I started taking meds for my ADD... I was SUPER addicted to 5 hour energy. I was buying them from the gas station, BOXES at a time. You should have seen the looks I got. I was downing at least a couple of them everyday just to function.

I'm off the 5 hour now, but I still drink a cup of coffee even though I really shouldn't on top of the Concerta... But it really seems to help me stay positive in the morning, and then the Concerta keeps me level through-out of the rest of the day when the coffee wears down.

As others have stated, it can help in the short-term. I drink 2 to 3 cups a day. 2 in the morning, and one in the afternoon. I don't drink any other soda or caffeine. I drink it because I love the taste, and on cold days its a great way to warm you up.

If you read the teachings of Doctor Daniel Amen, anything that restricts blood-flow should be avoided or minimized. He does a lot of brain scans (Google SPECT) and although he is out to earn money (who isn't), I find his advice scientifically sound.

I was once advised by my CBT therapist to cut my coffee intake right back from around 10 cups a day to 4. Its was very hard but I managed it although I can't say it helped. Her basis for advising that is caffeine is shown to be a factor in stress and stress levels can affect depression.

That was about 6-8 years ag, now I'm back to 10ish cups a day! I blame working in IT.