Reflections on the puddle of life

Since you are one of the funniest people I know (that's funny-ha-ha as distinct from funny dangerous), I trust you won't mind if I add to your most informative disquisition one further fact re caffeine:

which is the tendency amongst those who withdraw from it to become addicted to talking about their former addiction! (See: Lapsed Catholics and their fascination with their ex-religion!)

I don't know if you know, but painkillers contain caffiene. That's part of how they work.

Oh and what's with your breasts and caffiene? You've got my wicked imagination going, wondering what happens to women's breasts when they have a cup of coffee. Seriously I've never heard caffiene can lead to breast cancer.

I have gone back and forth on caffiene over the years. I am apparently more sensitive to it than others. Even a cup in the morning will limit my sleep that night. And so I've tried to give up and have. But then i read about the health benefits of caffiene and when I evaluated the benefits versus the negatives I came to the conclusion that the benefits out weigh the negatives. You can read about the benefits here: http://health.howstuffworks.com/caffeine5.htm.

Now frankly I need a cup in the morning when I go to work. And I do enjoy a good cup, though I guess a decaf tastes the same. You should see the men in Italy with their espressos. They must have three or four shots of espresso per day.

Good luck to you Fifth. Coming off of caffine is actually worse that quitting smoking. Having done both, several times, it is by far the worst. I find it a little odd that caffine is one of the most addictive drugs known to man, and yet people worry about smoking a little grass *shrugs* I don't get it, but I do love my caffine. I've been thinking of cutting it out again myself, and I'm not looking foward to it. Much Love, Meg

yeah, I tried to give up caffeine, but the headaches were more than I could bear. And what about breasts and caffeine? Now I'm worried.

Actually you reminded me of a novel I read a few years ago by Mark Helprin, Memoir from Antproof Case. Here's a blurb from the publisher:

An old American who lives in Brazil is writing his memoirs. An English teacher at the navel academy, he is married to a woman young enough to be his daughter and has a little son whom he loves. He sits in a mountain garden in Niteroi, overlooking the ocean, and carries with him a Walther P-88. As he reminisces and writes, placing the pages carefully in his antproof case, we learn that he was a World War II ace who was shot down twice; an investment banker who met with popes and presidents; a multimillionaire; and a man who was never not in love. He was the thief of the century, a murderer, and a protector of the innocent. In his adolescence he spent years in an insane asylum in Switzerland. And all his life, he waged a valiant, losing, one-man battle against the world's most insidious enslaver: coffee. Mark Helprin's astounding prose combines adventure, satire, flights of transcendence, and high comedy with vivid and poignant memories of a Hudson Valley and New York City that no longer exist.

http://www.wutheringbites.com/Read/b...asp?BookID=654

And while Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for Memoir from Antproof Case, it does say this under the entry for Mark Helprin: "Memoir from Antproof Case, published in 1995, includes a long comic diatribe against the effects of coffee." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Helprin.

By the way, I've only read Memoir by Helprin so I can't gage the quality of his novels, but he writes some of the best prose around.

I suffer from Migraine and my doctor told me to give up caffeine so I did cold turkey - not my best ever idea let me tell you. I drink decafe most of the time now although I always have one "real' coffee when I get to work.

Virgil my boss is Italian and decafe is apparantly a really rude word

Fifth good luck with giving up caffeine you will feel better for it in the long run - I can not however say that your breasts will

Take Care
Jo

Well, thanks for the warning! My form teacher always used to lecture us on how caffeine makes you fat, and that pretty much put me off drinking too much with it in. My family and I are on a mostly additive-free diet, so we generally stay away from fizzy drinks, but when I have long assignments or a long day, I'll have a cup of coffee. I have friends who already at the age of 16 can't go a day without coffee! Either that or one of those energy drinks. Generally I stick to tea, drinking green tea, chrysanthemum tea or rooibos tea, and I think I'll keep it that way

Thanks everyone!
Prince, yes you're right of course! It's wearing off now (no headache today. Yippee!) but I had this compulsive urge to purge myself of all the bad evil feelings towards caffeine that have built up over the past few days. Once I'm off it, I'm off it for good this time!
Hey Virgil not all painkillers contain caffeine, at least not in UK anyway, and they're labelled pretty clearly. I've only been using the generics so ibuprofen (which is ibuprofen and sugar), paracetomol (which is Tylenol to you I think) no caffeine in that, and last night I resorted to co-codamol (which is paracetomol and codeine, no caffeine either). I've been pretty careful about that Interesting study, though I'm disheartened by the 'may' and the reference to 'coffee' throughout. Is it caffeine that's good for you or coffee? I'm a tea drinker anyway; coffee makes me feel sick. Maybe you'd see similar health benefits from drinking decaff. And of course the reason you need your morning coffee is explained in the bbc link on my blog (it's because you're a junky, like me ).
As to the breasts, I'm not concerned about breast cancer but I am concerned about feeling like I'm being run through with a hot poker! I've been getting what my GP refers to as 'hormonal mastitis', you can read about it here: http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/c...hp?page_id=893 so in line with the recommendation I've quite caffeine and I'm cutting down on red wine too. It's too soon to blog about that (it's still too painful!).
Meg oh yes, I agree. There's definitely a drugs double standard out there, but imagine if everyone had to quit caffeine? There'd be war!
Jo I suffered from migraines for a while and found that caffeine was the only thing that helped! I was out with my Mum once and a migraine came on, and she insisted on going to McDonalds before we went home. I had a Coke and within 20 minutes the migraine was gone! It is now my miracle headache cure...or was. I guess it isn't anymore
Sprinks it sounds like you're family have got the right idea! My son is sensitive to artificial sweetners (they make him loopy) so we limit his exposure as much as possible, and fortunately my daughter doesn't like fizzy drinks so will only drink water, milk and fruit juice. Green tea has caffeine in it too, but it is only a small dosage and if you drink it now and again it's not going to do any harm.

Good luck with the caffeine-free life, Fifth. It is NOT easy, you are so right.
I tried it for a while but have to confess that I do have some caffeine in my day (oh the suffering otherwise.... yeah, I am a wimp!).

Good luck to you! You’ve almost got it beat!

Originally Posted by Fifth

Is it caffeine that's good for you or coffee? I'm a tea drinker anyway; coffee makes me feel sick. Maybe you'd see similar health benefits from drinking decaff.

First thanks for pointing out that not all painkillers have caffiene. I didn't realize that. As to your question, I think some of the health benefits are specific to coffee and some are are to caffeine. Coffee is an excellent anti-oxident and so i suspect that decaf also has the same benefit, unless the decafination process strips away whatever makes it anti-oxident. However i'm not convinced that that whole anti-oxident thing is meaningful. But that's a separate issue. Plus I think tea is also an excellent anti-oxident. The benefits of caffeine have to do with nerve function. Part of the benefits pointed out were with Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimers, nerve related functions. I suspect the caffeine does something to stimulate the nerves that decaf doesn't. I do want to emphasize to people that there are benefits to caffeine, not just negatives. I made the conclusion that the benefits outweigh the negatives, but that's probably for each person to decide.

And let me point out that decaf also has its negative sides. Here: http://www.teeccino.com/decaf.aspx. They use solvents to pull the caffeine out. Plus it actually increases bad cholesterol.

Like I said, when I weighed all the information, I came to the conclusion that one or two cups of coffee or caffeine tea is probably better than the alternatives.

Interesting article Virgil; though it is about coffee again, I don't know how valid it is for tea. But I'll have to check whether my decaff tea is naturally decaffeinated or otherwise. Thanks And yes, I agree, it makes sense to take a balanced view. In my particular case I think the benefits of decaffeinating outweigh the potential benefits of consuming caffeine. Now the headaches have gone (finally!), and already my breasts are feeling much better and I'm hypertensive so caffeine may be a factor in that, or not. It's definitely worth the trial to see.

Yes, everyone's circumstances are a little different, and the weight of the issues are different for everyone. I for instance don't have any issues with my breasts. As to the tea, some are naturally decafinated and some they undergo process, like decaf Earl Grey I think does. If there is a caffeine version than I suspect it's naturally caffinated and would require a process to decaf it.

Earl Grey makes me want to go

And let me assure you, it's important to have happy breasts