IHelp - need caffeine

lizzie

lizzie

Hi all

I know this is not, strictly speaking, a writing problem, but I've a feeling it may turn into one! For health reasons, I have been forced to give up my beloved coffee, which I suspect played quite a large part in my creativity.
I've managed to get over the initial withdrawal stage, where I was plagued with horrid headaches, (a sure sign of sensitivity to the dreaded caffeine), and am now, officially, caffeine free. But guess what, IT'S HORRID...
Perhaps I'm weird, but one cup of good strong coffee (a Costa coffee cappucino, or starbucks with an extra shot) really seemed to fire me up, but now, well, I feel as flat as a pancake, and am missing it dreadfully.
I've had a couple of decafs this week, but they  taste very bitter - I love the cafe culture and seek out good cafes like others seek out nice pubs.
Are there any reformed coffee drinkers out there, who can offer some advice or reassurance? Am I destined to feel uninspired and 'flat?'
Help...
Lizzie

Carol

Well I have to admit that I used to drink a lot of coffee when I was writing, but a few years ago I started having problems with heart palpatations. The caffeine seemed to be interfering with my blood pressure medication.
It was difficult at first, but I changed to drinking fruit juice. I think it was more the need to have a drink nearby that helped the creativity, allowing me to get on with my writing without interuption.
After two years I can now have two mugs of coffee a day, a mild type, without any problem.
Caffeine addiction is hard to get over, but keep working through it.
Ask yourself is my creativity because of me or because of a cup of brown liquid?
Hope this helps.

ValYellow

Hi I gave up coffee some time ago made me too wired.
I found a mild tasting decafe called Cafe Direct Fair Trade in a blue packet in Sainsburies. Tasts less bitter.
I also found (heaven forbid) coke less a stimulant to drink.

Penny

I write much better with a gin and tonic!

lizzie

Hi all

So glad I'm not alone... I will investigate decaf ground coffee, maybe it will taste better if I do it myself.
Tessa, sounds like you miss it as much as I do, it's just that I get such a happy buzz from a single cup, and the thought of not having that again depresses me a bit.
The reason I have to avoid it is because of palpitations, which, to be honest, are quite scary after just a couple of cups, especially at night in bed... I will follow the advice I've been given, and will also find some good alternatives. Maybe it is just having a warm drink to wrap your hands around, it's such a comfort, but I will persevere.
Thanks for your comments
Lizzie

milhouse

Could be worse. I have been smoking myself to death whilst writing my current MSS. By the time the six figure advace lands on the mat (dreaming again), I won't be able to enjoy it. I mean - an international playboy with the lungs of a ninety year old.

such is life. we live and earn - and never do!

Milhouse.

Viv

I hate coffee. I get by on a subtle combination of Diet Pepsi and chocolate. Gives me all the caffeine I need plus those pheromone(?) thingies that make you feel good. Even if I've been ill they are the first things I crave. Less harmful than cigarettes, and they even say that chocolate is good for you- it wards off heart trouble and prevents cancer. That's my excuse anyway. And all the calories the choc puts on are lost again by drinking the diet Pepsi - clever eh?

Patty

Tea, Tea glorious Tea -
Nothing quite like it for company...
Misquote from the Walrus' song Soup, in Alice in Wonderland.
I was born in a bungalow surrounded by hillsides of tea gardens... and far to the north, its summit forever shrouded in cloud was Kenshenjunga.
Patty

milhouse

Isn’t chocolate an aphrodisiac?

Wouldn’t be good for me. Stuck at the keyboard as horney as an old goat that’s been stuck atop a mountain for years with no female company. I’d probably end up writing filth (He-he-he).

But chocolate does release serotonin (are all your stories happy ones by chance)?

Milhouse

TaffetaPunk

I take it everyone here knows chocolate is poison to dogs?  It's the theobromine:  "Based on the number of calls received by The National Animal Poison Control Center and the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center, one of the most commonly encountered poisonings in pet dogs is theobromine, or chocolate, poisoning."  (http://www.apogeecomgrp.com/drkevin/chocolate.html)

I couldn't live without filter coffee.  Plastic coffee - no, no, no - yeuch.  But filter coffee, made fresh, is the perfect thing.

TaffetaPunk

Coffee does dehydrate - that'll be the caffeine.  Same with "ordinary" tea, as they're both diuretic, as well as fruit juice, apparently.  The best thing for rehydration is water.

Patty

Sure, modern life is a bundle of poisons, but we have survived the raw-meat-left-in-the-sun, with woodland berries and mushrooms phase of our evolution, so we might last a bit longer now.

TaffetaPunk

But this is poisonous to dogs - we can take the risk with ourselves if we want, but their health is paramount...

lizzie

Hi Dorothy
You and I are in the same boat then, I'm a coeliac and therefore cannot eat bread, cakes, biscuits, pasta (except those made from rice flour, buckwheat etc, yum). I think thats why the coffee thing has hit me hard, there are already so many things that are forbidden, this just takes away another group of really nice things. Oh well, it could be lots worse...I just hope my creativity isn't stifled too much without the caffeine.
Lizzie

Lizzie

Joanne

I've gone onto redbush tea (rooibos).  I like the full flavour and it's caffeine free too.

lizzie

I got a box today, the only one they had was with vanilla, it's not bad at all, but the vanilla flavour is a bit overpowering, I suppose I'll get used to it.
Lizzie

Jenny

What about green tea? It's supposed to be very good for us. And white tea is even better. (In case you've never heard of it, that's the stuff labelled white tea - not just tea with milk!)

lizzie

Oh, I've heard of green tea, but never white - does it have caffeine?

Carol

You can get teas that are a lower level of caffeine. My hubby gets really irritable if he has too many cups of standard type tea. So I buy the lemon teabags from Whittards, and he doesn't have a problem.
I went in to get some more last Friday, and found that all the loose tea is now available in teabags as well.
I'm not a tea drinker, but I find some of the different types make nice little presents at Christmas, especially if they are difficult to buy for people.

Jenny

Lizzie - I think we've got a box of white teabags. If I can find it, I'll check the ingredients and let you know!

Jenny

Lizzie - The white teabags we have are made by Clipper and they're flavoured with natural blackcurrant.

I've looked on the box and on the website (www.clipper-tea.com) but haven't yet found out whether it contains caffeine or not.

The box says (not out loud!) "to drink it is described as an almost spiritual experience" if that's any help!

Kangaroo

Here's something to add to the confusion of choice, Lizzie. Have you tried Lipton's Chai Latte? It's got  cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. It's very yummy, I'm not a coffee drinker, this is what I've been having.
And I saw a report in this morning's paper that chocolate can affect your memory, nooooo!

lizzie

Ooh, thanks all, I could do with a bit of spirituality! Lots there to look into, I love Whittards (mug fetish!) so will look at their range.
Cheers,
Lizzie x

Jenny

Kangaroo - re chocolate and memory - is that in a positive or negative way?!!

Fleur

Lizzie....don't despair any longer! Buy yourself a Senseo coffee machine and buy Douwe Egberts Decaf coffee pads...problem solved! (Trust me, the Dutch know about coffee!)I don't taste the difference and sleep a lot better.
Or....drink lots and lots of coke!

lizzie

Fleur
Thanks so much, I have a birthday soon, so will start dropping hints now - this could be the answer to my probs, if I buy ground decaf, it goes stale as I'm the only one who drinks it - pods could be a good solution.
cheers
Lizzie

Betsie

There's enough info been revealed on this thread for someone to write an article on the joys (or not) of a cuppa.  I'm scared to read it all - once I've read something's bad for you I tend to leave it off and I'm loth to give up my cups of tea.  I already limit myself to one cup of coffee (with caffein) a day.  Like Dorothy I avoid Coke like the plague.  When I was young (I was once, honest)  some kids used to put aspirin in Coke to get 'high' so goodness knows what's in it.

Jacey

The asprin-in-coke thing is interesting.  Lots of over-the-counter painkillers (like Anadin Extra) have caffeine in them now.

Carol

Yes, I had to get some paracetamol and codeine tablets recently, for pain in my shoulder-I'd wrenched it.Because I can't take Ibrufen now, unless doctor prescribed, and the assistant mentioned the caffeine as I'd said I had to take blood pressure medication.
I sometimes wonder why they need to put certain things in medicines.

TaffetaPunk

Call me a cynic, Carol, but perhaps they have to find ways of justifying the high prices they put on these things...

Stan2

I LIKE coffee - look I'm shaking because I've not had a cup for about three hours. True, I'm cutting down on drinking too much coffee especially late at night. I like Lady Grey Tea and Maureen likes Kenyean Tea. I hate marmite sandwichs despite comments on another thread. A sauage sandwich? Now you'r talking - yummy! No good for the waistline, I guess. Oh, look even the Dog is licking his lips.

Carol

You could be right TP.

kellywilliams

Stan I love marmite on toast. No sausage sandwiches for me I love my veggie lifestyle.

Stan2

Ah well, you have your veggie and I will have my sausages.

Sylvia

'We'll have none of that veggie malarky here,' says Stan's Dog.

Stan2

'Quite right too' said Kool Kat wearing his best red hat.

TaffetaPunk

Ahhh, Kelly, Marmite on toast - I've mentioned this once before, so apologies to all the coeliacs!  Drooling, now - best put some bread in the toaster...

kellywilliams

I have had my marmite on toast this morning and I must say it was delicious.
Apparently Linda mcartneys sausages taste like the real thing. yum

TaffetaPunk

And now, as she munches happily away, she forgets the fact it's past one in the afternoon and considers some choccie cereals - because it's Monday.  That's my excuse, anyway.

kellywilliams

And now that I have been reminded that it is getting late and I have done no work. I must get back to some writing!!!!!

kellywilliams

But first I need some caffeine and some nicotine!!!!

kellywilliams

oops sorry if I rattled you. It is just something I was told will have to tell them off now thankyou