Why Coffee Can Cause You to Have Panic Attacks

What you may not be aware of is that coffee is one of the worst drinks that you could possibly drink if you are a nervous person or you are under stress all the time and more specifically it can cause you to have anxiety or panic attacks.

Yes I know that you are probably already fully aware that coffee has caffeine in it unless you drink the decaffeinated kind. But did you know that event the decaffeinated coffee still has 2-4 mg of caffeine?

Heres the breakdown of caffeine content for common drinks and foods

• 8 oz cup of drip coffee has about 105-190 mg of caffeine in it
• 8 oz of brewed tea has 20-90 mg of caffeine
• 8 oz soft drinks has about 20-40 mg
• 8 oz of cocoa has up to 30 mg
• 1 oz milk chocolate has 1mg to 15mg of caffeine
• 1 oz dark chocolate has 5 mg to 35 mg of caffeine

Compare the above to over the counter pills that keep you awake

- Typical generic pills that keep you wake has about 100 mg of caffeine

- Vivarin has about 200mg of caffeine

So why should you know this?

Well since caffeine is a stimulant drug it affects the neurotransmitters in your brain just like cocaine and heroin to manipulate dopamine production in your body.

The brain keeps sending signals using the neurotransmitters and tells the pituitary gland to release hormones that cause additional amounts adrenaline to be released into your bloodstream.

If your under a lot of stress or a nervous person by nature this can cause you to have a panic attack. If you already have been known to have panic and anxiety attacks this can easily, within minutes, cause you to have a panic attack.

Depending on how much caffeine you ingest will pretty much determine the intensity and duration if an attack were to occur.

Also for those of you who drink caffeine after a morning of drinking alcohol for your hangover, this can be a double whammy and really make you susceptible to lapse into a panic attack.

I've drank caffeine the morning after drinking several times in the past before I realized what devastating affects that it can have on me as a person with panic disorder. My heart will skyrocket and start skipping beats (PVC's) to make me feel as if I'm having a heart attack as well as have intense feelings of immanent death as adrenaline surges through my body.

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