BODY WEIGHT:

180 lb

What a wonderful world we live in that legalizes such a degenerative compound (when used excessively). Don't get me wrong, I don't think it should be restricted, but the acceptance factor is crazy. When compared to something such as marijuana, and some careful personal analysis, it makes one really wonder why caffeine has such widespread roots established. I'm sure there are many theories and conclusions.

To begin, I'm writing this to mark the first day of the rest of my life after being addicted to caffeine for as long as I can remember, but this is in response to the last 3 years of my life. I'm now 27 and always had a great sense of optimism in life and was naturally cerebrally abstract. I had hated coffee for the longest time, the smell was appealing, but the taste was raunchy. I succeeded to pass through high school and college without dealing with coffee. In high school...and the years before, I was basically like the average kid when it came to diet. This included pop (Coke) and chocolate. Of course these have caffeine in them. When I was 13 I started to get a rash in my gland areas such as under my arms and groin/prostate. I always thought it was something to do with fungus due to sweating, as I was very active. By the time I was 18, I had cramping symptoms in my legs and was drinking up to 5 cans of Coke a day and even waking in the night to drink it.
It came to an end around this time. I was disgusted with myself. The chocolate consumption continued as I was very fond (still am) of the taste and also battle a refined sugar addiction. A lot of my symptoms subsided in the next couple years; I was fairly relaxed and became increasingly outgoing. The rashes all but disappeared.

Let's go to late 1997. I started working in an environment that housed a coffee shop. This was nice, as since I am a graphic designer, I was doing mad amounts of work for long days and nights with a new growing company. Once I started drinking coffee, which was everflowing (where isn't it?) it was a boost and a fun thing to do in general. I like smoking ganja and eating Psilocybe cubensis occasionally so this was just another experience. I started to drink it before I would work out, or do something physical. This did not last. My heart would palpitate way out of wack when I would begin to sweat. So I stopped. Not drinking coffee. Stopped all physical activities. Almost immediately (within a month span) hypertension took hold of my lower spine and legs. It took a while, maybe half a year but I started to notice lesions on my scrotum and around my prostate and base of penis. Why caffeine attacks me in this area I'll never know, but it really put a damper on my interaction with females, as by now, caffeine had taken a good grip on my life and I was an addict. More weird things started happening. Aside from severe muscle tension
I was getting indications of rheumatoid arthritis. I assessed my situation and it
led me directly to coffee as the culprit. I would observe what would happen every time I drank coffee from a point of I knew what was happening, but felt totally weak and wrecked to stop drinking. It definitely has two faces.

What came next was a very long period of depression and continuous drinking. I'd say about the past two years have been like this. My skeletal structure feels weak along with my musculature. My nervous system has been affected greatly, sending crazy messages to my legs. I have lost 80% of the flexibility in my legs. They feel broken. Last year I went through a phase of occasionally drinking coffee and doing yoga. It really put me back on track for a while. Troubles with a girlfriend put me back into the Coffee Coast. Coffee was now a comfort zone which reminded me of times with her, as she drank coffee and liked to go to Tim Horton's to chat over Java.

We come to today. After reading some other postings here at Erowid Vaults (what an amazing resource) I feel certain that it's as basic as an allergy and toxicity. Something I knew within, but had no strength do anything about it. If I were to keep on drinking coffee, and it takes barely any at all to do the trick (1-2 cups a day w/200 mg per dose) I am sure that my life would get worse until I developed full on arthritis and diabetes as these symptoms are dependant on my ingestion of Coffee. Oh, did I forget to mention osteoporosis and cancer(s). Going onto the topic of what my brain functioning was like, it can be summed up with this word: minimal. There has been a misty, irritating fog before my eyes the past two years. Take heed. These findings are very stable and do direct towards the consumption on the basis of self-study and process of elimination. I do eat a strict organic diet with a proper balance of greens, essential fatty acids, etc. Without that holding up my health, I may never had recognized the symptoms and just degenerated along with other hazardous habits. This is the last thing I am battling. I've never smoked cigarettes and have basically eliminated the other thing I've been addicted to, refined sugar. Wish me luck. I need the extra bit of positive strength. There is more to include on here, but I won't keep it running. I think my points have been made.

Exp Year: 2001	ExpID: 6320
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Sep 14, 2001	Views: 31,325
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Caffeine (11) : Retrospective / Summary (11), Not Applicable (38)