Extreme Caffeine Sensitivity

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Does anyone else have this issue? My body seems to be incredibly sensitive to caffeine as well as other drugs which normal people seem to be able to take just fine. The other day I took some medication with the equivalent caffeine of 1 cup of coffee. It made me shake, sweat, the inside of my chest felt hollow tight and burned up. I started talking manically and couldn't stop peeing or pooping. This lasted a good 8 hours.

I've had this happen before and people never believe me when I tell them.

I feel that I am sensitive to life overall, but was wondering if anyone else here has sensitivity to any foods or drugs.

I'm also very sensitive to caffine. The only things with caffine that I can drink, are tea and pop. I'm going to start cutting out pop, this week. Caffine stimulates a lot of things.

Glad to see I'm not the only one Yeah, I avoid all caffeinated drinks.

Yes, I can't drink caffeine at all as it makes me very anxious, and taken with my medication makes me feel really spaced out among other things.
As for other drugs, I have developed a high tolerance for alcohol, but cannabis makes me incredibly paranoid and haven't taken it in 7 years. I don't touch anything else.

Interesting. I don't have a problem with alcohol either. Average tolerance. I used to smoke weed when I was younger until I suffered a crazy panic attack because of it! It was the scariest experience of my life. Didn't affect any of my friends who were also smoking it.

I'm ADD too, so I "mellow out" on coffee. thinking about trying some dex...what do you think?[b]

I'm pretty sensitive to caffeine. I only drink root beer or grape soda as far as non-caffeinated soda's go. Caffeine leaves me feeling like I'm fighting for my mind.

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There is a How To (understand) Hyperactivity book (1981) about ADHD Inattentive by C. Thomas Wild which goes into great detail about how only 100 mg of caffeine can impact paying attention, concentration, focus, and memory. Wild also talks about an extreme chemical sensitivity to a few food additives (not all food additives) such as FD&C Yellow Food Color No. 5 (tartrazine) and the artificial sweetener, sodium saccharin. Wild mentions the large difference which a few persons can tell between two name brand medicines (such as Tirend - 100 mg caffeine vs NoDoz - 100 mg) or a name brand medicine (such as NoDoz) and a generic brand name (such as Stay Awake - Awake). Wild reports that caffeine can work for a few of those (not all of those) with ADHD better (not a cure) than Ritalin/other stronger drugs (not cures either). He also calls for full disclosure ingredient labeling for food additives/hidden ingredients contained in drugs and foods. Food additives do not cause hyperactivity - ADHD - ADD but, for a handful of persons including a few adults, they can work as powerful, undisclosed drugs which can affect such things as interfering with normal sleep as well as normal healing of scrapes and cuts/wounds. Caffeine is one of those drugs which some people find beneficial, others drink coffee just for the taste, and still others find it unwanted and choose to avoid it. The same holds true for a number of medicines used to treat epilepsy. Some persons swear a certain medicine for epilepsy such as Dilantin really works well (Jack Dreyfus) vs others who say Dilantin was the worst drug they tried and they switched to another epilepsy drug which for them works better.

http://www.rsna.org/rsna/media/pr2005/Coffee.cfm (Short-term memory)
http://www.coffeescience.org/alert (Mental alertness)

http://www.nutrition.gov/

Thanks for the info. I don't have ADD or ADHD.

I am very sensitive to caffeine and alcohol. If I have a cup of coffee my hands will shake for the rest of the day and I will almost certainly have trouble getting to sleep. I have had less that 10 alcohol beverages in my life. It gives my a horrible stomach ache.
Caffeine also triggers my anxiety.

I dont know what is in Claritin, but that stuff is like caffeine x10 for me.

Yeah. It's even affected me when I ate dark chocolate. Now THAT'S sensitive.

I do. I just had a case of that, today, because I made my coffee a little stronger by accident. I also have to maintain an equivalent dose every day or I will get a headache from withdrawal very quickly. I like coffee but I don't like having to keep up with the addictive aspect.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100920/ap_on_re_us/us_caffeine_defense

I usually only have to smell coffee and I am wired. It is a cheap stimulant that can come in handy when you need it. But then I have to put up with no sleep and feeling too unsettled. I have to avoid it.

This thread is so interesting, I just googled "autism caffeine" to see if someone in the world had similar experiences with coffee.
If I take a cup of latte, or weak coffee I get very jittery, and speed up. If I had not had a meal just before, I sometimes go extatic. No kidding, I just feel like I'm tripping, the world seem so beautiful, I can just stare at a rock or somebody's shiny hair in awe, and feel a part of some great universal harmony... I have never trie any other drug than alcohol, but that is how I imagine an LSD or cocaine trip to be! It can last for more than 24 hours sometimes (and this is how long I sometimes get affected by one glass of wine on an empty stomach). My doctor says it's fysiologically impossible, and that I'm just mistaken. But no, this is what happens to me! A real cheap trip, really easily accessible, and very tasty... But it makes me withdraw into a dream world which is not good.

It works extremely well on me, but then I basically get a hangover. I generally avoid anything with a high amount of caffeine anyway, because I suffer from migraines and it's one of the things that can set them off. Even having a couple of cans of fizzy drinks over the course of the day will give me an upset stomach, so I normally have to stay clear of anything with too much caffeine.

On the times I have taken concentrated caffeine (doing night shift on short notice is the main time I have tried this) I had one can of that Relentless energy drink and I was awake for the whole of a 12-hour overnight shift. I was very jittery and unfocused, but it did work to keep me going for a good while. Then afterwards I crashed pretty badly and woke up with a splitting headache and upset stomach. The staying awake was definitely not worth how bad I felt afterwards.