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From: markv@gauss.Princeton.EDU (Mark VandeWettering)
Newsgroups: sci.med,sci.bio
Subject: Re: Caffeine questions...
Message-ID: <14017@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 21 Feb 90 16:09:18 GMT
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[ a heavy caffeine consumer writes... ]
>I've been irritable, very sleepy (much more so than normal), have been
>suffering from headaches, and have had actual cravings for coffee.  Is this
>normal? Is caffeine addictive in any way? Is it all psychosomatic? Can anyone
>give me any references as to the effects of caffeine?  How much caffeine is
>there in a mug of brewed coffee, instant coffee, a can of Pepsi, Coke, etc.?

Caffeine has been found to be heavily addictive.  I should know, I pump
tons of the stuff in my body each year.  The symptoms you describe are 
very typical of the ones that I have while in caffeine withdrawal.  If you
can actually go a couple of weeks without going back on the stuff, then I 
usually am free of it for a while.  Then one day, you drink a single can 
of Coke and you are wired for the stuff again.  I normally drink large amounts
of liquids anyway, so I tend to get "rehooked" fairly often.
Its amazing, but after a while you can really note some of the effects of 
caffeine.  In mild doses it seems to elevate my mood considerably, which 
is probably also part of the addiction.   In large doses it causes my 
back to have muscle spasms, irritability and nervousness.  

Someone else can give you hard data on dosages, I recall that when I was
interested, I figured I consumed 6 times the maximum recommended dosages
every day for a year.  Ouch.