Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: [p h z] at [cadence.com] (Pete Zakel)
Subject: Re: Caffeine
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 16:51:38 GMT

In article <[Aug 2 17 32 06 1993 25626] at [pilot.njin.net]> [j--te--r] at [pilot.njin.net] (Jim Stewart) writes:
>[m--a--s] at [orchis.enet.dec.com] (Joerg Maass) writes:
>>as to my knowledge, caffeine is a CNS stimulant with no known addictive
>>potential, although some people may find it psychologically addictive (check

>I dunno about this. I think caffeine is physically addictive. I used to consume

Caffeine is definitely physically addictive, and is known to be by the medical
community.

As a matter of fact, withdrawal has recently been found to be more severe in
some people than most doctors have suspected.

In _Science_News_, Vol. 142, October 17, 1992, page 263 is an article entitled
"Caffeine: The pain of going cold turkey" which described one woman's caffeine
withdrawal as starting with a severe headache and continuing through vomiting
and other flu-like symptoms which she compared with the sickness that resulted
from a combination of radiation and chemotherapy treatment for cancer she had
gone through the year before.  Resumption of caffeinated beverages quickly
cured her symptoms.

The article ends with a description of the results of a study where people
were randomly given a placebo or caffeine tablets on successive days:

	"More than half reported experiencing headaches on the days they
	went without caffeine, the researchers not.  Eight to 11 percent
	showed signs of depression and anxiety on those days -- symptoms
	that have not been previously associated with caffeine withdrawal,
	[Roland R.] Griffiths [of Johns Hopkins University School of
	Medicine in Baltimore] says.  The occasional flu symptoms may also
	surprise many physicians, he says."

-Pete Zakel
 ([p h z] at [cadence.com] or ..!uunet!cadence!phz)

An Englishman never enjoys himself, except for a noble purpose.
		-- A. P. Herbert