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Dr. Pohl describes caffeine addiction and explains how women can break the cycle.
Dr. Pohl:
Let’s spend a minute talking about caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant. It is habit-forming. It causes physical dependence and for most people causes some amount of intolerance, which means, you know, “I used to drink a cup of coffee, now I drink two. I used to drink weak coffee, and now I drink stronger coffee.” If you are doing it and it has no side effects, probably it’s not worth talking about it.
If on the other hand you are having burning in your stomach after you use your caffeine; if you are having anxiety attacks; if you are having sleep disturbance, you ought to think about cutting back or eliminating your caffeine from your life. You know, note what you are using and then cut it by 20 percent.
Don’t make it painful for yourself. If you stop suddenly, caffeine dependence will result in a headache, result in fatigue, or result in irritability. So it’s not inappropriate to cut back 20 percent maybe every couple of days, and before you know it, you’ll be off and probably pretty asymptomatic.
About Dr. Mel Pohl, M.D.:
Dr. Mel Pohl, M.D., is a Board Certified Family Practitioner. He is the Vice President of Medical Affairs and the Medical Director at the Las Vegas Recovery Center (LVRC), the only private, freestanding, medically managed inpatient detoxification and addiction treatment facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Visit Dr. Pohl at the Las Vegas Recovery Center