Yes, You Can Be Allergic To caffeine.
Some people have asked if people can be allergic to caffeine. I’m no doctor, but yes. Yes, you can be allergic to caffeine. And it’s not something a lot of doctors have known to look for. The effects of caffeine allergy look like some more severe mental disorders.
When you’re suffering from an allergic reaction to caffeine, one or more of the following things can happen: “loss of focus, intellectual deterioration, delusions, loss of judgement, and other symptoms of poisoning.” Because many people don’t properly recognize the caffeine allergy, they continue to ingest it (and why wouldn’t they?), and that can damage the brain and make things worse.
With symptoms like loss of focus and delusions and symptoms of poisoning, it’s no wonder the reaction often goes improperly diagnosed. What is diagnosed? “ADHD, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD, TMJD, PMS, and other conditions.”
If your doctor diagnoses you with any of the above, and you ingest a lot of caffeine, make sure he rules that out as a cause before putting you on a lot of drugs.
Source (Note that this is PRWeb, so it’s not a real news story. It’s just a press release from a company trying to sell books).
154 Comments
At last! I finally have some idea about what’s wrong with me! For months now, I swear I’ve been thinking I’ve developed adult ADD. I’ve been unable to concentrate, have a short attention span, have been moody, depressed at times, and have been severely fatigued. I’ll miss the free coffee at work, but it’s nothing but decaf from now on, and that wulong tea I just bought in order to help lose weight has to go as well. I’ll report back as soon as I see any noticable improvements. Thank you so much for this article, you may just have saved my sanity.
I have suffered from severe itching for the past 4 years, all over my body. I remember the first time it happened. I woke in the middle of the night feeling like I was being bit all over. When subjected to a colder temperature - even air conditioning my body would produce histamines, I would swell up in areas, and turn all red. It was especially noticeable after swimming when temperatures are colder for a longer period of time. I saw a naturopath and she recommended I keep a journal of my diet. I don’t eat a lot of sugar, fast food, bread…but the one thing I noticed that I have EVERY single day WITHOUT fail, is coffee. I am going to ween myself off it and see what happens. I know I get severe indigestion when I have coca-cola, my bladder/stomach burns when i ingest coffee or coke, and I can’t even finish a chocolate bar before i feel a tummy ache.
Thanks for your comments.
I most definitely have exhibited mental illness symptoms, and it really freaked me out. I’ve never had any kind of mental problems before, but I used to drink a LOT of caffeine. I could drink 3 Mountain Dews (high in caffeine) and a cup of coffee and sleep soundly right after. Lately, I can barely have half a drink of either before I feel jittery, feel my heart beating irregularly at times, lose my breath and generally feel like my intellectual state was deteriorating.. definitely lost focus. I’m eliminating caffeine completely. I’ve heard it can take months or even a year for all the symptoms to go away, but it’s worth it to know you’re not really insane!
My daughter had an asthma attack and her inhalers didn’t help. I gave her a Mt. Dew before taking her to the ER. It put her into a worse attack. She has had a few episodes since and not feeling very good after having pop or lattes. She cut out the caffeine and is doing better. We thought back to when she had to go to the ER and remembered that she had a latte earlier that day. We have gone to an allergist and she really believes that it is an allergic reaction to caffeine. My daughter has to cut out all caffeine now. Decaf. still has caffeine in it and Starbucks told me that their decaf. has the highest amount of caffeine in the industry. WOW!!!
I used to drink beverages of all sorts that contained caffeine without worry when I was younger. A year ago I started drinking “energy” drinks in order to stay alert longer for college work and such. After I became dehydrated after playing sports and drinking energy drinks, I stopped drinking caffeine because of its dehydrating effect till a few months ago. Basically, after I drank an ice tea, I became jittery, my heart was racing, and I couldn’t sit still for awhile. I thought it might just be because I wasn’t used to drinking caffeine. Later that week, I had some more drinks containing caffeine. Huge mistake. I had problems like difficulty breathing properly, rapid heart rate, I couln’t think straight, and had a pretty awful time that lasted awhile. My new doctor contributed my condition to anxiety from increased stress. Basically, I stopped caffeine alltogether and haven’t had any “anxiety” attacks or anything like that since.
I also have to mention how much I appreciated reading everyone else’s stories after stumbling across this site.
I also experienced the severe itching (would start on the palms of my hands, feet and nose, and then spread- awful!!). After significant distress trying to figure out what it was, I found that chocolate was the culprit. I had mostly weaned myself off of the Dr. Pepper already due to kidneystones when I was a freshman in college. My name is Tracy and I’ve been caffeine free for about 3 years.
Whoa! Caffeine! almost ruined my life. 17 years ago I went into full madness. At work we got as much free nescafe as we wanted, because we got more work done. For employers this is a good thing. One night I couldn’t sleep and then had something that resembles a heart attack. I didn’t have a heart attack but it scared the hell out of me.
I finally gave up the coffee and for the most part the symptoms are gone. But now if I get even a whiff of caffeine I start climbing the walls and have to keep moving to work off the energy.
I have since be diagnosed with bipolar symptoms but what the hell the coffee, in fact, anything with any stimulants in it makes me insane beyond belief.
I noticed I had a allergic reaction to caffeine in my early 20’s. I started to get sharp pains in my chest and heart. Also my glands in my neck and under my arm pits swell up and get sore if i drank coke.
I still get the same now, but if i drink coffee or coke etc etc after twelve (12) o’clock I can’t sleep at all. On rare ocassions I have dizzy spells and can’t control or move any of my limbs for a short period of time or until i hit the ground.
I think this is a issue that people should be made aware of.
I would love to hear from others who are having the exact same problems or similar.
I’ve suspected this for years. I’ve always disliked sugary caffine drinks/foods, but because they made me sick. For years I didnt think it could have mental effects though and I’ve gone through symptoms of Bipolar, ADD, Depression, Severe panic attacks and anxiety, and even for a while minor hallucinations & delusions. It was always so random though, i though “can I seriously be that mentally ill when I can usually function fine?”
Recently however I quit drinking Red Bull (my only typical intake of caffine) and noticed that my odd psychological symptoms vastly improved. Then just last week I started drinking them again and have been having crazy Bipolar like behavior and a panic attack just last night (I felt as though I couldnt breathe for hours). I think Caffine is the obvious answer.
I agree with Nick, I think people need to be aware of the problems with Caffine, and this should be studied more! I’m going to ask my doctor about this when I next see her.
I am glad to read your comments, now I see my Mom could be affected too, she has had a lot of the psychological symptoms in her life, and a flare recently after a good run following my new counseling method worked.
Me, I can’t take caffeine anymore. I have decaf. A tiny bit of chocolate, as long as I’m not needing to do my yoga or am very tired / under a lot of pressure. Because it will give me a reaction like an anaphylactic shock. My consciousness fails, and it comes first to my hands - loss of nerve function in my hands, tingling in arms and hands. Also the nerve connection to my feet / legs can flicker off, so I make a strange step. It’s worst after yoga, when the rush of energy through my spine turns into convulsions in arms and body, which I try to stop by flicking my hands and arms, hitting my head and lowering my body (head) to the ground. I also had severe eczema which your comments helped me to realize can be from caffeine too. (My mum did too when younger.)
In my emotional herbal healing system, coffee is for language. So people like it because it makes us chatty, it stimulates parts of the brain that help language. Useful for all these desk jobs and the overload of brainwork we have today. But you can’t fool mother nature. Guess the Mormons had it right!
PS - Let’s get the word out, and help our nations revitalize! In America the hype has become deadly, and what will happen in the next months before and after the election has me worried. We need our native culture, and we need to think clearly!!!
I think I might have an allergy to caffeine. Twice now, I’ve noticed that my throat gets itchy and swells a bit and my breathing becomes slightly labored after I have had a frozen coffee drink from a major coffee chain. I also noticed this a few times after I went running. I thought it might be something in the air but I did have a cup of strong coffee right before I went running (it’s suppose to lessen runners fatigue). Shortly after the run, I would begin wheezing and my throat would itch like crazy! Maybe i’ll give it up and see if this is what is causing the problem!??
Whenever I drink coffee, I get very irritated, my eyes start to itch, I usually hallucinate a bit, and I have extremely hard time sleeping. I also end up getting cysts and / or canker sores.
I also instantly get addicted to it very very badly, to the point where I -know- I will get extreme head aches if I stop (esp. cold turkey).
With all of that said, I still drink it sometimes, and sometimes often. I do a lot more work and I get a lot of things done, I also get insanely talkative and crazy, and it makes me feel very euphoric and wonderful with lots and lots of energy. I think it’s good I put these thoughts out there so that when other people do research they can read… or when someone creates a way to scrape and assimilate all of the webs information into cohesive knowledge, which I just might build if I drink this next coffee 
You know, I am at work right now….in December I went to the emergency room twice with blotches all over my face..I couldn’t sleep..i could NOT stop itching… My lips were swollen and I couldn’t talk..my tongue was swollen…The doctors told me it could have been the detergent I was using. I since gave up the detergent and still began itching..it wore off a bit a couple of weeks ago, but today it flared up again. I was indulging in a chocolate donut with some coffee and immediately had to throw the rest out because I couldn’t stop itching, and couldn’t even eat……I realized it HAS TO BE THE CAFFEINE! I CANNOT STOP ITCHING! it is even making me lose my concentration here and the itching is so bad that there is a bit of heat coming from where I itch (burns) This is nuts! I never thought I could be allergic to something that seems soo small!