I realized I had either a caffeine allergy or a caffeine chemical intolerance in 2001. It took me about half a year to fully give up caffeine from all sources (chocolate, tea, coffee). I am so sensitive that I can not even drink a cup of decaffeinated coffee (it has 4 mg of caffeine). My symptoms are as follows when I ingest caffeine: muscle pains all over my body that can last days depending on how much caffeine I have ingested, the glands in my throat hurt, I feel like I am being stabbed randomly by pins all over my body, and difficulty urinating. Initially I went to all kinds of doctors and they were clueless. I finally gave up on the doctors and now I just take anti-inflamatories and avoid caffeine. Unfortunately, there is something in processed foods that also aggravates my muscle pain problem but I haven’t figured out what it is yet. I have found in the past that if I will stick to nothing but natural foods (no added chemicals and preservatives, etc), I don’t have any problems but that is just too hard for me so I keep eating junk food and taking the anti-inflammatories. But even with the anti-inflammatories, there is no way that I will ingest anything with caffeine; the days of pain are not worth it!!! A person tipped me off to avoid a food additive called “xanthan gum” and I have noticed that it does appear to aggravate my muscle pain symptom. It is in a lot of foods.

I have been to so many doctors, had so many tests,been told I have anxiety. I do believe that I have it alittle but after finally hearing from a friend at school there is a such thing as caffeine allergy, I feel a lot better. Today my mom was making brownies for her company and I thought before eatting this let me look up this caffeine thing. And here I am ready all of your comments, realizing this is probably my biggest problem. I am a chocoholic!!!I guess I am not going to have that brownie…I have all symptoms…numbness..tongue swelling..rashes..dizziness..heart racing…muscle pain..headaches..cant think straight..feel like i am off balance..ringing earss..everyday i think i have something else..trying to figure out what is wrong, because doctors dont ever think this…caffeine allergy..I feel so releived that finally I know what my problem has been..I am 22 and I knew that I had to have something wrong,,,,but all of these symptoms I feel like I am 80..Thank God I am able to see that this is whats wrong!! I wasn’t going to write, but you all helped me have a good understanding of why i feel this way..so hopefully i can help someone else…if you feel weird like your on drugs people think your crazy…look into your diet if you dont know whats wrong because caffeine plays a BIG part..I hope everyone feels better I know it is scary I feel uncomfortable all the time,,but we are all here together,,GOD BLESS………………Jess

I have been reading and reading through all of these comments but have found nothing similar to the reactions I have to my Caffeine Allergy.

When I was 15 I remember drinking a lot of Coke/pepsi for a prolonged period of time. The following months I developed my first bladder infection. The Nurse Practitioner told me that it was probably due to a caffeine allergy from the soda, in combination with the fact that drinking sodas can cause a type of dehydration.

I am now 23. Since that first bladder infection, I stayed away from most caffeine. Occasionally I would drink decaffe mochas, but like we all know, even thoughs have 2% caffeine.

Anyhow, my allergy to caffeine is different from everything that I have been reading about.Basically, if I have anything (iced tea, coffee, dark chocolate) immediately afterwards (within the hour) I will fee the onset of a UTI or Bladder Infection. To prevent the annoyance, I will take a few cranberry pills and drink a half a gallon of water.

These symtoms won’t necessarily cause a full-blown infection of the bladder or Urinary Tract, howevever the symptoms are : painful urination, pressure at the bladder, and stinging at the bladder.

I have noticed that this is only caused by caffeine—

Ie: Since being made aware of this allergy, I drink a gallon of water a day (usually). Recently, I had a glass of iced tea. I thought that since I drink so much water, it should flush easily out of my system. By the time I got home from the restaurant, urinating was painful, and burning.

The most sever effect of this allergy is last year: I became dehydrated and had a sun stroke from a prolonged time in the sun. Once I got better, I started drinking REGULAR COFFEE because I was craving it, and was hoping that after years of avoiding it, perhaps it wouldn’t affect me.

The end result was a bladder infection…After a few days, it turned into a flow blown KIDNEY INFECTION, for which I couldn’t breath and was hospitalized. It took 12 days of Levaquin (an antibiotic) to clear the infection.

If anyone reading this has these symtpoms from caffeine, I would like to hear about it…

Thanks!

So it’s official. I’ve developed an allergy to coffee! Duh! I don’t get the rash and bumps but after drinking coffee, especially, I get the worse case of pins and needles all over my body, intense itching all over that drives me bananas that feels like I’ve got ants crawling on my skin, especially on the top of my head, and muscle pains etc… I’ve also notice a significant problem with my memory lately that I haven’t been able to figure out, I can’t concentrate much of the time, and I feel cloudy and fatigued a lot no matter how much I sleep and I get very irritable and moody and intolerant which is not like me at all. I try to control the moods because I do notice it but its very hard. I didn’t notice a link to coffee until the other day. I was perfectly fine and I walked into a Starbucks and suddenly I began sneezing profusely and my eyes began to water and itch. It was instantaneous and because I hardly ever go into a Starbucks I noticed it right away and thought it was odd. When I walked out I was fine again. Later I was at a convention and I sat the cup of coffee on a table and an hour later I picked up the cup and took a sip and vuala the feeling of sneezing overcame me again at that very second! That’s when I went searching because I’ve never heard of a coffee/caffeine allergy so I hadn’t put two-and-two together until just now. So that explains it! Thanks everyone!

I discovered I had a reaction to caffeine 13 years ago. I drank alot of coffee at work, then one day I started getting severe cramps in my legs, so painful I couldn’t stand up. It was only when I went on holiday and drank no caffeine that it started to go away. I still didn’t click untill on the way home I had a coffee on the plane and a few hours later the cramps started again. So I gave up coffee.

I carried on with a cup of tea a day untill this year but now have cut it out completely as my vision starts going and my heart starts going far too fast, also my whole body feels numb especially hands and legs.

Beware of green tea and cold and flu pills both of which have caffeine in.

I don’t get the rashes that some of you are reporting but I do feel very irritable even if I have only a few ounces of tea. I used to drink about 6 cups of coffee a day and could not quit smoking until I quit the coffee as well. I guess I was using coffee for the boost in energy while the cigarettes were for balance, and somehow the combination was just splendid. For me at least, the combo also demonstrated how powerful caffeine can be for some people. Well, I guess there was also the time I was browsing through a sort of drug encyclopedia at a university library and found that caffeine was categorized under pscychoactive drugs with chemical similarities to opiates.

Rarely drink coffee but when I do it has an immediate affect of sinus drainage and sour, bloated stomach. This is also the case when I take an Exedrin (only one). I drink about two cokes a day and have noticed consistent headaches and a white film on my tongue. I am on day 2 of fasting and taking an herbal cleansing and am feeling a little relief in my stomach. I wonder if others have similar symptoms.

I was never very sensitive to caffeine when I was younger. But in college, I started the energy drink binges for those long nights cramming for exams or just for an extra boost at the club. Then suddenly I started having panic attacks at school. By the third time, it finally clicked that the attacks only occurred immediately following a fresh infusion of red bull, bullet, blast or doubleshot. It was exactly as what is described as an allergy to caffeine. I’d have the intense feeling/need to get up and leave, getaway, from wherever I was. My heart was pounding and skipping beats, I felt extremely hot, couldn’t focus, my mind would race, I talked rapidly and all over the place, everything would look far away and blurry.
Obviously I stopped taking energy drinks and I never had another panic attack. However, I continued drinking green tea and my sensitivity seemed to invade here as well. Now, less than two cups of regular green tea ingested in the morning will leave me dysrhythmia jittery all day and with trouble sleeping at night. I never really thought of it as an allergy, but I guess it is and a very serious one for some people if not recognized as such or misdiagnosed.

Jasper & Kevin. I too believe I’m allergic to caffeine. My tongue has been swelling for years and it has become worse since starting thyroxine hormone replacement. For a while I blamed the meds…but am wondering if it is worse for the combination of thyroxine and tea…. I’m so addicted to tea that I’m having difficulty stopping drinking it.

I’m not sure if I’m allergic to caffeine but I have certainly become very sensitive to it. When younger I used to drink loads of coke (a litre a day) and never seemed to have any problems, although I suppose my body became used to it.
Last year I went through a stage of feeling very anxious and panicky, mostly whilst at work. I would feel hot, restless, shaky, over-stimulated and my heart would race. It was an awful feeling. At first I thought it was stress-related but I finally realised most of it was actually caused by drinking tea, coffee and coke which all contain caffeine. I started to reduce my caffeine intake considerably and the anxiety went away.
Nowadays I find if I have just one cup of tea or coffee the anxiety feelings return quickly, until I flush it out of my system.
Funny how some people don’t seem to be affected by caffeine at all.

I drink a 32 oz espresso with an extra shot (so about 7 shots) just about everyday. It wakes me up, but relaxes me. Without it I am agitated and get frusterated easily! I need my coffee to function, and work, without I just want to sleep all day, and I have no motivation!

Just about 3 weeks ago, I thought I was breaking out with acne all over my forehead. I realize now that they are welts and I am probiby allergic to my addicton!! I have been drinking it anyway, because I am afraid of who I am without it!! NEVER, in a million years, did I ever imagine I would be both addicted and allergic to CAFFINE!!! CRAZY!!

The welts are small ike bites like the other member poster before, and they itch, and hurt. I am hoping it is the milk allergy like another wrote about, as well! I am perplexed!!

I’m not sure if I’m allergic to caffeiene but whenever i drink any of it my heart always goes into an arrhythmia so what would that mean?

I am wildly allergic to caffeine. Now and then, a little bit of it makes me feel better, but I know that when I have too much of it, the lining of my nose and sinuses swell up and I have some difficulty breathing; even worse is that my vision blurs, extremely badly, and I get really tired. I also am ultra-depressed later. When I’m smart, I avoid caffeine, or only take a few sips (I am addicted - the first few sips make me feel great psychologically). I’m 29 and had minor symptoms from this throughout my life, but have gotten unbelievably bad in the past couple of years. Other allergies are kicking in severely too… I’m getting allergy shots for things like pollens and hope that once those allergies are under control, maybe ones I’m nt being vaccinated for will be better too.

I seem to have an allergy to tea but not to coffee. I don’t know about the caffeine, but the tea irritates my mouth. My tongue gets a burning sensation from drinking tea. It is an irritation. A while back I had a long period of a sore tongue while living in a Yoga Ashram. After I left, the sore tongue went away. Then I drank some tea it came back! But I don’t get the burning or rawness from coffee, just tea, so i don’t think its caffeine. But with all the searching on the net, I could find no one else who also is allergic to tea with the effect of a burning/raw tongue/mouth.

For Paul… Black tea irritaes my mouth and throat. It makes my tongue sore and swollen. It seems to be associated with a flare of fibromyalgia. Green tea doesn’t seem to be as bad. Coffee is fine. Oddly enough diet coke is fine also. I’m going to try switching from Lipton to Kurchika. Maybe it’s something in the tea bags?

I had drank coffee for 15 years or more and I was making it stronger and stronger. At the end I was having the equivalent of 5 expressos in one shot in the morning. Little did I know how deadly that was. I was always tired, got sick too often and my mind was always racing; obsessive-compulsice thought kept jamming my mind. The strange thing about it was I knew that his was not normal. When I got up in the morning, I felt awful and just could not imagine facing another day, so stronger the coffee… I thought I was depressed so I went to see the GP. All the bloods came back normal so he told me to take it easy and rest more. I tried that but felt like I was running on empty no matter how well I was eating, sleeping and even meditating.

It was only after with the help of a naturopath did I realize the havoc caffeine had on my body. I stopped coffee and started on a herbal, vitamin/mineral treatment to build back my liver, kidneys and adrenal glands. It is amazing how I feel now. I feel centred, calm and rested. I really thought I was going mad. I hope this helps someone who thinks that there is no help out there.

I feel as though we are still grasping for answers. My son who is 13 has suffered with anxiety and sleeping issues for years. He has been seeing a therapist to help deal with his night-time anxiety. I have always thought is was strange that he is a perfectly normal kid during the day. At night his heart races, he sweats and panics.I have watched him very close through out the years and I believe he has these issues at night only when he has consumed some type of caffeinated beverage. He has wild dreams, bizzare images and cannot relax enough to keep his eyes closed. We are grasping. I think he is so active in the day that if he has a caffeine reaction it appears to be his high level of energy. Does any one have any thoughts? We have sought non conventional methods to help. Acupuncture, health foods… decaf sleepy time teas, lavender baths, soft music etc…

I have been dealing with what I thought was ADD since my early teens. Now in my early thirties, after being treated for depression, anxiety, ADD, taking numerous medications, and trying every natural remedy from exercise to changes in diet to herbal supplements, nothing had worked until recently, I stopped all consumption of caffiene. I was barely getting by at my job becasue I could not concentrate or remember most of what I had to do, I had to find ways to try to organize around it and just pretend to know what I was doing. The stress was getting worse, so my caffiene consumption became more and then my symptoms got worse. Within two weeks of removing caffiene from my diet, I am no longer stressed, my memory and concentration are better than ever. I realized that though my caffiene intake has been up and down, I always consumed some amount, and the few times I had the idea that my problems were linked to caffiene and I stopped, I would have a cup of coffee one day to wake myself up and the addiction would start again and before I knew it, I was caught up in it again and my mind was so disfuctional that I actually forgot what I went through before or that caffeine was potentially causing my problems. So yes, when I havent consumed any caffiene for a while a cup of coffee will wake me up, but after a while it causes me to be sleepy all the time, feel irratable, consume more alcohol to releive the stress, and eat more and all of the other problems I listed above.