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).
Update: We’ve taken a look at 192 comments below and published a Top 20 Caffeine Allergy Symptoms article.
192 Comments
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i am also thinking that i am allergic to caffeine. every time i consume caffeine now, my face gets this strange tingly feeeling, and my mouth goes partially numb. i used to drink energy drinks every single day last year, and had no problems. after summer, however, these symptoms started, now after about 4 swigs of an energy drink or coffee, i can feel the numbing in my face, which lasts all day afterwards.
I’m so glad I found this site. This has been the best medicine I could take. I have been drinking coffee for the majority of my 54 adult years. About 3 years ago, I started to realize I had a serious problem. After a stomach bug I could only drink tea, which happened to be decaf. After a few days I went back to my coffee drinking. Within a short time I felt very anxious and irritable and my chest was as tight as could be. I soon recognized that I had been feeling this same way prior to my stomach bug. I pinpointed the coffee as the culprit due to the timing of my chest tightness. I’ve been drinking decaf tea and an occasional decaf coffee with no problem since.
I felt very grateful that the coffee seemed to be the only thing that put me into this state. Low and behold, this past weekend I was convinced I was having an anxiety attack. I had eaten my “daily” bowl of Espresso Chip ice cream followed a while later by many dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts. I was basically unable to draw a satisfying breath and I had tenderness under my left arm mid-way down my rib cage. I lay awake that night trying to catch a good breath and decided I’d call the doctor in the morning. I finally went to sleep and upon waking, felt “normal” again. I was fine all day until my daily dose of Espresso Chip and chocolate covered macadamia nuts that night. BAM – SAME SYMPTOMS.
I’ve had no problems breathing since as I haven’t had any ice cream or chocolate covered nuts then not thinking, I had a handful of dark chocolate covered raisins last night and guess what…. tight chest and trouble breathing. So I now know that my favorite comfort foods cause me great discomfort and I have to stop them completely. The feeling I get is just not worth it.
I’m still going to the doctors so I can verify my own “medical findings!” Hope this helps others.
Does anyone have any subjective or clinical evidence that caffeine is the source of any of these ailments reported, particularly mood disorders and/or energy loss?
And did anyone rid themselves of any ailments after eliminating caffeine?
And the last question – how long after withdrawal from caffeine did you restore yourself to healthy, for any of your conditions?
I stopped drinking tea 2 days ago (several cups a day) as I thought tea (caffeine) may be the source of my stomach tension. I’ve been troubled, worrying for a long time – financial issues.
Yesterday and today I had my symptoms reduced almost completely, say 90%.The only change – no tea.
Thanks,
John
I also suffer from eczema and have been trying to self-diagnose the triggers by avoiding certain foods such as milk, soy or meat. A friend recently suggested that it could be caffeine though, because I am an avid tea drinker and every time I drink tea, my skin starts to dry up. Does the person below (your?) have flare ups with other foods containing caffeine? Or with other foods without caffeine? Thank you!
Sorry…the person I was referring to (your) posted a while ago.
could u tell me if drinking energy drinks could be making me very itchey, as soon as i have a energy drink im going mad with this itching , all over my arms its so bad at night its like my arms are on fire, also iv noticed that when iv eaten chocolate my throat goes funny i start coughing and chocking, i have a under active thyroid so i drink them for a bit more energy as i feel like i want to sleep, but this itching is driving me mad,
I think I have a caffeine allergy. I get itchy feet
high anxiety, depression, feelings of hopelessness and I cry for no reason at all after I have drank 2-3
cups coffee. Headaches with aura every so often, shortness of breath. Been back and forth to doc, so many tests done nothing wrong with me. Rashes on the bottom of my feet. Severe depression, loss of focus.
I am going to ween myself off coffee and see what will happen. But I really think it is coffee.
Three years ago I was diagnosed with hyperaldosteronism, a condition where the adrenal glands secrete too much aldosterone. This is one of the causes of hypertension, or high blood pressure. I am 63 years old and under the care of three doctors. The GP told me at the beginning to cut out coffee. Well, being the stubborn person that I am, I switched to tea. Eventually I went back to coffee.
To make a long story shorter, I am currently on eight different medications because the standard high blood pressure meds didn’t work very well. A recent measurement showed my BP at 120/80, not too bad.
I described my condition to a homeopathic health guy at a local health food store and he replied, “Coffee, tea, it’s all the same. Your problem is that your kidneys and adrenal system cannot tolerate caffeine in any form.” Two weeks ago I decided to wean myself gradually off caffeine, reducing my intake of coffee by eight ounces per day over several days.
I re-discovered rooibos tea, a great tasting no caffeine, herbal tea from South Africa and my old French press machine.
On 10-20-08 my BP was 115/75 and yesterday it was 116/69. Sticking with the no caffeine will at some point require a change in meds, but that’s just fine with me.
Barry
Strasburg, OH
kelsey thompson
or
molly
Is there a way either of you? Your symptoms sound very much like mine. I get blister like patches on my hands. Red and itchy. I also get moody. I went off coffee and it got better.
I thought it was mold or food allergies, but after reading this, it may be the stimulants in the coffee and chocolate.
Dark chocolate is the worst for me, coffee and pop may also. My reactions are delayed, so I haven’t always been sure, that and i love chocolate.
Thanks!
-Eric
I have read all of the comments and I feel that I can relate. I love sweet tea , Dr.Pepper and chocolate. I would get dizzy, my heart would race, and I would get bad heartburn pain in my throat. Dizziness and sleeplessness would happen at night. Does anyone else get bad heartburn. I would like to know. I am deffinately going to drop caffeine. It is not worth it.
Remember there are other common things that can make you itch – like chocolate and aspartame.
OMG… I am so glad I found this site. I have been thinking that something was wrong with me, like I have lost my mind!!! I am 25 an have 2 kids an sometimes I just feel like I am going crazy. At first I thought I was having a heart attack, I have been in and out the ER thinking I was about to die!!! The doctor would tell me that it was just anxiety attacks and they wouldn’t kill me and I could talk to a psychiatrist and they would try and help me get over them. Well I knew that something else was going on with me because I could be having a good time and all the sudden it would hit and I thought I was going to die. I then started realizing that I have the spells after I would eat. So I started watching what I would eat and I was fine. Then at a birthday party @ my sisters, I thought, well I’m fine it won’t hurt to have a little bit of coke to drink and WOW!!! My left arm went numb, my face went numb, my tongue felt like it was swollen, I couldn’t breath, I was having sharp pains in my chest, I knew were I was, but it was like I had major memory lost at the time. I didn’t want to go back to the hospital because I had been in and out so much with the same symptoms, and every time they would tell me the same thing. I got in the bath tub and after about a minute or so I was fine. Since then I haven’t had any caffeine and I am fine. I haven’t had anymore symptoms.
I am glad to have finally found people that have had some negative reaction to caffine. I have been trying to self diagnose myself for about 4 years. I have always had coffee and never had any problems. After a while I decided to take a diet pill called xenadrine which has HIGH doses of caffine and I simply broke out in itchy puss filled blisters all over my body and especially all over my legs. My leg would sometimes go numb for days. I was convinced it was the stimulants in the pills so I stopped taking them. I then started to see similar symptoms over the years whenever I drank an energy drink or hot teas. I then became convinced that it was the high amounts of caffeine digested. Oddly enough i was shortly diagnosed with hyperthyroidism,in which my doctor said that any changes (horomones, allergies) in my body can trigger my adrenal glands to flare up. So I now minimize my caffeine intake and I have not had any blisters or major irregularities in my body. Thanks to all for sharing their experiences.
im looking for a miracle…i am so thankful i found this site. three and a half years i had severe migranes and was always in the E.R. because i would have panic attacks…several visits/tests later my neurologist(sp) told me that the culprit was MSG/aspartame/&CAFFIENE!!!! I quit all three cold turkey. it was very hard because i would have withdrawls. in 2006 i started to drink caffienated drinks again mostly because my boyfriend drank Dr.pepper all day everyday….i got pregnant and i craved a lot of things esp. peanuts…i hadnt had an eczema flare up since elementary school& in oct. 2006 my skin flared up..and my eyes got swollen. i went to an allergy doc and he said it was an allergy to peanuts and fish…i cut those two out of my diet and the problem persisted. my mother told me that it could be because of my pregnancy but i doubted it. i had my son and still have this flaring up of the skin…my skin is blotchy i get irrated easily and im always fatigued. i blamed the mood swings and fatigue on post partum depression but my son is now 17 months old and i still feel the same way….i didnt start to think it could be caffiene until a few weeks ago…i hadnt drank a soda a in about 5 days and my skin looked good. almost normal & then i drank a few sips of a dr. pepper at my in laws house and ::BAM:: a few hours later swollen, itchy, face/skin. i have blamed caffiene ever since…but i have yet to quit it cold turkey….i guess its hard because i have cut sooooo much out of my diet because of my other allergies that i just dont wanna have to give up caffiene…i think its obvious that after today i will have to give up caffiene =( thanks so much to everyone who has posted on here it has really OPENED MY EYES.
forever grateful,
Vanessa
I have been dealing with this my whole life and my mother and niece have it also. It skips a generation and I get scratch marks all over my body. My skin feels like something is eating at body and I can’t to it. So it never goes away.
When I drink caffeine, such as soda, coffee, or large amounts of tea, my body doesn’t seem to accept the caffeine. It’s nothing serious, and I do still drink caffeine every now and again, but it seems when I consume the listed products, I have to spit, a lot like I was just running a far distance. It’s nothing from my stomach, just clear, almost snot like, liquid that I have to spit out.
Is this considered an allergy?
I have no other symptoms other than this, but it only happens with things that seem to have a lot of caffeine.
I am so glad that I have seen this. I have for 2 weeks been driven mad with itch skin, started with my right hand , dry and red and then itchy then welts that appearred and all my fingers where swollen and the palms, and then it went up my wrist. I then got them across the shoulder red painful itchy welts – then it went away for a day or two and started in my left hand – this time my entire left arm become red and swollen, I thought I was going to explode. Then it went away – and started again on my right hand. Went on antihistamines and creams, and as time has progressed – it started all over my body taking turns – around my ears, neck and face, then goes, then appears on my back and trunk – all the time, this hot skin, dry, itchy and comes up with welts some are huge. Was placed on Predisolone to control. I started to read on Urticaria which is what my doctor said I hve and it could be caused by many things, so I got rid of every chemical in my house, went onto organic shampoos, body washers, detergents , wearing gloves etc … and still i am getting it, then last night I ate a packet of chocolate teddy bears – and drank hot chocolate all day and around 4 am I was up and itchy all over – so i started to think Caffiene – so I drank ice tea this morning and whammy itchy etc, and then I had a coffee about 2 hours ago, and I have welts and itchy skin all over my front , neck. So I think I am allergic to Caffiene – what do you think? however I have drank coffee all my life – and chocolate but did limit my soft drinks as I used to get itchy legs when I was little – but maybe all the time I should have limited my caffiene all together and now I have a massive intolerance… well I am going to stop all caffiene and see if I improve and if my irratibility and easily loose my temper , clears up…
I too am allergic to caffeine. I used to drink a pot or two of coffee a day. Then, one day i started getting a rash all over my body.. little bumps that would be like sweat blisters (itched like crazy). I was not sure what was happening and it took almost 2 years before i realized it was CAFFEINE.
I was a coffee/candy specialist and couldn’t even have any. The skin doctor didnt even know what it was. He just wanted to prescribe me steroids. no thanks.
I quit drinking coffee and I try not to eat any chocolate etc. and i have been able to control my problem.
ONE thing i would like to metion…. Caffeine is produced by a plant (coffee tree) as a natural deterrent from bugs that would eat it. Kind of like a defense against would be plant eaters. Humans tried some and loved it. But it is not for every BODY. If you drink too much coffee you too will develop an allergy more than likely. Our bodies can only take so much abuse.
good luck to anyone else who suffers from this frustrating problem. -nik
Whoa I’m glad I found this. When I was in high school, I drank several cans of Dr. Pepper in a day, and sometimes coffee in the morning. I gave it up after I graduated and noticed that I felt healthier. Recently I’ve started drinking caffeine again, and after a few sips, I can feel the stuff hit my bloodstream. I get these massive headaches, get panic attacks, lose focus like I’m in a fog, get depressed and cranky, and just feel overall sick. But if I don’t drink caffeine, I feel great. A friend told me I may be allergic and I thought he was pulling my leg. Now I know that all that bugging out after a cup of coffee wasn’t just me– and reading the comments helped me realize I’m not alone. I’m not drinking caffeine anymore after a day and I already feel great. Thanks for posting about this.
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To Dan (who posted on December 18th, 2007 4:19 am), you are right about the cocaine. Same thing happened to me and I’m 100& sure it was cut with caffeine.