15 septembre 2009
Caffeine Use
Caffeine is a mild central nervous system stimulant found in coffee beans, tea leaves and
cocoa beans. The question during recovery is whether or not we can handle a doubling of
our normal daily caffeine intake without experiencing “caffeine jitters” or other
symptoms of over-stimulation?
Nicotine somehow doubles the rate by which the body depletes caffeine. What’s that
mean? It means that if we were drinking 2 cups of coffee while using nicotine, once
nicotine use ends the stimulant effect of those two cups of coffee might now feel like 4
cups.
According to a 1997 study, “continuous caffeine consumption with smoking cessation has
been associated with more than doubled caffeine plasma levels.
Such concentrations may
be sufficient to produce caffeine toxicity symptoms in smoking abstinence conditions.”
The study found “a significant linear increase in caffeine sputum levels across 3 weeks
post cessation,” and that “three weeks after cessation, concentrations reached 203% of
baseline for the caffeine user.”