CAFFEINE OVERLOAD.

I like my coffee. I drink probably 4-5 cups a day. BUT...I drink decaf as much as possible. I realize decaf does contain some caffeine, but the percentage is much lower. And while I do drink some regular coffee on a regular basis, its mainly so I don't go into shock if I accidentally get a cup of regular, or have no choice or don't want to make a fuss.

Caffeine and I parted company several years ago. I'm not sure yet why I went to decaf, but the change in me was apparent almost immediately.

One cup, and things become a little sharper and more in focus; I can concentrate fine. Two cups, and I get chatty, something I'm usually not, but its more than chatty--its mouth run on, like I'm on speed or something. Three cups, and things start getting edgy for me. More than that, and I'm in trouble. I suspect my running speed developed from that edginess I had back when I first started running. Once I went off the caffeine, I couldn't help notice that I slowed down--I was more laid back and relaxed. It didn't really matter!

Recently, I realized I had a couple of bags of flavored, regular coffee in the cupboard that needed using up. These were gifts from Christmas, and while I usually keep some regular coffee on hand for company, this was more than my usual supply, and I didn't want them to get stale and go to waste.

So I've been adding in a scoop or two of regular with my decaf for a while now. I can tell the difference, but its more at the "one cup" stage, so its been okay. Yesterday, though, I noticed after one cup that I was a little edgy, jittery almost with doing things, darting from one thing to the next, not able to focus. After 2 cups, I was starting to really get tired and sleepy, like I was burned out or something. I had slept good the night before, but I had been really tired Monday night, and figured it was just the weekend running catching up with me. On the drive to work, I was REALLY sleepy. I wanted to go back to bed in the worst way. But at the same time, I noticed I was driving quite aggressively for me, and my stomach wasn't feeling very good either.

This whole crappy feeling continued all morning. I had planned to run at lunch time, mainly to soak up the sunshine we have been enjoying lately, and fortunately, the run itself helped perk me up and snap me out of the funky phase. The rest of the day, I felt alert and able to work without a problem.

Evening came, and I still was feeling pretty good. In fact, I quickly got all my evening "chores" done early, without feeling like I needed to sit around and relax. When it came time to fix the next morning's coffee, my hand reached in the cupboard and what did I pull out? Not only the regular flavored coffee I had been attempting to use up but a can of regular as well. Hmm, I knew I had that, but I wonder why its on a different shelf than usual? When I went looking for my coffee scoop, it suddenly occurred to me that I had used ALL regular coffee for that day! No wonder I had such a weird day! It all started making sense: the jitteriness; the irritation; the bad driving (although I'm sure someone will argue that I drive bad all the time!), the unusual fatigue, and yet the unexplained energy burst too.

At bedtime, I thought I was tired and actually went to bed early, only to lay there and lay there and lay there. No sleep came until probably after 2 am and then I still woke 2 more times before 5 am, when I finally got up. I wasn't all that tired, at least for now.

I'm sure I'll be dragging around here later today and this evening, but right now I think I am still buzzing from yesterday!