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Caffeine withdrawal is now a mental disorder
Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | June 4, 2013 | Kelly O'Shea

Posted on 06/04/2013 6:39:19 PM PDT by grundle

Ask anyone coming down from the high of one too many cups of coffee, and they'll tell you that the headaches from caffeine withdrawal can drive you crazy. So much so, that the latest version of psychiatry’s bible, DSM-5, is naming caffeine withdrawal as an actual mental disorder.

Matt Peckham of Times.com shares some of the symptoms a person who's drunk on coffee would typically experience:

If you’ve had more than 250 mg of caffeine (two to three cups of brewed coffee) and experienced five or more of the following symptoms, says the guide, you’ve probably been caffeine-buzzed: restlessness, nervousness, excitement, insomnia, flushed face, diuresis (having to pee a lot), gastrointestinal disturbance, muscle twitching, rambling flow of thought and speech, tachycardia or cardiac arrhythmia, periods of inexhaustibility or psychomotor agitation (unintentional motion, say, rapidly bouncing one leg).

But it's when you come off the coffee bean high that you start to show the worst side effects.

So what exactly qualifies caffeine withdrawal as a mental disorder? It’s more than just the splitting headaches and irritability — caffeine withdrawal becomes a mental illness when it gets to the point that it actually interferes with your daily life.

In December 2011 when caffeine withdrawal was announced as being “recommended for inclusion” in the DSM-5, work-group member Alan J. Budney attempted to address the controversy:

“We feel that there is enough data to support a caffeine-withdrawal syndrome. There are enough people who go into withdrawal — that if they don’t get caffeine, it becomes a real syndrome and can affect work, sleep, or whatever they need to do. So we’re suggesting that it ‘make the big leagues’ and become part of the DSM to make sure everyone is aware of it.”

With that said, in defense of that crazy person behind you in line at Starbucks, it’s not their fault — blame the caffeine!


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I was laying on the prep bed prior to a minor operation and I was instructed the day before to not ingest anything prior to the procedure. I was laying on the bed, my eyes squinting and my head pounding and I was in obvious discomfort and the nurse asks what the problem is.. in what seemed to be five minutes, they had me hooked up to a caffeine IV..

The headache would have gone away as soon as the anesthesiologist juiced me up but it was nice to know they had the stuff. Would that type of withdrawal get me disability?


21 posted on 06/04/2013 7:11:58 PM PDT by newnhdad (Our new motto: USA, it was fun while it lasted.)
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To: grundle
So if you quit taking coffee, they can take away your guns.

Got it...

22 posted on 06/04/2013 7:25:51 PM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: grundle

Tea Contains Caffeine....

They are going after the Tea Party, LITERALLY!!!!!

Because if you are suffering Caffeine withdrawal they can now take your guns....


23 posted on 06/04/2013 7:27:09 PM PDT by GraceG
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To: grundle

But homosexuality is no longer a mental disorder because men having sex with men activists intimidated the cowardly psychiatrists to drop it from the DSM. Also, pedophilia is only a disorder if one feels guilt about the actions according to the latest DSM. :-|


24 posted on 06/04/2013 7:31:34 PM PDT by Stepan12
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

They can’t. Inclusion in the DSM does not make something a “mental disorder.” Caffeine withdrawal is a physiological condition but it does not mean someone is now mentally ill.


25 posted on 06/04/2013 7:31:37 PM PDT by Jake8898
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To: grundle
...five or more of the following symptoms, says the guide, you’ve probably been caffeine-buzzed: restlessness, nervousness, excitement, insomnia, flushed face, diuresis (having to pee a lot), gastrointestinal disturbance, muscle twitching, rambling flow of thought and speech, tachycardia or cardiac arrhythmia, periods of inexhaustibility or psychomotor agitation (unintentional motion, say, rapidly bouncing one leg).

Symptoms?

Most of that list is what passes for normal for anyone competent enough to plug in and load their own coffee pot.

26 posted on 06/04/2013 7:31:45 PM PDT by RobinOfKingston (Democrats--the party of Evil. Republicans--the party of Stupid.)
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To: cripplecreek

LOL!! I can’t stop laughing. You crack me up when I need it the most!


27 posted on 06/04/2013 7:32:49 PM PDT by marygam (I have extra ducktape for anyone who needs to wrap their head.)
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To: grundle

um... caffine withdrwaw is now a mental disorder.. but being attracted to someone of the same sex is perfectly normal?

Why does any one take ANY THING the APA says seriously.


28 posted on 06/04/2013 7:35:50 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama lied .. the economy died.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

New gun laws prevent gun ownership by people with “mental disorders”....... Looks like they just gave some nice legal cover for disqualifying millions from owning guns because they “are or have” in the past been treated by a psychologist for a mental disorder.....”Coffee now considered a Mental Disorder”


29 posted on 06/04/2013 7:38:52 PM PDT by caww
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To: familyop

Exactly....The mental disorder lies in those who are trying to analyse the effects and then stamp it as ‘such and such’.

But it will work for those who say you can’t have a gun if you’ve been treated for a mental disorder.


30 posted on 06/04/2013 7:40:25 PM PDT by caww
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To: Jake8898

That’s right....In reality you suffer physical symptoms for a short amount of time.,,,,Those symptoms dissipate and disappear.... therefore, it’s not a mental disorder.


31 posted on 06/04/2013 7:43:08 PM PDT by caww
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To: grundle

so now anyone who drinks 5-6 cups of coffee a day cannot own a weapon because he has a mental comndition.


32 posted on 06/04/2013 7:47:33 PM PDT by bravo whiskey (We should not fear our government. Our government shoud fear us.)
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To: GraceG

News laws against secondhand drip. Protect the cheeldren.


33 posted on 06/04/2013 7:47:47 PM PDT by MaxMax
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To: Retired Chemist

Gets to the point that the cures are worse than the disorders they are chasing after. (Reminiscent of the folk song about the old lady who swallowed a fly, then all manner of critters from a spider to a horse in an attempt to deal with her problems.)


34 posted on 06/04/2013 7:49:40 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Whatever promise that God has made, in Jesus it is yes. See my page.)
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To: grundle

BS- addictions are LACK OF SELF CONTROL... PERIOD- they have NOTHING to do with mental problems- Millions upon millions of Prior addicts can attest to htsi very FACT-


35 posted on 06/04/2013 7:50:18 PM PDT by CottShop (Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge)
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To: grundle
The real mental disorder is if you believe all that crap.

36 posted on 06/04/2013 7:53:16 PM PDT by BitWielder1 (Corporate Profits are better than Government Waste)
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To: grundle

Here we go, government to disarm anyone carrying at Starbucks


37 posted on 06/04/2013 7:53:45 PM PDT by School of Rational Thought
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To: BitWielder1

It’s probably more real, though, than some of the other airy fairy things in it based on twisted mores.


38 posted on 06/04/2013 7:55:14 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Whatever promise that God has made, in Jesus it is yes. See my page.)
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To: cripplecreek

Heh!


39 posted on 06/04/2013 7:58:45 PM PDT by prairiebreeze (Don't be afraid to see what you see. -- Ronald Reagan)
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To: grundle

Many of the symptoms listed are physiological disorders, but are now mental disorders? Has Werner Erhard wormed his way into steering the DSM?


40 posted on 06/04/2013 7:58:56 PM PDT by Fred Hayek (The Democratic Party is now the operational arm of the CPUSA)
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