Caffeine Sensitivity

Last year I wrote a post about how much caffeine helped me with my school work. The ups and downs of coffee were discussed with mostly positive feelings. I still drink a cup on the weekends but over the past months I've noticed some real drawbacks. I'm not one of those people who can enjoy a coke with dinner or a cup of coffee with my after-dinner dessert. I'd be up for hours. This is something I learned after eating Starbucks coffee ice cream one evening many, many years ago. I really shouldn't drive or apparently cook several hours after having caffeine either. See, the initial effect is wonderful. On the weekends I like to work out in the morning and then after I've had my shower I sit down and enjoy my breakfast and watch a little TV. If I don't have somewhere to be fairly soon or if I don't have some caffeine I will take a nap at 11am. Not a good use of my time. So, I have some coffee and within about 10 minutes tasks that seemed unimportant (cleaning, laundry, running errands) suddenly seem vital. I am motivated to straighten up messes, dust, vacuum, clean the bathroom, change the sheets, play with the dogs, etc. I start to make lists of things I need to buy at the grocery store, plan meals for the week, sort through my closet to make sure all my clothes are still color coordinated: the things we all do. The real problem happens about 4 hours later when I get the shakes, heart palpitations, and paranoia. I tried to work on a baby gift for Whitney that involved painting delicate lines and my hands shook so badly I had to wipe up my messes with a damp cloth multiple times. When I'm driving I get really paranoid and I think everyone is riding my bumper and I get a little erratic. I almost caused two wrecks the other day on my way to Macon. And I got off at the rest stop on I-475 mistaking it for my exit. This past Saturday I did some cooking. Another thing I should maybe hold off on until the shakes and erratic behavior are no more. These happened within 30 minutes of each other.

The one on the left happened while cleaning my zester. The one on the right happened while grating cheese. Yes, a chunk of my skin ended up in the freshly shredded cheese pile. I'm not willing to give up my weekend motivator so I'll consider something my mother suggested I try years ago.

I haven't tried it yet so I don't know if this will work but sometimes mother knows best.