This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record.
The result of the debate was keep (no consensus).
Mindspillage
(spill yours?) 03:00, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Original research from health-mad anon user, probably same as has created Wolfing Food and other pages on VFD. Mainly exists to further editors own site, so self-promotion. Linking to the article from every page possible, even when totally unsuitable -- Kiand 00:38, 21 May 2005 (UTC) reply
I'm not the creator of Wolfing Food or any spurious entries of any kind. Nor am I "health-mad" (although I confess to quoting Gary Null below). However, I am very much determined to alert the public to the symptoms of caffeinism, which I had two years ago. Within 9 months of starting a 1-3 cup a day coffee habit, I went from excellent health to psychosis, walking around with my eyes glazed over and my arms stiff at my sides. I was about 90% oblivious to the symptoms engulfing me: anxiety, restless legs, chattiness, euphoria, disorientation and delusions (including, on one occasion, paranoia and hostility). I came very close to going on heavy meds and being institutionalized, after living 30 years rarely taking more than an aspirin for anything.
Since withdrawing my symptoms have vanished entirely and my former health has returned. I've spoken with many others who had the same experience, and several doctors well enough educated in toxicology or immunology to diagnose it, and see their patients' health restored.
I believe it should remain under "caffeinism" based on the currency of the term in medical circles. "Caffeine overdose" implies an acute, one-time episode (like popping a dozen Vivarin). But caffeinism, in its most insidious form, is a chronic condition that mimics manic depression, schizophrenia and a host of other ills that last for years--and are treated not with stomach pumps but pharmaceuticals.
The following are just a few of the many alarming statements about caffeinism by psychiatrists, toxicologists and MDs, scattered throughout the medical literature. Many more are added weekly to the Experts page at the nonprofit Web site I'm building, CaffeineWeb.com, where anyone can click on links to the original sources:
DC Mackay and JW Rollins, "Caffeine and caffeinism," Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service,1989;75(2):65-7:
"[When caffeine is taken in excess], anxiety-related symptoms become increasingly apparent. A case of caffeinism, which presented as a paranoid delusion, is reported as an extreme example of this. A study of 60 hospital inpatients revealed that about 40% of them consumed sufficient caffeine to produce symptoms of caffeinism. It is thus recommended that all patients should be questioned on their caffeine intake. Also, caffeinism should be considered as a differential diagnosis of anxiety states."
L Tondo and N Rudas, "The course of a seasonal bipolar disorder influenced by caffeine," Journal of Affective Disorders:
"A longitudinal case report shows a sudden remission of the severe course of a seasonal bipolar disorder after 10 years of psychopharmacological treatments. The discontinuation of heavy caffeine intake appears to have contributed to the outcome."
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV):
"The 4 caffeine-induced psychiatric disorders include caffeine intoxication, caffeine-induced anxiety disorder, caffeine-induced sleep disorder, and caffeine-related disorder not otherwise specified (NOS)."
Drs. JE James and KP Stirling, in The British Journal of Addiction:
"Although infrequently diagnosed, caffeinism is thought to afflict as many as one person in ten of the population."
Clinical nutritionist Stephen Cherniske, Author, Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Dangers of America's #1 Drug:
"For five years I worked in a team practice with physicians and psychotherapists. Often, the psychological evaluation would include one or more anxiety syndromes, and the recommendation was for counseling. I would point out that the person was consuming excessive amounts of caffeine and request a trial month off caffeine prior to therapy sessions. In about 50% of cases, the anxiety syndrome would resolve with caffeine withdrawal alone."
"In over a decade of practice as a clinical nutritionist, I have seen firsthand, with thousands of clients, that caffeine is a health hazard. Anxiety, muscle aches, PMS, headaches....However, if that's all caffeine has done to you, you're lucky. What about people misdiagnosed as neurotic or even psychotic, who spend years and small fortunes in psychotherapy--all because no one asked them about their caffeine intake?"
Roland R. Griffiths, Ph.D, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Professor of Behavioral Biology, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences; Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience; Formerly Research Chief, Department of Psychiatry, Baltimore City Hospitals, Baltimore, MD:
"The potential for caffeine intoxication to cause clinically significant distress is reflected by the inclusion of caffeine intoxication as a diagnosis in DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition)(American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and in ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Edition)(World Health Organization). Caffeine intoxication has long been recognized as a discrete syndrome associated with excessive caffeine use. Caffeinism is an older term that has been used to describe the toxic effects of caffeine resulting from acute or chronic use. Caffeine intoxication is currently defined by a number of symptoms and clinical features that emerge in response to recent consumption of caffeine. Common features of caffeine intoxication include nervousness (anxiety), restlessness, excitement, insomnia, rambling flow of thought and speech, gastrointestinal upset, tremors, tachycardia, diuresis, muscle twitching, periods of inexhaustibility, and psychomotor agitation. In addition, there have been reports of patients with caffeine intoxication having fever, irritability, tremors, sensory disturbances, tachypnea, and headaches."
Ruth Whalen, MLT, "How Much Mental Illness Is an Allergy to Caffeine?":
"Caffeine toxicity may be mistaken for bipolar disorder. Symptoms include: chattiness, repetitive thought and action (resembling obsessive compulsive disorder), restlessness, psychomotor agitation, alternating moods, anger, impulsiveness, aggression, omnipotence, delirium, buying sprees, lack of sexual inhibition, and loss of values. Toxicity is known to cause excitement, agitation, restlessness, shifting states of consciousness, and toxic psychosis, mimicking amphetamine psychosis. Allergic individuals may be erroneously diagnosed, medicated, and lost in a dark disturbed world, until death."
Dr. Sidney Kaye, Institute of Legal Medicine:
"The symptoms vary with acquired or inborn tolerance, but in general the patients may complain of [among other symptoms] nervousness, restlessness, silliness, elation, euphoria, confusion, disorientation, excitation, and even violent behavior with wild, inanic screaming, kicking and biting, progressing to semi-stupor."
"Coffee overindulgence is overlooked many times because the bizarre symptoms may resemble and masquerade as an organic or mental disease....But what a feeling of relief to both physician and patient to see the symptoms completely disappear on the physician's order to stop drinking coffee."
Sanford Bolton, PhD, and Gary Null, M.S., in the Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry:
"Caffeinism may result in a syndrome which resembles and may be confused or confounded with true psychotic states. This may lead to misdiagnosis and mistreatment. A question arises from the varied reports of caffeine consumption in psychiatric populations: Does caffeine stimulate psychosis or does psychosis stimulate caffeine consumption?"
Calvin Thrash, MD, Author, Food Allergies Made Simple:
"Thousands are in mental institutions today because of no greater matter than that of the use of caffeine. Psychiatrists are now publishing articles indicating that there are numerous cases of depression and anxiety in mental institutions, who need no other treatment than to be taken off caffeine.
"However, the use of caffeine is so traditional and firmly entrenched that it is almost impossible to remove caffeinated drinks from the diet of patients in mental institutions. Soft drink machines, coffee dispensers, and the traditional coffee break are common pastimes in mental institutions, and with those who are mentally ill at home."
Again, please let the article remain. I apologize for the "soapbox" tone and have no objections to others amending it, as long as the substance of the article stands. Thanks so much!
Brian@CaffeineWeb.com
Clinical Management of Poisoning and Drug Overdose, 3rd ed., 1998
Michael W. Shannon, MD, MPH, Director, Lead and Toxicology Clinic, The Children's Hospital Boston; Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Lester M. Haddad, MD, Clinical Professor in Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina; Bon Secours St. Francis Xavier Hospital; James F. Winchester, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Georgetown University Medical Center:
"Caffeine-induced psychosis, whether it be delirium, manic depression, schizophrenia, or merely an anxiety syndrome, in most cases will be hard to differentiate from other organic or non-organic psychoses....The treatment for caffeine-induced psychosis is to withhold further caffeine."
DC Mackay and JW Rollins, "Caffeine and caffeinism," Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service,1989;75(2):65-7: "A study of 60 hospital inpatients revealed that about 40% of them consumed sufficient caffeine to produce symptoms of caffeinism. It is thus recommended that all patients should be questioned on their caffeine intake. Also, caffeinism should be considered as a differential diagnosis of anxiety states."
Drs. JE James and KP Stirling, in The British Journal of Addiction: "Although infrequently diagnosed, caffeinism is thought to afflict as many as one person in ten of the population."
Clinical nutritionist Stephen Cherniske, Author, Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Dangers of America's #1 Drug: "What about people misdiagnosed as neurotic or even psychotic, who spend years and small fortunes in psychotherapy--all because no one asked them about their caffeine intake?"
Ruth Whalen, MLT, "How Much Mental Illness Is an Allergy to Caffeine?": "Caffeine toxicity may be mistaken for bipolar disorder....Allergic individuals may be erroneously diagnosed, medicated, and lost in a dark disturbed world, until death."
Dr. Sidney Kaye, Institute of Legal Medicine: "Coffee overindulgence is overlooked many times because the bizarre symptoms may resemble and masquerade as an organic or mental disease....But what a feeling of relief to both physician and patient to see the symptoms completely disappear on the physician's order to stop drinking coffee."
Sanford Bolton, PhD, and Gary Null, M.S., in the Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry: "Caffeinism may result in a syndrome which resembles and may be confused or confounded with true psychotic states. This may lead to misdiagnosis and mistreatment. A question arises from the varied reports of caffeine consumption in psychiatric populations: Does caffeine stimulate psychosis or does psychosis stimulate caffeine consumption?"
Calvin Thrash, MD, Author, Food Allergies Made Simple: "Thousands are in mental institutions today because of no greater matter than that of the use of caffeine. Psychiatrists are now publishing articles indicating that there are numerous cases of depression and anxiety in mental institutions, who need no other treatment than to be taken off caffeine."
Following is the full text of a letter by Dan Stradford published last month on BMJ.com (formerly British Medical Journal), with commentary by psychiatrist and neurologist Stuart Shipko, M.D., founder and director of the Panic Disorder Institute:
"The failure to do full medical screenings on psychiatric patients is one of the greatest areas of neglect in modern medicine. Studies have repeatedly shown for years that psychiatric populations have more medical ailments than non-psychiatric patients. No one disputes this. And most of those same studies also show that a healthy percentage of psychiatric patients are routinely misdiagnosed with mental illness (and often placed on psychotropics for years or for life), when they, in fact, have medical problems causing or exacerbating their psychiatric symptoms. No one disputes this either.
The landmark 1980 study by Richard Hall et al ("Physical Illness Manifesting as Psychiatric Disease", Arch Gen Psychiatry, 1980, 37: 989- 995) found 46% of the psychiatric patients thoroughly examined had physical ailments causing or exacerbating their mental symptoms.
The California legislature was so shocked by this study, it ordered research, headed by Dr. Lorrin Koran of Stanford University, on how to improve the quality of medical exams in psychiatric settings. The result of that study was the "Medical Evaluation Field Manual," which sets a minimal standard for medical screenings and provides an efficient algorithm when full screenings are not practical.
The manual was distributed to all of California's counties in the late 1980s and NONE of them implemented it. A dozen years later, my nonprofit organization, Safe Harbor, has asked for and received a grant to work on getting this manual implemented.
We have posted the Field Manual on the internet at www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/fieldmanual.htm.
What concerns me is that I--a layman--and a group of volunteers is having to grab the psychiatric profession by the scruff of the neck to get them to examine their own patients! This does not speak well for the profession or for its organizations, such as the American and British Psychiatric Associations....
This medical negligence cannot continue. I would like to issue a call to medical professionals to, once and for all, set and keep minimal medical screening standards for psychiatric patients so that this easily remedied medical neglect exists no more."
Response by Stuart Shipko, M.D., psychiatrist, neurologist, founder and director of the Panic Disorder Institute: "This is so true. A long time ago when I actively practiced general medicine I was the doctor who did physical examinations on patients confined to a mental ward. I found that the labwork showed excessive abnormalities of calcium, sodium and chloride. I diligently worked up these abnormalities, but concluded that the abnormalities were due to problems in blood testing. To present this to the quality assurance committee, I reviewed the charts of the previous 50 admissions and showed the cluster of abnormalities. The response? They wanted to know what my motives were and why I cared. The fact that it was my job to care went over their heads. Medical evaluation of the 'mentally ill' is pretty much nonexistent." BrianinNYC 13:23, 21 May 2005 (UTC) reply
"What purpose in the natural world does the chemical serve?
The answer is that caffeine is part of a plant's "chemical weaponry" to defend itself against predators and competitors. Plants cannot defend themselves with limbs, or run away from danger. Instead, they synthesize chemicals which are toxic to certain life forms. Caffeine is such a chemical; it has potent antibiotic and antifungal powers, and causes sterility in several insects. Also, caffeine permeates the soil which surrounds the plants by the accumulation of fallen leaves and berries, thus inhibiting the growth of competing plants.
However, in doing this, the caffeine plant ultimately kills itself as well. Over many years, the accumulation of caffeine in the soil becomes so great that the toxicity level is high enough to harm the parent plant. It is this that contributes to the degeneration of coffee plantations between the ages of ten and twenty-five years." BrianinNYC 22:47, 22 May 2005 (UTC) reply
From Caffeine Blues by clinical nutritionist Stephen Cherniske: "If you were curious about the dangers of caffeine, you would undoubtedly come across a brochure entitled What You Should Know About Caffeine. You would find this ubiquitous brochure on information racks in hospitals, pharmacies, public health offices, or in your doctor's office. It's available throught the mail and on the Internet. What You Should Know About Caffeine is published by the very official-sounding International Food Information Council in Washington, DC. The brochure does not list sponsors or disclose an industry affiliation. When I requested details of industry sponsorship, I received another glossy color brochure that mentioned nothing about which organizations supply the funds to disseminate all this information. After pressing the issue through several phone calls, I finally received a list of IFIC "supporters," including Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola, M&M/Mars Candy, NutraSweet, Nestle, Hershey Foods, Frito-Lay, Proctor & Gamble and the Arco Chemical Company.
"When I asked the IFIC for scientific support for their assertion that 300 milligrams of caffeine was perfectly safe, they sent me a report published in Food and Chemical Toxicity. The authors of this report are both employees of the Coca-Cola Company and members of the National Soft Drink Asociation. As you might expect, the report downplays the effects of caffeine in the American diet, using some interesting techniques.
"For the past eight years I have conducted a systematic review of the world scientific literature on caffeine. This research has taken some real detective work. It's difficult to tell what's going on at first. After all, I drank coffee for over 20 years, simply because I believed like everybody else that coffee, and caffeine, had no adverse health effects.
"I was in for the surprise of my life. The first thing I noticed is that much of the research on coffee was imprecise. The majority of researchers refer to the standard coffee cup as a six-ounce serving, but most people drink from mugs, which contain 12 to 14 ounces or more. That's not to mention convenience store cups, which contain anywhere from 20 to 32 ounces. If you're like most people, you probably consume far more caffeine than you think you do....
"I also began to see that the caffeine issue is rarely taken seriously. Nearly every researcher starts from the assumption that caffeine is okay. Why? Because, consciously or subconsciously, they are influenced by the fact that they themselves depend on coffee. I have visited the offices of hundreds of scientists, professors, and clinicians. The coffee machine is as much a part of their environment as test tubes and computers. Likewise, the journalists who report health news to the public are usually heavy coffee drinkers. I'm not saying these people are dishonest, only that information can be biased by the habits of those who make and break the news."
BrianinNYC 22:47, 22 May 2005 (UTC) reply
This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record.
The result of the debate was keep (no consensus).
Mindspillage
(spill yours?) 03:00, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Original research from health-mad anon user, probably same as has created Wolfing Food and other pages on VFD. Mainly exists to further editors own site, so self-promotion. Linking to the article from every page possible, even when totally unsuitable -- Kiand 00:38, 21 May 2005 (UTC) reply
I'm not the creator of Wolfing Food or any spurious entries of any kind. Nor am I "health-mad" (although I confess to quoting Gary Null below). However, I am very much determined to alert the public to the symptoms of caffeinism, which I had two years ago. Within 9 months of starting a 1-3 cup a day coffee habit, I went from excellent health to psychosis, walking around with my eyes glazed over and my arms stiff at my sides. I was about 90% oblivious to the symptoms engulfing me: anxiety, restless legs, chattiness, euphoria, disorientation and delusions (including, on one occasion, paranoia and hostility). I came very close to going on heavy meds and being institutionalized, after living 30 years rarely taking more than an aspirin for anything.
Since withdrawing my symptoms have vanished entirely and my former health has returned. I've spoken with many others who had the same experience, and several doctors well enough educated in toxicology or immunology to diagnose it, and see their patients' health restored.
I believe it should remain under "caffeinism" based on the currency of the term in medical circles. "Caffeine overdose" implies an acute, one-time episode (like popping a dozen Vivarin). But caffeinism, in its most insidious form, is a chronic condition that mimics manic depression, schizophrenia and a host of other ills that last for years--and are treated not with stomach pumps but pharmaceuticals.
The following are just a few of the many alarming statements about caffeinism by psychiatrists, toxicologists and MDs, scattered throughout the medical literature. Many more are added weekly to the Experts page at the nonprofit Web site I'm building, CaffeineWeb.com, where anyone can click on links to the original sources:
DC Mackay and JW Rollins, "Caffeine and caffeinism," Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service,1989;75(2):65-7:
"[When caffeine is taken in excess], anxiety-related symptoms become increasingly apparent. A case of caffeinism, which presented as a paranoid delusion, is reported as an extreme example of this. A study of 60 hospital inpatients revealed that about 40% of them consumed sufficient caffeine to produce symptoms of caffeinism. It is thus recommended that all patients should be questioned on their caffeine intake. Also, caffeinism should be considered as a differential diagnosis of anxiety states."
L Tondo and N Rudas, "The course of a seasonal bipolar disorder influenced by caffeine," Journal of Affective Disorders:
"A longitudinal case report shows a sudden remission of the severe course of a seasonal bipolar disorder after 10 years of psychopharmacological treatments. The discontinuation of heavy caffeine intake appears to have contributed to the outcome."
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV):
"The 4 caffeine-induced psychiatric disorders include caffeine intoxication, caffeine-induced anxiety disorder, caffeine-induced sleep disorder, and caffeine-related disorder not otherwise specified (NOS)."
Drs. JE James and KP Stirling, in The British Journal of Addiction:
"Although infrequently diagnosed, caffeinism is thought to afflict as many as one person in ten of the population."
Clinical nutritionist Stephen Cherniske, Author, Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Dangers of America's #1 Drug:
"For five years I worked in a team practice with physicians and psychotherapists. Often, the psychological evaluation would include one or more anxiety syndromes, and the recommendation was for counseling. I would point out that the person was consuming excessive amounts of caffeine and request a trial month off caffeine prior to therapy sessions. In about 50% of cases, the anxiety syndrome would resolve with caffeine withdrawal alone."
"In over a decade of practice as a clinical nutritionist, I have seen firsthand, with thousands of clients, that caffeine is a health hazard. Anxiety, muscle aches, PMS, headaches....However, if that's all caffeine has done to you, you're lucky. What about people misdiagnosed as neurotic or even psychotic, who spend years and small fortunes in psychotherapy--all because no one asked them about their caffeine intake?"
Roland R. Griffiths, Ph.D, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Professor of Behavioral Biology, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences; Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience; Formerly Research Chief, Department of Psychiatry, Baltimore City Hospitals, Baltimore, MD:
"The potential for caffeine intoxication to cause clinically significant distress is reflected by the inclusion of caffeine intoxication as a diagnosis in DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition)(American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and in ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Edition)(World Health Organization). Caffeine intoxication has long been recognized as a discrete syndrome associated with excessive caffeine use. Caffeinism is an older term that has been used to describe the toxic effects of caffeine resulting from acute or chronic use. Caffeine intoxication is currently defined by a number of symptoms and clinical features that emerge in response to recent consumption of caffeine. Common features of caffeine intoxication include nervousness (anxiety), restlessness, excitement, insomnia, rambling flow of thought and speech, gastrointestinal upset, tremors, tachycardia, diuresis, muscle twitching, periods of inexhaustibility, and psychomotor agitation. In addition, there have been reports of patients with caffeine intoxication having fever, irritability, tremors, sensory disturbances, tachypnea, and headaches."
Ruth Whalen, MLT, "How Much Mental Illness Is an Allergy to Caffeine?":
"Caffeine toxicity may be mistaken for bipolar disorder. Symptoms include: chattiness, repetitive thought and action (resembling obsessive compulsive disorder), restlessness, psychomotor agitation, alternating moods, anger, impulsiveness, aggression, omnipotence, delirium, buying sprees, lack of sexual inhibition, and loss of values. Toxicity is known to cause excitement, agitation, restlessness, shifting states of consciousness, and toxic psychosis, mimicking amphetamine psychosis. Allergic individuals may be erroneously diagnosed, medicated, and lost in a dark disturbed world, until death."
Dr. Sidney Kaye, Institute of Legal Medicine:
"The symptoms vary with acquired or inborn tolerance, but in general the patients may complain of [among other symptoms] nervousness, restlessness, silliness, elation, euphoria, confusion, disorientation, excitation, and even violent behavior with wild, inanic screaming, kicking and biting, progressing to semi-stupor."
"Coffee overindulgence is overlooked many times because the bizarre symptoms may resemble and masquerade as an organic or mental disease....But what a feeling of relief to both physician and patient to see the symptoms completely disappear on the physician's order to stop drinking coffee."
Sanford Bolton, PhD, and Gary Null, M.S., in the Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry:
"Caffeinism may result in a syndrome which resembles and may be confused or confounded with true psychotic states. This may lead to misdiagnosis and mistreatment. A question arises from the varied reports of caffeine consumption in psychiatric populations: Does caffeine stimulate psychosis or does psychosis stimulate caffeine consumption?"
Calvin Thrash, MD, Author, Food Allergies Made Simple:
"Thousands are in mental institutions today because of no greater matter than that of the use of caffeine. Psychiatrists are now publishing articles indicating that there are numerous cases of depression and anxiety in mental institutions, who need no other treatment than to be taken off caffeine.
"However, the use of caffeine is so traditional and firmly entrenched that it is almost impossible to remove caffeinated drinks from the diet of patients in mental institutions. Soft drink machines, coffee dispensers, and the traditional coffee break are common pastimes in mental institutions, and with those who are mentally ill at home."
Again, please let the article remain. I apologize for the "soapbox" tone and have no objections to others amending it, as long as the substance of the article stands. Thanks so much!
Brian@CaffeineWeb.com
Clinical Management of Poisoning and Drug Overdose, 3rd ed., 1998
Michael W. Shannon, MD, MPH, Director, Lead and Toxicology Clinic, The Children's Hospital Boston; Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Lester M. Haddad, MD, Clinical Professor in Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina; Bon Secours St. Francis Xavier Hospital; James F. Winchester, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Georgetown University Medical Center:
"Caffeine-induced psychosis, whether it be delirium, manic depression, schizophrenia, or merely an anxiety syndrome, in most cases will be hard to differentiate from other organic or non-organic psychoses....The treatment for caffeine-induced psychosis is to withhold further caffeine."
DC Mackay and JW Rollins, "Caffeine and caffeinism," Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service,1989;75(2):65-7: "A study of 60 hospital inpatients revealed that about 40% of them consumed sufficient caffeine to produce symptoms of caffeinism. It is thus recommended that all patients should be questioned on their caffeine intake. Also, caffeinism should be considered as a differential diagnosis of anxiety states."
Drs. JE James and KP Stirling, in The British Journal of Addiction: "Although infrequently diagnosed, caffeinism is thought to afflict as many as one person in ten of the population."
Clinical nutritionist Stephen Cherniske, Author, Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Dangers of America's #1 Drug: "What about people misdiagnosed as neurotic or even psychotic, who spend years and small fortunes in psychotherapy--all because no one asked them about their caffeine intake?"
Ruth Whalen, MLT, "How Much Mental Illness Is an Allergy to Caffeine?": "Caffeine toxicity may be mistaken for bipolar disorder....Allergic individuals may be erroneously diagnosed, medicated, and lost in a dark disturbed world, until death."
Dr. Sidney Kaye, Institute of Legal Medicine: "Coffee overindulgence is overlooked many times because the bizarre symptoms may resemble and masquerade as an organic or mental disease....But what a feeling of relief to both physician and patient to see the symptoms completely disappear on the physician's order to stop drinking coffee."
Sanford Bolton, PhD, and Gary Null, M.S., in the Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry: "Caffeinism may result in a syndrome which resembles and may be confused or confounded with true psychotic states. This may lead to misdiagnosis and mistreatment. A question arises from the varied reports of caffeine consumption in psychiatric populations: Does caffeine stimulate psychosis or does psychosis stimulate caffeine consumption?"
Calvin Thrash, MD, Author, Food Allergies Made Simple: "Thousands are in mental institutions today because of no greater matter than that of the use of caffeine. Psychiatrists are now publishing articles indicating that there are numerous cases of depression and anxiety in mental institutions, who need no other treatment than to be taken off caffeine."
Following is the full text of a letter by Dan Stradford published last month on BMJ.com (formerly British Medical Journal), with commentary by psychiatrist and neurologist Stuart Shipko, M.D., founder and director of the Panic Disorder Institute:
"The failure to do full medical screenings on psychiatric patients is one of the greatest areas of neglect in modern medicine. Studies have repeatedly shown for years that psychiatric populations have more medical ailments than non-psychiatric patients. No one disputes this. And most of those same studies also show that a healthy percentage of psychiatric patients are routinely misdiagnosed with mental illness (and often placed on psychotropics for years or for life), when they, in fact, have medical problems causing or exacerbating their psychiatric symptoms. No one disputes this either.
The landmark 1980 study by Richard Hall et al ("Physical Illness Manifesting as Psychiatric Disease", Arch Gen Psychiatry, 1980, 37: 989- 995) found 46% of the psychiatric patients thoroughly examined had physical ailments causing or exacerbating their mental symptoms.
The California legislature was so shocked by this study, it ordered research, headed by Dr. Lorrin Koran of Stanford University, on how to improve the quality of medical exams in psychiatric settings. The result of that study was the "Medical Evaluation Field Manual," which sets a minimal standard for medical screenings and provides an efficient algorithm when full screenings are not practical.
The manual was distributed to all of California's counties in the late 1980s and NONE of them implemented it. A dozen years later, my nonprofit organization, Safe Harbor, has asked for and received a grant to work on getting this manual implemented.
We have posted the Field Manual on the internet at www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/fieldmanual.htm.
What concerns me is that I--a layman--and a group of volunteers is having to grab the psychiatric profession by the scruff of the neck to get them to examine their own patients! This does not speak well for the profession or for its organizations, such as the American and British Psychiatric Associations....
This medical negligence cannot continue. I would like to issue a call to medical professionals to, once and for all, set and keep minimal medical screening standards for psychiatric patients so that this easily remedied medical neglect exists no more."
Response by Stuart Shipko, M.D., psychiatrist, neurologist, founder and director of the Panic Disorder Institute: "This is so true. A long time ago when I actively practiced general medicine I was the doctor who did physical examinations on patients confined to a mental ward. I found that the labwork showed excessive abnormalities of calcium, sodium and chloride. I diligently worked up these abnormalities, but concluded that the abnormalities were due to problems in blood testing. To present this to the quality assurance committee, I reviewed the charts of the previous 50 admissions and showed the cluster of abnormalities. The response? They wanted to know what my motives were and why I cared. The fact that it was my job to care went over their heads. Medical evaluation of the 'mentally ill' is pretty much nonexistent." BrianinNYC 13:23, 21 May 2005 (UTC) reply
"What purpose in the natural world does the chemical serve?
The answer is that caffeine is part of a plant's "chemical weaponry" to defend itself against predators and competitors. Plants cannot defend themselves with limbs, or run away from danger. Instead, they synthesize chemicals which are toxic to certain life forms. Caffeine is such a chemical; it has potent antibiotic and antifungal powers, and causes sterility in several insects. Also, caffeine permeates the soil which surrounds the plants by the accumulation of fallen leaves and berries, thus inhibiting the growth of competing plants.
However, in doing this, the caffeine plant ultimately kills itself as well. Over many years, the accumulation of caffeine in the soil becomes so great that the toxicity level is high enough to harm the parent plant. It is this that contributes to the degeneration of coffee plantations between the ages of ten and twenty-five years." BrianinNYC 22:47, 22 May 2005 (UTC) reply
From Caffeine Blues by clinical nutritionist Stephen Cherniske: "If you were curious about the dangers of caffeine, you would undoubtedly come across a brochure entitled What You Should Know About Caffeine. You would find this ubiquitous brochure on information racks in hospitals, pharmacies, public health offices, or in your doctor's office. It's available throught the mail and on the Internet. What You Should Know About Caffeine is published by the very official-sounding International Food Information Council in Washington, DC. The brochure does not list sponsors or disclose an industry affiliation. When I requested details of industry sponsorship, I received another glossy color brochure that mentioned nothing about which organizations supply the funds to disseminate all this information. After pressing the issue through several phone calls, I finally received a list of IFIC "supporters," including Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola, M&M/Mars Candy, NutraSweet, Nestle, Hershey Foods, Frito-Lay, Proctor & Gamble and the Arco Chemical Company.
"When I asked the IFIC for scientific support for their assertion that 300 milligrams of caffeine was perfectly safe, they sent me a report published in Food and Chemical Toxicity. The authors of this report are both employees of the Coca-Cola Company and members of the National Soft Drink Asociation. As you might expect, the report downplays the effects of caffeine in the American diet, using some interesting techniques.
"For the past eight years I have conducted a systematic review of the world scientific literature on caffeine. This research has taken some real detective work. It's difficult to tell what's going on at first. After all, I drank coffee for over 20 years, simply because I believed like everybody else that coffee, and caffeine, had no adverse health effects.
"I was in for the surprise of my life. The first thing I noticed is that much of the research on coffee was imprecise. The majority of researchers refer to the standard coffee cup as a six-ounce serving, but most people drink from mugs, which contain 12 to 14 ounces or more. That's not to mention convenience store cups, which contain anywhere from 20 to 32 ounces. If you're like most people, you probably consume far more caffeine than you think you do....
"I also began to see that the caffeine issue is rarely taken seriously. Nearly every researcher starts from the assumption that caffeine is okay. Why? Because, consciously or subconsciously, they are influenced by the fact that they themselves depend on coffee. I have visited the offices of hundreds of scientists, professors, and clinicians. The coffee machine is as much a part of their environment as test tubes and computers. Likewise, the journalists who report health news to the public are usually heavy coffee drinkers. I'm not saying these people are dishonest, only that information can be biased by the habits of those who make and break the news."
BrianinNYC 22:47, 22 May 2005 (UTC) reply