Caffeine is a very popular stimulant that is used daily by a large portion of the world’s population. There is a long history of usage and it is well-documented and researched [EroCaff 2015].
*Things to Add
Common Names/Types: Coffee, Tea, Caffeine Pills, Legal uppers/stimulants
Chemical Name: 3,7 –dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-1h-purine-2,6-dione
Classifications: Stimulant [EroCaff 2015].
OUTLINE
(*C*) indicates a 90%+ Completed section
(SSS) indicates the section has been started
No prefix indicates the section hasn’t been started
-Basic Introduction of the Drug
-Informs the reader of the general background of this drug, usually focusing on the current world
-(SSS)History of the Drug’s Use
-A brief guide to the history and use of the drug
-(SSS)Legal Status
-What is the legal availability of this drug?
-(SSS)Testing your Drug and Handling your drug
-Doing an actual reagent test on your substance, taste testing, smell, sight, etc
-Ways to ensure the substance you have is the substance you want
-Handling your drug without harming the contents or losing potency
-(SSS)Method of Ingestion
-How is this drug safely consumed or ingested?
-Central (Desired) Effects, Side Effects. What are the dosages?
-How much of the drug is needed for consumption
-What are some of the desirable effects of the drug?
-What are some undesirable effects?
-Long Term effects
Are there lingering long-lasting side effects
-Mechanism of Action – How does this Drug work in the body? [Physical (Physiological) and Mental (Psychological) effects]
-What are some of the physiological effects on the body?
-How does the drug affect the brain?
-Which neurotransmitters are impacted?
-Recommended Uses and Doses (Varies by person)
-Suggestions for how the drug could be used
-Addiction, Withdrawal, Tolerance
-Addiction profile of the drug. Is it physically or mentally addictive?
-What are the withdrawal effects?
-How does the tolerance of the substance impact the usage?
-Drug Combinations with this Drug (Mixing Drugs, USE CAUTION!)
-When mixing drugs, which combinations are most dangerous with this drug
-Enjoyable Drug Combinations
-Medicinal Uses
-What has this drug been found to be beneficial for medicinally?
-(SSS)Detection in Biological Fluids (Drug Testing)
-How can this drug be best detected in the body? For how long?
-(SSS)Personal Experiences
-Personal experience I have on the drug
-Friendly Experiences
-Experiences that close friends of mine have had on the drug
-Other notable experiences
-Experiences that others may have had on the drug, i.e. Sasha Shulgin, Terrence McKenna
-Useful Facts
-Are there any extra fun or useful facts about the drug that seem to be missing?
-Sources and Bibliography (Comments on sources)
-Sources of information on the drug.
-Basic Introduction of the Drug
-History of the Drug’s Use
Some anthropologists believe the first use of caffeine containing plants may have been as early as 600,000 BCE [EroCaff (1) 2015].
2737 BCE – According to Chinese Myth, Emperor Shen Nung of China discovered tea while sitting under a wild tea tree with a cup of hot water. A leaf from the tree fell into his water, creating the first tea.
900 BCE – Homer makes reference to a a mysterious black and bitter beverage with the power to ward off sleep which is a reference repeated in several Arabian legends during the same period.
222 – Chinese writing “dated to the year 222 mentions tea as a substitute for wine.”
960-1279 – Tea’s popularity grows in China during the T’ang and Sung dynasties. First documented tea houses founded.
1100 – First coffee trees are cultivated on the Arabian peninsula. Coffee beans are first boiled by Arabs making qahwa, “that which prevents sleep”
1475 – The world’s first coffee shop, Kiva Han, opens in Constantinople. Turkish law makes it legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he fails to provide her with her daily quota of coffee.
1475 – 1500 – In Arabia, dervishes spread the use of coffee to Medina and Mecca. Secular use becomes more prominent, in part because wine is forbidden by the Koran. Coffee houses are established and coffee becomes a much desired luxury. Holy men begin to attack coffee as also contrary to the beliefs in the Koran.
1511 – The governor of Mecca was executed for trying to ban coffee for fear that its influence might foster opposition to his rule.
1542 – In Arabia/Turkey, the coffee controversy spreads throughout the Ottoman Empire, as coffee – the “Wine of Islam” – becomes a regular article of diet in all classes. Sultan Suleiman the Great bans coffee in 1542, but coffee houses multiply in Constantionople.
1597 – The first English printed reference to tea appears in a translation of Dutch navigator Jan Hugo van Lin-Schooten’s Travels. He calls the beverage “chaa”.
1600 – Pope Clemente VIII was asked to place a ban on the consumption of coffee, but he refused saying, “This beverage is so delicious it would be a sin to let only misbelievers drink it!” His subsequent “baptism” of coffee put the issue to rest.
1607 – Captain John Smith, founder of Virginia at Jamestown brings coffee to the New World. Canadian historians claim it had previously arrived in Canada
1652-1654 – The first coffee houses open in Britain and Italy
1668 – Coffee replaces beer as New York City’s favourite breakfast drink.
1723 – Coffee plants are introduced in the Americas for cultivation. Gabriel de Clieu, a French naval officer, transports a seedling to Martinique. By 1777, 19 million coffee plants are cultivated on the island.
1822 – The prototype of the first espresso machine is created in France.
1890 – Lipton tea is first introduced.
1904 – American tea and coffee merchant Thomas Sullivan invents the tea bag for sending samples to his customers.
1940 – The US imports 70 percent of the world coffee crop.
1962 – American per-capta coffee consumption peaks at more than three cups a day.
1971 – First Starbucks opens in Seattle.
1995 – Coffee is the world’s most popular beverage. More than 400 billion cups are consumed each year.
Above timeline from source EroCaff (1) 2015.
-Legal Status
Coffee is not regulated, and is considered a food approved substance in the United States. It is sold in various stores in a variety of products as well as in pill form. Some countries have maximum limits on the amount of caffeine that can be contained in a beverage [EroCaff (3) 2015].
-Detection in Biological Fluids (Drug Testing)
Caffeine is not specifically tested for in most drug tests because it is not illegal so there is not much concern about the possibility that companies or other organizations may test for it. Caffeine is not known to cause false positives for other substances. Some athletic associations set limits for caffeine levels in urine. Caffeine can work with an individual as a stimulant to enhance athletic capabilities. The International Olympic Committee sets limits at 12 nanograms per milliliter, which might be reached by a consumption of about 8 cups of coffee. The detection period of caffeine is unclear, but can be approximated to 2-3 days[EroCaff (2) 2015].
-Testing your Drug and Handling your drug
How do you test your beverage to make sure it is in fact caffeine? Most of the time, I believe this is unnecessary. The caffeine content of soft drinks or canned drinks that contain caffeine sometimes lists the amount of milligrams of caffeine per drink. Sometimes, just “Caffeine” is listed as an ingredient, as in the case with Coca-Cola beverages.
I suppose it is possible to send your beverage into a laboratory that can run tests on it to determine how much caffeine in milligrams is in your beverage, but this is an extraneous cost.
When brewing tea or coffee at different temperatures, different amounts of caffeine can seep into the beverage or pot of coffee depending on the temperature of the water.
As for how to handle the drug, caffeine is relatively stable even for long periods of time. I have made a pot of coffee personally, had a cup or two, let it sit out for several days and then consumed another cup. The caffeinated effects felt similar – I noticed little to no loss in potency. I have heard from friends of them refrigerating old coffee for up to a few weeks at a time and noticing little difference in potency.
Also it should be noted that certain containers of Coca-Cola contain caffeine and can remain bottled or canned for months or even years and still retain their caffeine content.
How
can this drug be taken? I think it can be agreed that it is most commonly
consumed orally in liquid form and then absorbed in the stomach. There are some
foods or supplements that are foods that contain caffeine as well, but it is
still orally ingested through the substance.
Far
less commonly, I read a report of caffeine pills being crushed up and snorted.
In one report on Erowid, one user describes the results of insufflated caffeine
as very pleasureable [EroCaff (4) 2015].
Below
are some exerpts from the report on snorted caffeine
“I
was so ready. That’s the best way to describe it… “It was so similar[to coke] I
thought to call it ‘coward’s coke’.”
“It
was surprisingly euphoric and powerful. The effects come in about 30 seconds. I
felt lighter and lighter as the substance surged into my blood stream.”
“Quick,
very noticeable onset, wonderful before doing work, gives a powerful signal
that it’s time to get up… Smaller dose needed… Little to no light-headedness;
Normal doses (200mg or more) of oral caffeine causes light-headedness and
sometimes fainting… Greatly increases motivation as compared to oral, likely to
due to sudden increase in energy, I want to get up and do something… Much more
euphoric; the euphoria is secondary, nto as a direct result of the drug, but
rather as a result of increasing the pleasure of doing activities… Come down is
mild or absent”
Consequently…
“Nausaea
can be overwhelming if too much is taken… nosebleeds happen a few days after a
few days of insufflations… Nose pain develops with too much use… Increases
chances of getting sinus infection”
“Caffeine
is mildly caustic and any pill will cause damage to your sinuses over time…
Unlike other pills the pain is almost unnoticeable and the drip is subtle and
only mildly bitter.”
Report
from [EroCaff (4) 2015].
These
results actually surprised me. Is it really so easy to go to the store and pick
up caffeine pills to crush up and insufflate and achieve such a high? I find
that when I do not have caffeine often and then ingest some I will get a mild
euphoric high, but my body has jitters. I may have to experiment further to
notice effects. Nonetheless, this discovery is interesting.
I
first decided to consult the FDA for a basic summary of effects after reading
that caffeine was an FDA approved drug for use among the United States.
Whether
caffeine is consumed in food or as a medicine, it changes the way your brain
and body work and changes how you behave and feel. Caffeine is a central
nervous system stimulant. Your central nervous system includes your brain,
spinal cord, and the other nerves in your body. Caffeine’s main effect on your
body is to make you feel more awake and alert for a while, but problems can
also be caused [FdaCaff 2007].
Caffeine
can make you feel jittery and shaky, make it hard to fall asleep or stay asleep,
make your heart beat faster, cause an uneven heart rhythm, raise your blood
pressure, cause headaches or nervousness, make you dehydrated especially after
a workout, and make you dependent on it so you need to take more of it [FdaCaff
2007].
The
FDA says that caffeine is both a drug and a food additive. Caffeine is used in
both prescription and over-the-counter medicines to treat tiredness and
drowsiness. People with anxiety problems or who have panic attacks who take caffeine
can cause them to feel worse. After drinking caffeine, it usually reaches its
peak level in your blood within one hour and stays there for four to six hours.
Caffeine increases the release of acid in your stomach sometimes leading to
stomach upset. Caffeine is also a diuretic meaning it makes your body lose more
water. Most experts agree that small amounts of caffeine during pregnancy is
safe, but larger amounts are harmful [FdaCaff 2007].
When
people use caffeine every day, their bodies get used to it and they don’t feel
the “good effects” of feeling more awake and able to concentrate unless more is
used. This is called “tolerance.” Some studies indicate caffeine causes
dependence or addiction. Studies also suggest that moderate amounts of caffeine
are not harmful. About 100-200mg of caffeine each day is the limit that some
doctors suggest, but each person is a little different. Experts agree that four
to seven cups (600mg+) of caffeine per day is too much. Caffeine overdose is
dangerous and can kill you [FdaCaff 2007].
Dosages
listed by the FDA of various caffeine containing foods and drinks
Regular
Coffee: 60-150mg
Tea:
40-80mg
Coca
Cola: 64mg
Dr.
Pepper: 61mg
Starbucks
Coffee Ice Cream: 40-60mg
Mountain
Dew: 55mg
Diet
Coca Cola: 45mg
Dannon
Coffee Yogurt: 45mg
Pepsi
Cola: 43mg
Bittersweet
Chocolate: 5-35mg
100
Grand Bar: 11.2mg
Decaffeinated
Coffee: 2-5mg
I
found this short paper from the FDA amusing. Not only is it noted that caffeine
can be bought in most places, but they also indicate it is addictive and found
in many commonly purchased soda products, coffees, and teas. Due to its history
of use, it is apparently not lethal, unless used in high doses. which is also
commented on in the above article. The FDA also comments that there are very
clear drug effects, such as wakefulness and alertness that come from this drug.
I still seek further information from other sources.
-Personal Experiences
An experience in May, 2015
I am currently having an experience with caffeine
where it is both pleasant and mildly unpleasant. I brewed a cup of a beverage
mixed with tea and coffee that was given to me by a friend. I used my eyes to
measure what I believed to be about two tablespoons of this mixture and steeped
it in boiling water before drinking it. Looking back, I may have steeped about
four tablespoons. I also have not consumed coffee in a couple weeks.
I have previously thought half a cup to a full cup of regular coffee was mildly enjoyable every so often. I have definitely consumed what I would call “too much” caffeine before. Today is fortunately not one of those days, but I would say I have had more than is desired. I would like to repeat this experiment with caffeine pills dosed to the milligram to give more accurate input per dosage.
I desire to try to accomplish many tasks at once. The anxiety felt from this level of caffeine level is minimal. I consumed the cup on a near empty stomach about 1.5 hours ago. I keep having feelings of distracted productivity, which sounds conflicted, but seems to accurately describe the way I feel. As I write, I feel like I am typing faster, and I might indeed be doing so, but I seem to be making more mistakes while typing than I normally do creating a possibly overall slower writing process. There is still some mild euphoria present and it makes doing the chores of the day a bit easier and more exciting.
Although my desire for productivity has increased, my interest in the matters I am productive in seems to have waned slightly. I am not lacking interest, it just seems that my mind is moving faster than what I am trying to comprehend and therefore it is not setting in my brain as well as it would in a more sober mindset.
About 2.5 hours after consumption, there is still stimulation present. There is some residual anxiety and small things that would normally not bother me are causing very slight agitation. The most enjoyable portion was probably the first 45 minutes after ingestion. I felt the most euphoric and excited.
At about 3.5 hours after consumption there are slightly more negatives. The “high” is virtually gone, and I do not desire another cup to repeat it. The stimulation is still very present with a more scattered feeling. I am about to eat some food to see how the effect might change when sustenance is presented. On other stimulant drugs, I find I feel better after consuming some food. My typing still seems to be of a faster, more focused pace, but I am still making more errors than I would in a sober mind state. Focus is still heightened. After researching caffeine throughout the day, I believe I may have had nearly 300-350mg of caffeine on an empty stomach upon waking. This may explain some of the positive and negative effects that were felt earlier and currently since I have very minimal tolerance to caffeine
Eating has proved to be useful and calmed down some of the slight edge and anxiety that the caffeine stimulation was leaving me with. Despite it being approximately 4.5 hours after initial ingestion, there is still a residual unpleasant anxiety. I find it easier to get frustrated, and I am someone who is frustrated very infrequently. The food helped, but most for the bodily jitteriness and stimulation, not so much for the mind racing still present.
And 5.5 hours after caffeine consumption, I am finally very down. There are even slight hints of tiredness despite it being 5:15pm in the afternoon (17:15). The food I had digested and I also had a positive conversation with a close relative of mine that may have also contributed to the calmer mindset.
-Sources and Bibliography (Comments on sources)
EroCaff
Caffeine
https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/caffeine/
(1)
https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/caffeine/caffeine_timeline.php
(2)
https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/caffeine/caffeine_testing.shtml
(3)
https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/caffeine/caffeine_law.shtml
(4)
https://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=94854
Author:
Erowid.org, Date Started: 1996, Date Updated: 10 February, 2015
FdaCaff
2007
Medicines
in my Home: Caffeine and Your Body
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/UCM200805.pdf
Author:
FDA.gov, Date Published: Fall 2007
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