Caffeine and post vm

[Sumikoa]

I literally live off of caffeine in the form of tea..coffee...energy drinks as I do not have the energy levels to survive a day without them I've read a lot of posts that say however that caffeine adds to the post pain levels? For those who are caffeine free - how did you get to that state and how do you manage energy levels?

[Jonad724]

I had near fatal VM 16 years ago and I am caffeine free but for the reason that I developed an intolerance to it after VM so can't have more than two caffeinated drinks a day and those are relatively low caffeine (not Coke or Red Bull). I think the problem is you are fighting what your body is telling you. You don't say what form of meningitis you have had but if it's viral then you will need to rest, rest and when you feel better rest some more. If you keep pushing through it will just slow down your recovery and keep your pain levels high. Your body is tired for the very good reason that it has undergone a trauma and needs to rebuild itself. If you had a broken leg you wouldn't keep taking pain killers so you could keep on running marathons and it's the same with meningitis.

The medical profession understands about 10% of how the brain functions so anything more than that is guess work however what is known is that the human brain (and most primates actually) has a built in self defence mechanism, if it senses you are going to do yourself damage it will try to stop you. For example, I do long distance triathlons (half ironman) and that by any stretch of the imagination is a daft thing to do, for me it's 7 hours + of exercise and usually half way through the bike I get the signal from my brain to stop, it's hurting and I'm about 65% tired so my brain tries to make me stop. I ignore it because I want to finish so in the past it has played mental tricks on me to try and make me stop, in fact one time I just wanted to get off the bike and cry because I suddenly felt very depressed. Sneaky things brains. It does go away but imagine if I just kept exercising relying on flapjacks, energy gels and sports drink constantly ignoring the signals to stop? At some point I am going to go bang and I fear that's what you're doing with caffeine. You can keep going and it feels OK but at some point your body is going to stop. It's a bit like running a car constantly at 150mph day in day out with only short rests, it is going to stop because something will go bang

Naturally your diet choices are your diet choices, I'm not here to lecture you on what you should/should not be eating or drinking but please take it from someone whose life went bang in a very real way (I was working 60 hour weeks, week in week out, driving 500 miles a week, barely sleeping more than 4 hours a night) that everyone has limits. Caffeine is a drug, it's legal and mostly pleasant but if you're relying on it to get through each day then maybe it's time to slow down, rest and reduce the intake?

I'm a community ambassador with MN so if I can help at please PM me via my profile. Good luck, Jonathan

[Tortie360]

Decaf coffee and tea is a good place to start. That way you can still enjoy the flavour of tea and coffee without the caffeine affecting you. You'll also feel like your still having caffeine mentally because you're still having the brews. I get bad head aches since the BM but having cut caffeine and alcohol has helped relieve some of the pain. Alcohol seems to be affecting me badly since the BM too, maybe because of the meds even though I only have one or two here and there. I've started having energy boosting teas like lemon and ginger, fruit teas and juice which can give you a boost as well without any I'll effects. Hope this help. All the best. Aasiya. x

[Taiga]

I don t know whether it adds to pain levels directly but I m thinking it stresses the organism so I for many years after the most acute meningitis was over I ceased my caffeine intake. Now I have a cup of my favorite black tea now and then but never later than noon because of the risk of affecting the quality of sleep.

Try kicking on things that work on your parasympathic system instead, it makes you heal. And yeah, I'm thinking endorfins, not exogenous drugs. The fastest way to the most optimal recovery you will find is beeing nice to your own body (and mind, but in my mind that is kind of incorporated).

About the way to getting rid of addiction, handle it like any other addiction, I guess

And about the energy level.. I don t really feel like I get more energy out of caffeine, I just get different - meanwhile I m on the high I m speedy and afterwards i feel worse than a caffeine free day, a bit like my body is bruised, mistreated, worn out. But with or without caffeine, I try to focus on what i want to spend my energy on, not spilling it on anything unnessecary. Most of all i try to be my own best friend, trying to make the best out of life.

[Bonkitty]

I swear by green smoothies / juice made from spinach, kale, avacado, apple, ginger and celery and blitz it up with water or apple juice. These work wonders for me.

Also I take supplements of magnesium, turmeric and but B .

It takes a long time to get the energy back , I have to take each day at a time but I have climbed two mountains since having viral meningitis 4 years ago!