| DOSE: |
3 cups |
oral |
Coffee
|
(liquid) |
I've been drinking caffeinated drinks since as far back as I can remember. The occasional Coke, or Sprite or cappuccino was well tolerated by my body. But I'd rarely ever drank normal coffee.
Last night, as of this report, I was working on a paper for English and my friend invited me to a coffee shop for a study break. I decided to come with him and we each bought a large cup of double-double coffee. It was extremely pleasant: I had renewed vigor, focus and a strong desire to talk. We decided half an hour later to get ourselves another. The positive effects increased somewhat, but I began to feel shaky and jittery. I also had these strange sensations I could only describe as ''shivers'' running through my body. But I still felt pleasant enough, so it was no big deal. On our way out of the coffee shop, we decided to go to the drive-through and grab one more large cup of coffee for the ride home. This was a big mistake, at least for me.
When I got home (around 4am), I began to feel extremely out of touch and nervous. I was still functioning correctly, but every minute I could feel myself losing control. I decided it was time to go to sleep (around 6:30am), having finished my paper. I slept for approximately three hours and woke up in a daze, covered in sweat and with the most incredible urge to urinate.
As I stumbled to the bathroom, it became quite obvious that my intoxication had take a wrong turn. I felt extremely light-headed, my heart was pounding and my legs were terribly weak. I then went to tell my mom I wasn't feeling well, and at that precise moment, I felt the beginning of a panic attack. My breathing became erratic, my thoughts were racing, I was shaking more or less uncontrollably and had to sit down. I asked my mom to call the paramedics because I was afraid of dying.
They arrived ten minutes later and spent half-an-hour taking my blood pressure and monitoring my heart-rate. They told me to take deep breaths and this seemed to help. My pulse dropped dramatically in a few minutes and I stopped shaking. However, I still felt intoxicated and there was an overall feeling of crap running through my body. I could only compare it to a moderate or severe hangover (without having to vomit), or perhaps the flu.
It is now early in the afternoon and I am getting better. I have urinated more times in the past 6 hours than I do on a regular day. My head still feels funny (as does my stomach), and I get random bouts of dizziness and discomfort every now then. But it is manageable thanks to the deep breathing.
