Tired All The Time Without Coffee

[Edwardo Piet]

I'm starting to feel tired all the time unless I have multiple coffees a day. I'm 28... although nearly 29 (29 on September 5th).... am I just getting old or am I getting dependent on caffeine? Any ideas?

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor.

It might not necessarily be coffee, one other potential culprit it might be is spiking and dipping blood sugar.  I know that if I eat something that spikes my blood sugar, like an hour later I crash and can barely keep my eyes open.  I don't know how coffee affects your blood sugar levels but it might spike it to the point where you crash later unless you have another cup.

One thing to try over the next couple weeks is snacking a couple times a day on foods that are middling or lower on the Glycemic Index, meaning they change your blood sugar levels more slowly and help you maintain a more even keel throughout the day.

Figure out if there's a pattern to when you crash and reach for that next cuppa.

If you're crashing mid-morning, grab a snack about the time you know you'll crash and see if that staves it off for a while and gets you to lunch.

Try replacing one of your cups of coffee with some yogurt or string cheese which are both pretty low on the Glycemic Index to see if it's a blood sugar thing or a caffeine thing.

Of course, it could also be that you're particularly susceptible to the affects of caffeine - I'm not particularly affected by it but some people are and you might be one of those people.  In that case, if you're wanting to cut back on caffeine, try spacing cups out just a little bit more, or drinking weaker brews a couple times a day to limit your caffeine intake.

If you're really determined and up for it, try exercising first thing in the morning to get your blood pumping or going for a walk instead of drinking that fifth cup of the day.

If you're really concerned, though, talk to your doctor.

I'm not very susceptible to caffeine anymore... I'm desensitized. Hence why I drink a lot more and I have more and more spoons of coffee in my cups as I'm requiring more and more coffee to feel awake.

Thanks for the tips about blood sugar. I do often feel like it's something to do with sugar levels. I've often worried I have diabetes as I keep craving sugary foods when I'm trying to look after my teeth. And my dentist keeps telling me that no matter how well or often or carefully I brush... if I keep eating so much sugary foods and drinking so much sugary drinks I'll ruin my teeth and gums forever because the errosion is extremely bad on my teeth already and I'm developing the very early stages of gum disease. Most recently my toothache and gum ache has been so bad that I've started to avoid the sugar a lot more... but until it got this bad I felt like I had to because the cravings were stronger than the fear over my teeth and gums. Maybe my feeling super tired now is due to the fact I've stopped with the sugar.

I've been to the doctors a few times worrying I have diabetes... but I've been tested twice and they say I don't have it.

Thanks so much for your advice though, I have wondered that too. I'll try changing my diet. I mean, I'm going to have to stop with the sugar now anyway because if I don't the unbearable toothache will be more often (at this point eating or drinking ANYTHING sugary EVER gives me extremely awful toothache. Painkillers don't even work on it. In fact, the best "painkiller" is imagining I'm at a concert of my favorite band ever... why? Because if I was at a concert of my favorite band... I could have gum ache and toothache 3 times more unbearable than this "unbearable" tooth and gum ache, and I wouldn't give a shit. Imaging I was at an Orbital concert was the only thing that got me to sleep last night. It's insane how well it worked. My tooth and gums still hurt like hell but I didn't care. I closed my eyes and pretended I was at a concert and suddenly who gives a shit? The music is too good to care.

That has got to be the only example when using positive psychology on myself has ever worked though. Imaging myself in the happiest possible scenario I can imagine (that's the happiest I can imagine, if I ever won the jackpot lottery of millions upon millions I'd put enough in savings to stop me worrying about money for the rest of my life, and then I'd tour the world following Orbital around whenever they played.... I can't imagine any relationship or career or anything else in life that would give me more happiness than that. Perhaps I haven't got a very good imagination but... the only happier moments I've had than being at an Orbital concert are inconsistent moments that are dependent on other people and luck... that eventually end in disappointment, sadness and/or heartbreak and I don't want that anymore. Independence FTW).

Anyway, thanks again very much for the advice, sorry for the derail (of my own thread, lol).... and...thanks for caring, CM, take care!

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Just be careful near your computer.

Been there done that... although it was a glucose drink that absolutely ruined my laptop keyboard. Which is like the worst possible fluid to spill on a computer. I sit my laptop a few feet in front of my when I drink now (just far enough so unless I purposefully threw it at the computer, there's no chance of spilling it on my computer even if I spilled it (Yeah... I move the computer away rather than walk away from my computer. Why the fuck would I ever want to walk away from my computer? )).