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Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: Kmartinez15 on 04/05/2015 14:10:50

Title: Why does caffeine seem to have no effect on me, even in larger doses?
Post by: Kmartinez15 on 04/05/2015 14:10:50: Hello,

I normally drink one or two cups of strong coffee a day and it really has no affect on me. Lately, i have noticed I have felt a lot more fatigued and decided to try caffeine pills( each equally a cup of coffee worth). I thought possibly pill form would work better. No affect with one, i tried two still nothing. I even had two and a large frappucino from starbucks and nothing. I do put sugared cream in my coffee is this why? I also had gastric bypass surgery 7 years ago. This affects my digestion/ absorbtion of vitamins and drugs. Can anyone give me insight on this? I sometimes just need a pick me up and nothing seems to work!
Title: Re: Why does caffeine seem to have no effect on me, even in larger doses?
Post by: chiralSPO on 04/05/2015 15:05:16: Try going a few weeks without coffee and see whether the caffeine had no affect, or whether you were just dependent on it (if you feel much worse without the caffeine). A warning about taking high dosages of caffeine: even if you don't feel the effects mentally, it could still be increasing your heart rate and blood pressure. (not that a large frappuccino and 2 caffeine pills is likely to harm you, but I wouldn't go too much higher than that at one time...)

Also, I know it's obvious, but if you are suffering from fatigue, I recommend sleeping more (even just 30 minutes more per night will have you feeling much better if you're getting less than 7 hours)
Title: Re: Why does caffeine seem to have no effect on me, even in larger doses?
Post by: smart on 19/11/2017 22:27:29: Quote from: Kmartinez15 on 04/05/2015 14:10:50
Hello,

I normally drink one or two cups of strong coffee a day and it really has no affect on me. Lately, i have noticed I have felt a lot more fatigued and decided to try caffeine pills( each equally a cup of coffee worth). I thought possibly pill form would work better. No affect with one, i tried two still nothing. I even had two and a large frappucino from starbucks and nothing. I do put sugared cream in my coffee is this why? I also had gastric bypass surgery 7 years ago. This affects my digestion/ absorbtion of vitamins and drugs. Can anyone give me insight on this? I sometimes just need a pick me up and nothing seems to work!

Caffeine is a biphasic compound. Low doses of caffeine tends to be stimulating while high doses may be problematic for some peoples. I guess your gastric bypass surgery decreased your hepatic metabolism rate, making you less sensitive to caffeine!
Title: Re: Why does caffeine seem to have no effect on me, even in larger doses?
Post by: Bored chemist on 19/11/2017 22:33:49: Quote from: tkadm30 on 19/11/2017 22:27:29
I guess your gastric bypass surgery decreased your hepatic metabolism rate, making you less sensitive to caffeine!
Your guess makes no sense.
Title: Re: Why does caffeine seem to have no effect on me, even in larger doses?
Post by: smart on 19/11/2017 22:42:26: Quote from: Bored chemist on 19/11/2017 22:33:49
Your guess makes no sense.
Yeah right.
Low hepatic metabolism is a typical side-effect after bariatric surgery... See: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01596907
Do you got anything else to declare, mr chemist?
Title: Re: Why does caffeine seem to have no effect on me, even in larger doses?
Post by: smart on 19/11/2017 23:02:32: Perhaps @exothermic will have a more intelligent answer than you, mr chemist...
Title: Re: Why does caffeine seem to have no effect on me, even in larger doses?
Post by: exothermic on 20/11/2017 01:32:47: Quote from: Kmartinez15 on 04/05/2015 14:10:50
I normally drink one or two cups of strong coffee a day

it really has no affect on me.

I have felt a lot more fatigued

decided to try caffeine pills

(each equally a cup of coffee worth).

No affect with one, i tried two still nothing.

Are you actually surprised by the results?

~
Title: Re: Why does caffeine seem to have no effect on me, even in larger doses?
Post by: exothermic on 20/11/2017 01:47:41: Quote from: Kmartinez15 on 04/05/2015 14:10:50
I even had two and a large frappucino from starbucks and nothing.

So two cups of coffee did nothing.

Two equivalent doses of caffeine tabs did nothing.

And the addition of a frapaccino to your normal two cups-worth did nothing.

What exactly are you hoping the caffeine will do, that it wasn't doing before?

More importantly, what is the underlying cause of your fatigue?

~
Title: Re: Why does caffeine seem to have no effect on me, even in larger doses?
Post by: exothermic on 20/11/2017 02:06:16: Quote from: Kmartinez15 on 04/05/2015 14:10:50
I sometimes just need a pick me up and nothing seems to work!

Did caffeine ever elicit an effect at any point? If the answer is yes, take note:

Caffeine follows an inverted U-shaped dose-response curve.

There's a dose-threshold for caffeine's optimal response, and increasing the dose after this point just results in a diminished effect.

~
Title: Re: Why does caffeine seem to have no effect on me, even in larger doses?
Post by: exothermic on 20/11/2017 02:08:41: In toxicology, hormesis is a dose response phenomenon characterized by a low dose stimulation, high dose inhibition, resulting in either a J-shaped or an inverted U-shaped dose response.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hormesis
Title: Re: Why does caffeine seem to have no effect on me, even in larger doses?
Post by: exothermic on 20/11/2017 15:06:05: thread = circa 2015 = lulz
Title: Re: Why does caffeine seem to have no effect on me, even in larger doses?
Post by: smart on 21/11/2017 20:42:55: Thanks for your input, @exothermic

A biphasic compound like caffeine really have a differential U-shaped dose response! :)