Hi there, Now, it seems I have to give up everything! I love coffee and chocolate,(FOUND out DECAFE, has 5 grams per cup and I drink 5 cups!!), but the more I read about it I can't beleive the foods they can put it into without me knowing it, and now I'm having withdrawals from the stuff. My heart won't take it, it jsut pounds and skips beats , it happened to my husband also, so it isn't just my heart! Dang. My rotten cardiologist said, " WELLLL, what is life without coffee" , sarcastically in her south american accent! She doesn't understand ANYTHIGN!!
As if I didn't have enough going on with Prednisone withdrawals! (back up from 1 TO1-1/2!! today, but I took 6 methotrexates, so maybe tomorrow will be better. ya'd think with all that Remicade Thursday, I'd not have to take prednisone!!?? tHEY DRIPPED enough in my vein to float a ship!
Gave up coffee, tea, and food, THAT'S IT! sARAH
I am slowly getting off the caffine too. I am wondering if the heart palpiations is compounded by the pred. I hate the stauff.I have been drinking arabica coffee (mainly from Papua New Guinea) every morning without fail. I have a friend owns a coffee plantation and have seen them plant & various processes from cherries to coffee beans. Arabica coffee grow in high mountain thousands of feet above sea level.
Arabica coffee has many benefits. Regular coffee consumption reduces rist of Parkinson's disease. Arabica coffee is effective of treating asthma and headaches. Robusta a low land coffee is not so good. As I have experienced that drinking Rubusta Coffee can trigger arthritis flare.
Tell your cardiologist not to generalise coffee just because of its caffeine. Coffee can be so powerful in enhancing athletic endurance and performance (a physiologist and coffee researcher Terry Graham, PhD, of the University of Guelph in Canada says). Olympic Games Committee deemed caffeine in coffee is a "controlled" substance i.e. only in small quantity designated could be consumed by competing athletes.
Arabica is good after all.
Interesting kokako.
I love my morning coffee; but I'm not 100% sure it's the caffeine I'm in love with. I drink mine sweet and creamy....and I kind of think it's the warmth of the sweet creamy morning tradition I crave the most.
Giving up the caffeine might not be as hard as you think Hurts. Don't panic. Find another subsitute that you'll look forward to just as much. As you drink it tell yourself how much you are loving the change. Repeat it over and over.....even if you don't believe it at first. Eventually you won't miss the morning 5 cups of coffee.
You can do it!
I watched David Letterman last night and he was talking about how he had to give up coffee several years ago after his heart attack, and that he doesn't think he can stand to drink even another sip of the decaf stuff. He joked that he's starting to weigh which is worse - living without his caffeine or a massive heart attack, and it's a tough choice!
Everyone has to decide what is best for their life and enjoyment of life. I always look at Quality versus Quantity. This is my one shot at being here, and I refuse to spend every day depriving myself, wishing I could have this or that. For me moderation and balance is the key, and I just do the best I can with what I got!
Good point, I'll think about it. SarahI gave up caffiene completely for my 3 week detox and it wasn't that bad. Now I eat chocolate and have maybe one cup of coffee a week. I also drink green tea. So while I'm not living caffiene free I'm sure living caffiene low. I don't notice I miss it. I drink a green tea called yerba mate. It has caffeine but it dissolves slowly in the body, so I don't crash from it. It lasts a long time. And the percentage of caffeine compared to coffee is much, much lower. So like Gimpy, I'm not caffeine free. I'm 'slow release' caffeinated. :-) I like it sweet.Green tea, I believe is bad for arthritis but has other benefits. Perhaps red tea thru' the process of frying is better.
Anyway, when commercial and some researches say good about green tea many go for it like other products such as noni juice, aloe v. etc. that once a talk about products and pyramid marketing cashing in, have quickly dwindle to nowhere.
I go for quality arabica coffee and natural forest 'wild lingzhi' tea.
The focus is on caffeine but has anyone stop and think the drugs are also the culprits that cause side effects and weaken the body?
At the end of a lengthy journey of treatments there are many problems and most likely kidney failure, heart probems and diabetes.
Kokako - I agree with a lot of what you say. However not everyone with rheumatoid arthritis has the help to prepare healful meals, nor at times the money to do so.