One of the distinct disarrays I suffered from many years ago, suffering in this regard taken to the letter because of a toxic combination of actual diseases and obnoxious habits so derailing that I regularly lost control over the simplest daily exertions, quite scary since I lived alone at the time and all I could trust upon were my own senses, customarily very steadfast but all of a sudden including accelerating anxieties, flying out of bend without apparent incentives, was nevertheless easily diagnosed by my Belgian physician, to this day my go-to doctor for check-ups, logistically inconvenient but proven effective, by simply taking into account the amount of coffee I consumed during the day.
Caffeine-induced anxiety disorder, not the fancy words my doctor issued when she revealed her opinion and her treatment proposal of complete abstinence, a suggestion terrifying the living daylight out of this woeful junkie, is a very serious matter, I discovered researching its contours back home, not at all surprised obviously, since raised and taught well by a mother who round-the-clock preached ‘too much of a good thing’, and I deemed coffee to be ever so good.
Its symptoms were almost one on one similar to the manifestations I had experienced when I started on antidepressants, provided with an additive by a psychiatrist to ‘take the edge off and return this wild sea to calm waves’, but instead making me want to bang my head agains the walls and jump out of each and every window. Those extreme oddities ceased instantly when I disposed of that medication, I lucidly remembered, thus asserting credibility to the anti-caffeine thesis too.
Were you to believe that from that moment on I restrained myself completely from drinking any coffee, for the sake of my mental prosperity and overall better health, you’ll be counting out the worth of my defiant character, causing a reintroduction after only a short suspension, but balanced sensibly with herbal teas, some homemade.
This baby sage, Salvia microphylla, makes for a really tasty one the French call ‘mirot de montes’, by infusing the flowers and leaves, fresh or dried, giving a pleasant scent of blackcurrant as a bonus.
Logistically Inconvenient But Proven Effective
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