Caffeine adrenaline/histamine reaction?
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I love the taste of coffee but it seems to jack my adrenaline up like crazy. Whenever I drink it my facial skin becomes reactive even to gentle touches with the fingertips or rinsing with water — a bunch of red blotches appear all over following contact. It is to the extent that it’s alarming.
It doesn’t seem matter whether I have the coffee after a big meal, or with milk and sugar, or on an empty stomach.
My blood type is O-, and I’ve heard that this blood type has lower MAO activity than others, which could lead to sustained elevation of adrenaline. I’ve also read about CYP1A2 (hepatic caffeine/estrogen clearance enzyme) polymorphisms and I suspect that I have some kind of an underactivity or deficiency of this enzyme, and that my liver being “distracted” by the caffeine could lead to accumulation of estrogen.
Anyone have any insight into what’s going on here? Or ideas for solutions?
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@vocedilegno Try pure USP grade caffeine to see if the same thing occurs. Some of the organic acids (like chlorogenic acid) can cause symptoms that would otherwise not exist with pure caffeine. If 200mgs of pure caffeine doesn't cause you these issues, then it's something else in the coffee.
What you describe also doesn't sound like the typical adrenaline issues. Most of the time adrenaline will cause cold extremities, digestive disturbances, heart palpitations, and perhaps sweats as well.
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@vocedilegno It also happens with iced coffee?
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@jwayne yes indeed. Unfortunately
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@Mulloch94 there are always digestive disturbances with coffee for me as well — loose stools. Forgot to mention in the first post. But your suggestion re: USP caffeine powder is a great idea. Thank you so much. I will try it out and report back
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@vocedilegno Nice, make sure you got milligram scales. Or you buy it encapsulated already. Dosing caffeine isn't exactly something you want to "eyeball." 200mg is a solid starting dose. Would be the rough equivalent of two strong cups of coffee (80-100mg per cup).
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@Mulloch94 I have a little experience with this. Back around I bought a canister branded “zombie caffeine”, it was a novelty with a label featuring cool artwork of the undead and text touting its benefits, “e.g. increases fat oxidation making you less appetizing to zombies.” At some point I threw it out. Must have been discontinued following the caffeine powder or energy drink deaths in the news from around that time because I can’t find it anywhere online. Anyone else remember this brand?
Anyway I still have an extra-small line of measuring spoons going as small as 1/64 tbsp which I bought when I started using that stuff but I will get a mg scale this time around to make sure the doses are what they should be. As for brand — it’s not USP but I’ll be going with PureBulk for the experiment… will let you know how it goes