MetaChat - Caffeine overdose ahead

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14 May 2007

Caffeine overdose ahead →[More:]
So, I was having a discussion with a few coworkers about adding caffeine to beer. One of them brought me a small container (~14 grams) of pure, food-grade caffeine powder.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm addicted to caffeine. I get horrible headaches when I don't have my morning cups of coffee. However, there is more than enough powder in this container to literally kill me. I'm still curious about the variety of caffeine delivery mechanisms one could use to get a buzz. Most of the ones my coworkers suggested to me this morning involved broken glass traveling at high speed - I don't think they like me very much.

So - given pure, unadulterated caffeine, how would you administer it to yourself?

post by: backseatpilot at: 20:19 | 9 comments

I don't know, I probably wouldn't touch the stuff. Seems like it'd be easy to OD on.

posted by puke & cry 14 May | 20:24

I'd rub it on my gums.

Or you know, shove it up my ass. Novelty is all.

posted by gaspode 14 May | 20:29

Well, according to Wikipedia, a lethal dose is about 150-200 mg per kilogram body weight. Which means I'd need about 11 grams. Of course, if you mean OD in the sense that you're twitching and your heart's palpating - well, that's called breakfast for me.

posted by backseatpilot 14 May | 20:32

I try to avoid it... I know it's in the Earl Grey tea I love so much, and I drink plain old southern sweet tea anytime we eat out, but I've never found caffeine to be a "boost" to me... I just get headaches after I drink too much of it and then back off. Or if I drink a lot of tea at work, I talk too fast and feel stupid.

This sounds ridiculously Puritan, esp. coming from a guy who can drink his weight in Guinness in a weekend, but there you are. I guess I just don't like it much as a drug.

posted by BoringPostcards 14 May | 20:36

I'd be really careful with taking too much. When I was in high school, I needed to stay up late to finish a paper and I ended up taking 2 caffeine pills. Each was advertised as having the equivalent caffeine of about 3 cups of coffee. The pain that my stomach was in was excruciating -- you feel like throwing up whatever is inside you, even if it's nothing. It literally eats away at your stomach's mucus lining, and at that dose, you can feel it.

Just my $0.02.

posted by spiderskull 14 May | 21:23

From my most recent "experience" with my doctor's right hand ring finger, too much coffee/caffine can get you to the lovey-dovey world of prostatitis.

I am now only allowed decaf or herbal tea. And I live in the PNW. Shoot me now.

posted by ybb 14 May | 21:50

Please note: I am not dispensing dosage advice.

But... when I was a young thing, we used to grind up caffeine tablets to a fine powder, then snort it. It provided a nice quick kick without the queasy stomach I got from a pot of coffee or a Vivarin taken orally.

But the powder I snorted half a lifetime ago was not, repeat, not pure caffeine, and doubtless had plenty of bulking agent in it to buffer the zzzzzzzzzzing! effect, so I was getting off easy.

posted by Elsa 14 May | 21:50

When I was 15, a friend of mine and I each took 10 Vivarin pills at once, giving us a nice 2g dose apiece. Why yes, I do love doing stupid things to myself.

I've never felt like I was dying more than I did about an hour after we took them. My friend ended up hallucinating and puking on his public transit ride home, and I couldn't see straight or hear very well until the next day. So yeah, I don't think you should fuck with pure caffeine, it's not a very fun drug to abuse.

posted by cmonkey 14 May | 23:20

Caffeine does nothing for me. I drink diet cola all day long (a litre minimum, probably closer to two and yes, I know it's bad but I drink just as much water) and there's no buzz. But, as a counter-balance, when I don't drink cola I don't get headaches from withdrawal either.

I'm weird like that. Sugar calms me, when I run a fever - my body temp drops, psuedowatchamacallit cold medicine - does nothing for me. Which is just as well, as a diabetic I can't take it anyway.

posted by deborah 15 May | 09:19

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