Treating And Preventing Caffeine Overload
With its presence in everyday drinks like tea and lattes, we often think of caffeine as fairly harmless. However, it is possible to overload on caffeine just like any other stimulant. In the milder stages, this can just cause headaches, insomnia, jitteriness, and irritability. Adults can reach this stage if they have over four hundred milligrams a day, or four cups of coffee, while teens can reach this state when they consume more than two hundred milligrams a day. However, individuals who consume a truly excessive amount of caffeine a day can suffer from potentially fatal overloads, characterized by vomiting, rapid breathing, confusion, uncontrollable muscle movements, irregular heartbeats, clammy skin, loss of consciousness, chest pain, and convulsions. Therefore it is important to seek medical treatment quickly if caffeine overload is suspected.