2 things

[maevele]

locals, We're looking to do a csa this year, and we're trying to work out which ones are the best deals. recs/warnings?

In mental health news, I am now on my third day of 75% decaf. My period started this morning. usually, the last two days before, and first two of, are the days I am most likely to want to rip my skin off and hide under the bed. I went out and was social last night and yesterday, with people who also have kids of various rowdy/loud levels, and my kids got all spun out as they do. normally, the socializing, spun kids, and pms would have caused me to be an absolute wreck. I was cool. I am still cool today, whereas normally if i get through something that sets me off, i pay for it the next day.

It was the fucking coffee. I'm still trying to figure out how to stay awake, and maybe I'm going to need to adjust the caffiene levels so as to get that balance of awake but cool, but holy shit, I'm cool.

I spent years and years drinking major aounts of coffee trying to compensate for my depression. I was so low energy that drinking coffee was my only way to compensate. I thought, honest to god, that i could not stay mentally healthy without the coffee. but once I got on enough meds, the coffee was way too much for me, I guess. And with th insomniac baby from hell, i was drinking even more coffee, thinkigng that the lack of sleep was the major reason I was so close to losin it at all times, and If I could just get awake... fuck. I really had been fucking myself up bad for a long time here.

i am pretty pissed that when I presented with anxiety, no one asked about the coffee.

Comments

[notacrnflkgirl.livejournal.com]

I'm not a professional, do not wield my words as gospel truth, but Vitamin B complex helped me deal with caffeine deprivation and low energy (before, y'know, I started drinking coffee again)

[naomikritzer]

Holy shit.

Regarding energy, I was seriously low-energy for a while this fall and on the recommendation of Something I Read On The Internet started taking B6. At the same time I started taking Vitamin D, because I was deficient in it (and unlikely to get less deficient in October, November, December, etc.) and I think both helped. I was warned to take the D in the AM not PM lest it give me insomnia, which I suppose makes sense as it's the Sunshine Vitamin and getting sunshine is a cue to your body that it's daytime.

[littlebutfierce]

That's super that it is having such an awesome effect--but yeah, how come no one asked about caffeine before when you were getting the anxiety looked at??? I'm really sorry that they were so slack. :/

I too have heard good things about vitamin B & energy levels (be aware that it will make your pee Mountain Dew yellow! Not harmful obviously, just a bit surprising if you're not expecting it).

I dunno if you like tea at all but even black tea is lower in caffeine, & green tea lower still (like maybe if you just need a teensy bit of caffeine for maintenance??). Or, y'know, chocolate, heh.

[maevele.livejournal.com]

as per my other comment, I'm blending regular and decaf, and if i don't adjust to th 25/75 mix i'm using now, I'll just add a tiny bit more regular.

[mindycat72.livejournal.com]

I have found that taking vitamins b6, b12, and folic acid plus vitamin d have helped tremendously. And yes, I am frustrated too by how many health care profs disregard caffeine as anxiety inducing. As a non coffee drinker, one cup will have my palms sweating, butterflies, racing heart, like that first date, but not in a good way lol!

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

Might green tea work for the tired? Less caffeine, some theobromine, easier to control how much stimulant you're getting?

[maevele.livejournal.com]

Right now I'm mixing my old coffee with decaf, about 25/75, and that's enough that i don't get that caffiene headache, i don't miss the coffee, and I expect after a few more days i'll adjust and not be so sleepy. If not I'll change the ratio of decaf/regular until i'm fully functional.

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

Ah so.
Coincidentally, I just cut down my tea consumption hugely (for hydration-during-cold reasons) and found that I'm sleeping somewhat better. No energy here either, though.

I love your icon.

[maevele.livejournal.com]

thanks. I keep tring to have something cooler/funnier/geekier for my default, but I come back to this

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

I quit caffeine, oh, over a decade ago. I am here to tell you that the first few weeks of not being caffeinated are hard, but after that, you stop wanting it. In fact, if I accidentally get caffeine, it fucks me up.

I didn't have caffeine all through the babies, or the 6-hour-a-day commute. It's not because I'm a superhuman, it's just because it's a drug we don't really need.

[rhipowered.livejournal.com]

Like everyone else--wicked glad it's working for you, really annoyed that the medical establishment never asked. (I mean, I got asked about it for about five other things, but not anything mental-based.)

[mystickeeper.livejournal.com]

were_duck has been doing Circle M Farm for a couple years, and I just had them last year for the first time. were_duck also frequently volunteers there.

Their website is here.

They had a tomato blight last year, but lots of local farms did. They had lots of different kinds of vegetables (if you go back through the old blog entries, you can see the lists), sometimes toss in meat, and always include recipes combining several vegetables. You can also get eggs and more meat through them, and pick it up when you get your box.

[kayjayoh.livejournal.com]

I had a really good experience with Middlebury Hills last summer, and plan to go with them again this year.

[ethora.livejournal.com]

Coffee does this to me too. If you can find it, Peet's decaf tricks the mind into believing it can has coffee while sparing one from that consequences.