Chocolate/Caffeine Triggers & Night Awakenings

Ive eliminated alcohol and dairy, but I was still eating the occasional dark chocolate around 8 pm, and maybe half a glass of coke.

I finally made the connection that these are excitotoxin triggers for really sensitive OSA people, even in TINY amounts. Last night
it was a 2 am and a rough 7 am awakening with typical bad apnea event-like feelings--short breath, agitated.

Anyone else made this discovery?

Ironically, quitting coffee completely was the HARDEST abstinence of all for me at least. I gave up milk without a second thought. I think
I can not eat chocolate without any worries. But the coffee is a deep craving.

Even switching to decaf didnt do the trick---i tried the change, but i was still jittery, so quit altogether, but a month later im
like a nicotine junkie still reaching for his cigarettes.

I am addicted to so many bad things, but not coffee--I have 1 or 2 a day, M-F mornings, and don't even want it on the weekend.
If I have a few dark (very dark) chocolate chips, it quells the need for the one-after-another curse of salty, fatty, crunchy TV snacks.
Theobromine is awesome!
You take away my chocolate--bad things will happen!

I can live with being a hose head for the rest of my life but there ain't NO WAY that I'm giving up my dark chocolate! Some things are worth the risk. (he says as he breaks off a piece of chocolate)

I found the same thing - in my first week here and I have been doing well but had a difficult night. Realized I had Diet Coke and Iced Tea and some chocolate throughout the day - making a bet that was the cause. I have always been super caffeine-sensitive but my senstivity had lessened in recent years - probably because I wasn't sleeping well and my body was using that as a crutch! Now that I am sleeping again (thank the good Lord!!) I realize my "sensitivity" is coming back very quickly.

I found that keeping a diary of how I feel at waking and what I do during the day is helpful - that was how I found the caffeine issue. Now I've just set a rule that I don't have anything with caffeine after lunch and it appears to be pretty good for me.

I agree though...just try to take away my chocolate!!

Right. Its not just that after dinner caffeine fix that screws up the hyper sensitive to caffeine Hoser. I swear, before quitting alcohol completely,
just having a drink before dinner and Id have a bad night, EVEN IF my AHI levels showed good next morning.

I'll have to disagree with y'all a bit though, because ANYTHING that screws up my night ( and to be honest, i almost completely ignore "average AHI" data, because I truly believe its the intense clusters of events including period breathing and major leaks that can screw you up) makes me really sick---sometimes for the whole next day.

So Im giving up chocolate and anything else with caffeine COLD TURKEY. Ive come way too far with this stuff to let any one thing screw me up, make me sick.
Its a pain being one of those hypersensitive to chemicals people, but it is what it is.

Now if i could just get to my target weight. The American diet is just horrible the way they throw craving comfort food commercials at you at night. I see that McDonalds ad and i immediately WANT some of that. The fructose/MSG addictions WORK, and the ads prime the pump.

Moral of story basically for all of us is, if our OSA gets bad enough we pretty much have to rid ourselves of the trigger/problem. I learned this when i would tell myself "im just taking a ten minute nap without my hose"---you can see max darksides posts about that bit of insanity.

have you tried white cholcolate?

I, too, found out the hard way about caffeine. Coke with sugar and caffeine (real Coke) is my favorite and I haven't had one in over a year. I still miss it every day. Just three Hersey's Kisses any time during the day spikes my AHI to double whatever the average is currently. So I'm very careful about any food that even remotely looks like it might have caffeine.

BTW, strangely enough, curry powder does the same for me - go figure.

Cheers

I have not had a cola of any kind for over 3 years.
Maybe a Diet Dr Pepper once a month.
It's not the caffeine, but the phosphoric acid that I'm avoiding--I'm already short enough, thank you.
(it sucks the calcium out of your spine--all bones, even)
I can drink Diet Dew for my caffeine, but I try not to have any after noon.

Really interesting topic. I'm also a major chocolate and coca-cola addict. I'm pretty much a two cans of coke a day guy - one for lunch and one for dinner - and this has been the case for most of my life (i'm now 45). Like to nibble on some yummy milk chocolate after dinner also. Also 1-2 coffees a day - one in the morning and then sometimes early in the arvo. For me, i think the coke and chocolate is more for the sugar content than the caffeine. I find it a catch-22 situation as i need the coffee to keep me awake due to lack of restful sleep however it's probably the reason why i'm having no restful sleep.... I'm a year into cpap, my numbers are fantastic but i'm still really tired every day. I've tried eliminating coke and chocolate before bedtime in the past but the results were no different. How long do you think you really need to stop the caffeine intake before you can see any results - 1 week, 1 month, longer?

DavidCarolina wrote: I'll have to disagree with y'all a bit though, because ANYTHING that screws up my night ( and to be honest, i almost completely ignore "average AHI" data, because I truly believe its the intense clusters of events including period breathing and major leaks that can screw you up) makes me really sick---sometimes for the whole next day.

Hi David!

Stimulents, carbs, stress, lack of exercise - all tend in me to contribute to unstable breathing (the other side from AHI). I think my breathing reflexes got messed up by Obstructive Sleep Apnea indeed.

Recently I moved to a city with a lot less stress (good) and continue with my "half veggies, high protine, hight anti-inflammitories - high anti-oxidants" way of eating (good). It also has a lot of hills so I get a lot of interval training (good). And, I lost a lot of weight (bad!!! if pressure remains the same!!). Doctors are scarce in my new digs and I did not wish to stroke out, so I decided to self titrate. I started at 15 about six weeks ago, I am now at 10 and looking at 9!!

What remided me if all this is that you mention "intense clusters of events including period breathing" which could indicate unstable breathing.

If I were you I would:

Reduce stress if possible.
Keep on with your good dietary management (Kudos!).
Add some aerobic exercise with some interval training if possible.
Consider another titration (will probably result in a lower pressure).

Today I am trying out a new bicycle with a little bike hike to a nearby city (only about six miles away). After that, if I do have coffee even before bedtime I know from experiance that the effects will be small. If I did not have the bike hike and all the rest I do (including lowering my pressure recently) it would make a differance. I simply have some added reserve to play with. Probably, the coffee I am having now will be enough and tonight the bed will look good indeed and I will sleep well indeed.

And may we all remember to have a lot of fun!

Todzo

I find if I have a sweet treat (ice cream or cookies) after dinner I am up several times in the night........
This afternoon my daughter and I went to town and did the grocery shopping, that was okay in itself...but....we stopped at BP for dinner and I had 2 glasses of pepsi ..I know darn well I will be up several times tonight.....sugar and cafeine.... how dumb can I get
Nan