Anyone else cannot tolerate caffine

Real coffee gives me a queasy stomach and a headache

DH thought the same. He's always drunk loads of coffee with no discernible effects. He then had pneumonia and was really unwell with it. He was in hospital in HDU for 9 days and didn't drink anything apart from water. After a couple of days in hospital, he became increasingly unwell with some very peculiar symptoms, severe headaches and shakes for example. Turned out, he was in caffeine withdrawal. So it was less that he tolerated it, more that he'd developed a dependency.

M+ S do nice decaf coffee beans which I can tolerate if it is useful for anyone.

Yes! I can't really get proper coffee from Costa or Starbucks as it's too strong, it makes me feel rotten. I feel wired, get palpitations, headaches, nausea and sweating. I have one coffee in the morning at home but its very diluted with water and oat milk. I still enjoy the flavour. So relieved I'm not alone with this, never met anyone in real life who experiences this.

There are two generic variances that affect people's ability to metabolise coffee.

I've been told I probably have both variations as I feel nauseous and jittery after three cups of tea over a morning. I rarely drink tea and never drink coffee.

Maybe you're experience is something to do with that?

I can’t tolerate it anymore either - I think from a combination of chronic illness sensitivity and peri sensitivity too.

I just drink decaf now - we have a bean to cup coffee machine and I can’t find any beans that make a coffee as I like it, so my husband has normal beans and I use a ground decaf (picture of my favourite). Our machine has a ground option too. I occasionally have tea at my Mum’s and that’s Rington’s decaf which isn’t too bad. I also have caffeine free pepsi max now.

It gives me severe palpitations. I have a heart condition called SVT, caffeine is one of the known triggers, could you have it too?

This is me exactly!

Caffeine makes me sleepy 😴

I have a chronic inner ear problem and can't have any caffeinated drinks as they make me incredibly dizzy. I can have decaf tea but find decaf coffee (the nice stuff, not instant) has too much caffeine in. I also can't have coke, irn bru, pepsi, some lucozade etc. I can tell very quickly if my drink has caffeine in. I also make sure I don't buy cold & flu remedies with caffeine!

Me too! Can only drink decaf and know with 20 mins if the coffee I've been given is not a decaf wifh shakes, palpatations, wired symptoms. Would love to know if it is related to any other condition.

I am exactly the same with coffee- heart palpitations, feeling clammy etc. It is horrid. I obviously only have decaf but about a year ago I was given a coffee which was clearly caffinated and I had to sit in my car for over an hour before I was able to drive home. I once had to sit down in the middle of town on the pavement as I thought I was going to faint. Weirdly though, I can drink coke, tea with no problem as long as I dont have too much. But coffee- I feel like I could keel over and feel really agitated. It is so weird.

I’ve noticed that a “proper” coffee, ie made with ground beans & especially a double shot makes me itch in the middle of my back. Weird!

Yes it's a stimulant

It affects people differently

Some can handle a lot, others none at all

I had to switch to decaf coffee to avoid palpitations

DH can't drink it past lunchtime or he can't sleep, I can drink it all day and just had one just now and it doesn't make any difference.

Tea gives me palpitations.

Even decaf coffee makes me “go” if I’m doing anything that might cause me any sort of anxiety/public embarrassment. I save it for days I'm home doing nothing (and accept that on such days it still makes my mind race).

Caffeine did nothing to me until January 2026. All of a sudden I can't drink tea after 2pm. I'm 40

Two days ago I had a Costa coffee at 9am and I held my chest from a racing heart and I didn't calm until 2pm ish. I felt very panicky

I love tea and coffee. Decaf tea tastes weird to me (like biscuity)

Thankfully it doesn't upset my stomach. Any recommendations for good decaf tea and coffee would be great though!

I’m the same. I can’t take any caffeine at all. I just drink herbal teas.

The moment I hit 50, I stopped tolerating caffeine. Gives me horrific palpitations, makes my cheeks flush and makes me feel really unwell. I could cry because I love coffee and spent £500 on a Nespresso machine that I can only have decaff pods in. I will have the odd caffeine free diet coke as a rare treat but too many of those gives me an upset tummy. Even dark chocolate is a no no too. Sigh.

I've never been able to tolerate caffeine. Never been able to drink coffee. I once accidentally took two tablets that I thought were regular paracetamol but they had caffeine in and I felt like I was dying! My face went bright red, I was shaking and felt hot and sweaty all over and I had to dramatically lie on floor in the office.

Coffee makes me so wired I'm shaking!! Then I'm ao tired after!! Can drink tea but only in the afternoon....it makes me tired if I have any caffeine before lunch....how weird am I 😂

I don't cut caffeine out completely, but I am aware of how easy it is to overdose, no full fat coke for me, but I do like #10 from the nespresso machine, it's very easy to do 4 or 5 during a morning wfh, another reason to go to the office. I always keep decaff pods, instant coffee and teabags at home and never have caffeine after 1700, unless I'm driving late at night. My sleep pattern is still shit though.

I can’t use these either! Quite literally made one of my eyeballs swell out of my head and I ended up in a&e. My body is very sensitive apparently

I’ve found my people. I’ve always have a bad reaction to caffeine and don’t know anyone else who does too. When I have caffeine, even just in Coke, it’s like I’m really drunk. My speech becomes slurred, I get the shakes and can get so dizzy that I’ve thrown up in the past. I had a boss who didn’t believe I could possibly have such a reaction to caffeine. She got me a coffee and swore blind it was decaffeinated. It wasn’t. And she saw exactly how I react to caffeine. Why would someone do that?!