Question:
Why is caffine bad for us?

i am 11months post op and have lost 135lbs and i am at my goal weight. i have started drinking alot of ice tea (summer and from texas ..ha..ha..). is this ok?    — Candiss T. (posted on May 31, 2002)

May 30, 2002
I had to post on this one because of my own personal experience. I married a man from Seattle ('nuff said!) so there is a coffee pot going in our house 24/7 all year round. I had fallen into the habit of drinking way too much regular coffee and found myself dehydrated, which I combined with a vicious dumping cycle (according to my surgeon) from a drink that I didn't realize was full of sugar. The result? Passing out cold in a store and being taken by ambulance to an emergency room! The dehydration caused my BP to fall to 80/0 and the drink caused my blood sugar to plummet to 52. NOT a good combination! Since then, I have my one cup of regular coffee in the morning to start the day and switch to decaf for the rest of the day. I am praying that the decaf doesn't affect me the way the caffeine did. Caffeine is a diuretic and will cause you to become dehydrated without you realizing it. Be very careful. I had NO clue that I was dehydrated....until the fainting episode. Best wishes and continued success to you!
   — Sharon L.

May 31, 2002
The most direct route would be to call a urologist's office and ask this question. The answer would be swift and sure. NOTHING brown! We already become prime candidates for kidney stones, whether due to lousy water habits or the wrong calcium we took (Tums, Viactiv or other carbnates), who knows? The main offender is iced tea. My urolgist said it isn't one cup that's bad, it's the many qts of ice tea that is the problem. My husband's uro said the same thing. What does this tell you about how well we listen if it struck BOTH of us? Cola, coffee, tea---- and caf or decaf, no matter. Also, this same group sucks the calcium from your bones. Looks to me like it prevents or removes the calcium from parking in the bones and instead parks it in the kidneys. Ow.
   — vitalady

May 31, 2002
Michelle - I knew it! I have always noticed that, cafeinnated or not, brown liquids bother my urological system! Before my surgery I switched to only caffeine-free, non-brown sodas, such as Diet 7-up and Diet Ginger Ale because I was noticed pain in my urethra after drinking things like Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper. The clear liquids made a difference and I always suspected it had something to do with the color additive or something similar in the colas.
   — PT LawMom