Coffee Mishaps

So, I've entertained a few questions as to what exactly happened with coffee that wreaked such havoc on my body, and I thought I would share the story here.

Exactly 5 years ago, I was in the middle of my first quarter at UCSB, and pulling an all-nighter in a desperate attempt to finish a group project. My partner and I camped out in his friend's lab to work on it, and sometime before dinner, we hit the nearby Peet's Coffee Shop for some coffee. Anyone that's ever had Peet's knows that they've got particularly strong coffee. And of course, being the coffee novice, I was unaware of this. I made the awful mistake of ordering a large cup of it-- and then drinking about 2/3 of it within the next half hour... on an empty stomach.

Bad idea. A few hours later my stomach started hurting like crazy, even though I'd since eaten dinner. I felt nauseous and naturally, couldn't sleep, even 12 hours AFTER I'd consumed the coffee. The nausea didn't fully subside for several days. I never threw up, but my gag reflex was on full alert, and hasn't gone down since then.

For months afterward, my gag reflex was heightened so much that anything could trigger it. I couldn't eat bananas for those months, for instance, I'd just gag at the mere smell of bananas. And Lord help me if I entered a public restroom stall that was less than spotless.

After a while I was able to eat bananas again, and my gag reflex, though still more sensitive than usual, had gone down.

Then in September 2003 I got pregnant, and guess what happened. Yup, gag reflex on full sensitivity again. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to deal with changing diapers, but luckily I haven't had any problems so far. Anyway, after giving birth, the enhanced sensitivity never fully went away. To this day, I will gag if I'm cold, if I'm too full (let's not think about what happens when I exit a restaurant, stuffed to the gills, into crisp cold weather outdoors), if I'm hit with noxious odors (however subtle), if I'm nervous. I can now understand why people can get so nervous that they throw up-- I don't, I just gag :-P

And of course, ever since then, I can't really take coffee too well-- only in small doses and only on a full stomach.

So there you have it-- my adventures with coffee.

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/187195958)