[cjoelrun]

I've had the same experience. I had coffee all through my college years. Had a few scattered experiences with anxiety attacks, but I always attributed them to test stress.

After I started working and the responsibility and the need for creativity grew, I found the anxious episodes start to grow and become quite debilitating. I started to experiment with different parts of my lifestyle: sleep, caffeine, exercise, relaxation.

In the end I narrowed it down to caffeine. The anxiety went away. I felt more awake throughout the day and sleep cycles easier to maintain.

I don't want to claim too much on creativity, but I do feel the ability to relax and let my mind wander has eased the creative process. Instead of the laser focus I'd get when on caffeine my mind could calmly move to less pressing tasks and make those subliminal connections I would have missed if I was too set on an issue.

That said I do miss the taste of coffee. I'll occasionally sip a decaf or latte and feel some of those symptoms return slightly, but knowing its cause has helped a lot.