Caffeine Gene: Growing Up Addicted Before Anyone Noticed

Caffeine Gene: Growing Up Addicted Before Anyone Noticed

From Live Unwired : Life After Caffeine by Al Kushner

March 24, 2026 · 25 min · Season 1 · Episode 6

About this episode

This episode explores a woman's childhood caffeine addiction stemming from her parents' choices and its long-term effects on her life.

They say addiction runs in families — but what happens when the addiction is caffeine, and it starts before kindergarten? In this revealing episode of Live Unwired , a woman looks back on a childhood where her alcoholic parents replaced her milk and juice with coffee to save money, leaving her hooked on caffeine before she even started school. What began as a survival habit became a lifelong dependency — one that took decades to recognize and name. This is a story about generational patterns, the caffeine we overlook, and what it means to finally break the cycle. Mentioned in this episode: Trailer

People in this episode

Host: Al Kushner

Guest: a woman

Topics covered

  • addiction
  • caffeine
  • childhood experiences
  • generational patterns
  • dependency
  • mental health

Keywords

  • caffeine addiction
  • childhood
  • alcoholic parents
  • dependency
  • generational patterns
  • mental health

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