
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
More episodes of Live Unwired : Life After Caffeine
- Her Family Called It Hospitality. Her Body Called It Poison. · June 9, 2026 · 16 min
- From Cold Winters to Two Open Hearts · June 2, 2026 · 13 min
- The Boat, the Vomit, and the Wake-Up Call · May 26, 2026 · 15 min
- 28 Years of Caffeine — Ended by an Accident · May 19, 2026 · 17 min
- When Your Drug Feels Like a Soulmate · May 12, 2026 · 17 min
- The Medicine Was Making It Worse · May 5, 2026 · 17 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Live Unwired : Life After Caffeine podcast page.