Category Archives: Diseases, Conditions and Treatments

Helen and Paul have lived together for several years. For the past six months Paul has struggled with illness and has been off work. Helen is irritated that he is around so much at home. She feels Paul interferes with her work as a book-keeper. At the moment she is falling behind on an important job that she has to complete by the end of Tuesday.

Helens Irritability diary shows that there are certain things that make the irritability worse and which she can therefore plan to change.

Helen feels over-worked and has too much to do. She needs to tell Paul that until Tuesday she has to have lots of planned, uninterrupted time to get on with her work. After Tuesday, she could create a timetable that includes times when she isnt working when she and Paul could talk, go for a walk, etc.

As Helen completes the diary, she realises that the deadline she has set is partly her own fault. She had suggested she could get the accounts for the year back to the client by Tuesday at 5pm. They didnt actually need them by then but thats when she had promised them. She is pretty sure no-one will actually look at them until the end of the week or even later. She feels guilty about the idea of contacting the client to see if she could return them later.

Am I drinking too much caffeine or alcohol, or using street drugs? Caffeine is a chemical stimulant which is found in tea, coffee, chocolate, as well as hot chocolate and cola drinks. In smaller quantities it makes you feel more alert. However, higher levels can prevent sleep and make your sleep unrefreshing. Higher levels can also lead you to feel more irritable and snappy.

If you drink more than five cups of strong coffee every day for several weeks or months, and then reduce the amount suddenly, you can get caffeine withdrawal. You may feel more irritable, have headaches, not feel like sleeping, sweat a lot and feel fidgety.

Helen has been having more than five cups of strong coffee every day. It is therefore sensible for her to reduce this towards five or fewer cups a day. She should do this slowly by changing over one cup a day to decaffeinated coffee or tea every five or six days. In this way the changes are made slowly but steadily. A change to cold water can also be refreshing. Drinking properly is also good for the body. It boosts alertness and tackles tiredness.

Helen has also noticed that she is drinking alcohol sometimes just to cope. Alcohol can reduce stress in the short term. But it can also make you less restrained (disinhibited). When people are disinhibited, they can say things or make decisions that they later regret. Drinking a lot day in and day out, or using drugs such as cocaine/amphetamines, can also make you more irritable, anxious, tense or depressed.

Is poor sleep and tiredness making me more irritable?

Sleeplessness is a common cause of irritability. A bad nights sleep is a poor start to any day. Helen has noticed that on the second day she felt far less tired in the morning as she had slept better. This helped her not to feel so irritable until later on in the day, when she feels more tired. She can make useful changes to her sleep pattern and the worries that cause her to stay awake using the overcoming anxiety and sleep problems article.