Caffeine pills

Okay so I have started a new job which I have to wake up at 4:45am and stay awake all day which is rather hard because I know most of the information I am being taught (I have worked in this field before). Even if I get 7-8 hours of sleep I am still so drained its hard for me to stay awake. How bad would it be for me to take a caffeine pill? I would be sure to drink plenty of water and eat at least 1,200 calories. Anyone with any advice? I can't wait til I can go 2nd shift only about 3 more weeks to go!

Why don't you just try coffee instead. I've heard that coffeine pills make people feel funny and makes the heart beat really fast! At least with coffee you can kind of control the amount caffeine that your body takes in.

How about instead of coffee or caffeine pills you drink some green or black tea (black tea like earl grey is a bit more caffeinate than green tea), they're good pick-me-ups and up the metabolism and have antioxidants blah blah blah. Put them in a travel mug with some honey in the morning!

Failing that, give green tea pills a go. Both these options are safer.

caffeine is caffeine -- from green tea or coffee or pills.  Overdoing any one of these can make you feel shaky or increase your heart rate.  Caffeine pills usually have 200 mg of caffeine per pill, compared to a cup of coffee which as 65 mg.  Espresso shots have more (probably around 100 mg).  If you don't have time or like drinking your caffeine -- a pill would be reasonable.  There have been studies showing that the brain is optimized for thought processes when given around 200 mg of caffeine. 

As someone who works really wonky hours, I rely on coffee, soda, teas, and caffeine pills to get me through the shifts.

With caffeine pills, be careful with how you'll react to them.  Some people can take them and be just fine, others will have that burst of energy with one hell of a crash to follow.  It may be tempting to pop another pill, but please follow the directions on the packaging.

When I start to get really tired and don't want to resort to caffeine I take a walk around the hospital and drink a lot of ice, cold water.  Between having a cold mouth and constant trips to the bathroom, I'm relatively awake enough to get through the shift.

Thanks so much for the replies everyone. I hate coffee and tea without a lot of sugar and French vanilla creamer. Lol, thats why I didn't take that option. I drank a couple of Monsters last week which did seem to help but I wasn't counting my calories last week so when I put those in last night to see how bad they are I was amazed they got an A- then I saw that they are all carbs. Which I do know they make low carb ones but I don't get paid til Friday and they are so expensive. The caffeine pills are only $1.39 for a pack of 4 or 5. I usually do really well with 1 pill in the morning then I am fine after lunch and don't have trouble staying awake. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to set my diet up for failure some how with them.

Gaaaah!  I hate the world we live in that requires us to do this to our bodies!!!

I take caffine pills sometimes.  They work just like coffee for me but without the harsh tummy affects.  Also maybe try 5 hour energy.  I really like it.. there is NO crash (with me) after the 5 hours or anything. 

I take caffeine pills pretty much every morning just because although I love coffee, I'm not a morning person and refuse to wake up early enough to make it. :) I have only had problems with the caffeine when I had the pills plus wayyy too much caffeine from other places (from just not paying attention to what I was ingesting). I think caffeine pills are reasonable and I avoid the bloat from diet sodas.

As far as 5-hour energy goes, I tried it once. And promptly went home and fell asleep. So that didn't work for me, haha. It could be worth a shot, though. Maybe I'm just way too used to caffeine.

One thing I've noticed recently is that when I am eating enough good food - lots of veggies fruit lean meat and whole grains, and cutting out processed food and excesses of sugar, I have a much easier time waking up in the morning. I definitely wouldn't recommend coffee or caffeine pills, you can do it without them.

also sticking to a regular sleep schedule helps in being able to successfully wake up early. I don't know if you have any problems with this, but I've noticed when I change my bedtime around a lot, its much harder for me to get up on those days I need to.