Quitting coffee

[Jade]

Since I was a tiny little thing, maybe 5 years old, in the mornings my grandma would mix me up a tiny coffee in my Kool-aid man cup - 75% milk of course, splash of coffee, and some sugar. This became an every day habit I carried with me through my adolescence, as my dad was a daily coffee drinker and we also lived half a block away from a convenience store where I would have a 32 ounce mug refilled on cold mornings once I was old enough to make the walk on my own.

Once before, I quit caffeine, about a decade ago, I was on a health kick for a modeling gig I had. I had a migraine for 2 solid weeks - two weeks! Of course medical professionals insist these are called "caffeine withdrawal headaches", but on my long list of migraine triggers, low caffeine was one I battled with every day. If I hit the 24 hour mark w/o coffee - I was down for the count. Needless to say, the number of days I've gone without coffee in my life are very few.

Today is day 3, no coffee. I've still be drinking green tea - and intend to still drink tea. It's the coffee beast I need to shake. So far, so good, on the headache front - pretty surprised, I've been pain free. But something else strange has happened.... I have a cold. I haven't had a cold in years (since before I went vegan) but apparently, around 10% of people experience "flu-like symptoms" when detoxing from caffeine. I have been so congested I can hardly believe it.

Anyone else taken the plunge and gotten coffee out of their lives? My poor husband isn't taking it as well as me. Strangely he's only been a coffee drinker for about 2 years - I was the one who got him hooked. Now he's still grasping at how he's going to live without it! Supposedly day 3 is the last day one feels lethargic before the adrenal glands start functioning somewhat normally again. I'd be happy to hear anyone else's experiences, as I've already been surprised at my own haha.

[SeekOne]

[video=youtube]Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaQNy0Ef4YY[/video]


What you didn't know about coffee: Asher Yaron at TEDxUbud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaQNy0Ef4YY

[Plenum]

Anyone else taken the plunge and gotten coffee out of their lives? My poor husband isn't taking it as well as me. Strangely he's only been a coffee drinker for about 2 years - I was the one who got him hooked.

I quit caffeine after abusing it to stay awake on night shift

best thing I ever did (quit that is).

I never had coffee before I started this job, and it interfered with my dream activity.

[xise]

I've never been a big fan of coffee or any caffeinated drink.


While it does taste good and it does wake me up, even small amounts make me jittery and make my thoughts race even faster. I also had the opportunity to graph my performance on my gmat math section practice exams over a period of three months - I was serious about doing well on the exam and so I recorded my sleep, diet, exercise, how I felt mentally during the test, and numbers of questions missed every day for about two and a half months. While my questions missed went down as I studied as a function of time, they actually increased on the days I had coffee (and I basically got enough sleep - I was drinking coffee to see if the alertness helped me). I also consistently recorded feeling rushed mentally on the days I had coffee. I found this interesting because while caffeine definitely helped me pull all nighters studying when I had to memorize stuff, but in fact it actually hurted my mathematical ability.


Thus, I decided to stop using caffeine unless I absolutely had to stay awake (pulling an all nighter -rare, or driving while sleepy). My mind is immensely more clear these days and my mathematical ability has increased, without a doubt. I am physically and mentally less jittery, and I find it easier to organize my thoughts mentally and convey them in an effective way. So in closing, it was easy for me to give up all caffeine since January 2014.

[Jade]

My body is so conditioned to caffeine that I don't even get the side effects anymore - no jitters, no staying up later than desired. I just became chemically dependent. I suppose I've always had anxiety/sensitivity issues however so I look forward to seeing what life is like without caffeine. I've eliminated so many other chemicals from my body that it's just next on the list. Lately as I've been meditating first thing in the morning, I do appreciate the difference in mental state pre-caffeine. As my withdrawal symptoms manifested differently than I thought they would (a migraine would have been a no go - I probably wouldn't have drank coffee, but I may have taken an Excedrin), I'm pretty excited and don't intend to go back. At the moment the husband is feeling quite hopeless in his withdrawal, he's willing to stick it out a bit longer too but the shift is quite something.

best thing I ever did (quit that is).

I've heard this enough times to hope that it'll be true for me as well!

I guess I'm weaning myself because I'm still drinking tea. I have a feeling once I detox from coffee that any caffeine may become too much for me, but we'll see.

[Stranger]

It always helps to keep in mind that withdrawal is only temporary, and gives you an indication of just how strongly your body has been impacted by the drug.

The congestion symptoms also make sense - caffeine constricts blood vessels (exacerbating the physiological impact of stress), so eliminating caffeine creates a rebound vasodilation, including in the mucous membranes of your nose and sinuses. More blood = more mucus. Again, it's only temporary!

[isis]

is coffee bad for u? i thought it's good for u bc of antioxidants

i didn't give coffee a try until a couple of years ago. i didn't like the taste at 1st...now i've acquired the taste for it...

recently, i have it once in a blue moon - haven't had it in weeks. i prefer green tea

[Jade]

The congestion symptoms also make sense - caffeine constricts blood vessels (exacerbating the physiological impact of stress), so eliminating caffeine creates a rebound vasodilation, including in the mucous membranes of your nose and sinuses. More blood = more mucus. Again, it's only temporary!

Of course! I'm very glad. It's just very bizarre because usually I associate mucus with dairy, which I very very very rarely consume. Really, as unpleasant as it has been, I much prefer it to the alternative (2 week migraine??). Luckily the timing coincided with a couple days off from work, so I didn't have to face the public all snotty.

Miss Sarah - coffee itself isn't bad for you in moderation, but a chemical dependency on caffeine is. Caffeine puts stress on the adrenal glands which causes greater fatigue in the long run because you deplete all of your adrenaline in short bursts. Riding the waves of caffeine spikes and crashes all day every day is no way to be.

[isis]

Miss Sarah - coffee itself isn't bad for you in moderation, but a chemical dependency on caffeine is. Caffeine puts stress on the adrenal glands which causes greater fatigue in the long run because you deplete all of your adrenaline in short bursts. Riding the waves of caffeine spikes and crashes all day every day is no way to be.

Miss Jade,
this thread is supposed to be about mushrooms

[xise]

Miss Jade,
this thread is supposed to be about mushrooms

Did someone say something about shrooms? Now that's a drug I can get behind (for spiritual purposes).

[Jade]

Yes, please do keep nagging me lol, I need to post about my mushroom experience! Coffee lag is making me lazy.

[Karl]

I'm quitting caffeine right now. I've been falling asleep almost any time I sit down. I feel like an old man.

[AnthroHeart]

I'm switching to decaf once my regular coffee runs out.

[Matt1]

Never drank coffee before although i have tried a little never enjoyed it. For me my main issue is drinking alcohol although i normally only drink at the weekend one day i still tent to drink a decent amount. However i was able to kick the habit for about 6 months after a bad experience then went back to it for a couple of months now but in a less consistent way, although i accept it i understand that it makes me unbalanced to the point of seeing things the next day ha although i don't have any physical withdrawals its more of a cultural habit. I think its mostly the same all over the world you goto work 5 days a week and then hit the booze to get lose at the weekend.


Good luck with giving up your coffee , its one of those socially acceptable addictions like tobacco .

[Phoenix]

I had a real, real problem with caffeine back in the day; and what you say is interesting about creating dependence at an early age because I used to get tea in my bottles.

After I became a diabetic I used to drink diet coke, and sometimes it would be a 2 litre bottle a day. I used to stay awake because of this sort of habit.

Eventually I got off caffeine with Reiki. I went to one session and didn't drink it again. Another thing I used to sort of repetitively myself against it was by reading about how bad it is. I read the book 'Caffeine blues' by Stephen Cherniske. Apparently, the reason caffeine give you headaches is that when you use it, it stops 30% of the blood going to your brain. Therefore, when you stop it, the blood starts rushing up there again.

I think alcohol can be a savage addiction precisely because of it's social acceptableness, people are simply not given feedback if alcohol is becoming a social problem. Although alcohol mostly becomes a problem when people start drinking alone, and when they start hiding it.

I'm quitting caffeine right now. I've been falling asleep almost any time I sit down. I feel like an old man.

Ha ha.

[Jade]

Day 6 here. My sickness is mostly gone, though I did have to take a day off of work because I was too gross to serve people food. I'm yet to feel any extra energy, but I think I just have general lethargy do to long term mild depression. (speaking of things that set in at a young age...) I'm not going back, however. Haven't even craved it. Make myself a pot of green tea and I don't even usually drink more than a cup. My poor husband isn't doing well, he still feels extra dull and like he is unable to work on his book, which is giving him stress. He links stimulants to his ability to write (first it was quitting cigarettes that gave him this anxiety and now it's the coffee)

We used to also have a Dr. Pepper problem, we'd easily knock out at least a 12 pack a day between us, which we eventually cut out after we went vegan. Both the coffee and the Dr Pepper were habits of mine that my husband didn't have before we met, but he seriously became dependent on both.

As far as withdrawal, I guess I'm still blowing my nose a lot, which is making my ears pop, which is making my equilibrium a bit off and making it hard to hear. These are my biggest complaints.

I agree with you about alcohol, what you said was funny and it's a cliche, that when someone is a social drinker it's "okay", but when someone drinks alone it's not okay. Is that partly because if they are in a social situation, they in the service of offering others catalyst, even though they are avoiding it almost entirely? Just a thought. I've been with more than a couple alcoholics in my life (my husband is recovered) so it's a disease/addiction I have a lot of learn from in this life (addictions in general are a theme).

[isis]

i love DP
but i quit sodas long ago. i miss them...

this thread is making me want a cup of coffee

[Jade]

Yeah talking about/thinking about coffee makes me crave a nice foamy latte. I miss Dr. Pepper but my taste buds and body just can't handle it anymore (extremely over processed/sugar/junk food is too intense flavor-wise). Plus it's flavored with castoreum. They had a 2lb bag of Sour Patch kids on sale at the grocery store a few weeks ago for ~$4, it was such a good deal and I used to love Sour Patch kids, so I bought the bag and brought it into work and watched everyone devour it within an hour. I didn't even try to taste one because it would probably have tasted like burning.

[isis]

"tasted like burning" lol

[Jade]

Me trying to eat sour candy/drink soda:

[AnthroHeart]

Funny, they are doing a Simpsons marathon on some channel for like the next 11 days. A lot of episodes. Like 552 I think, according to my mom.

[Karl]

Since cutting out coffee my nose has been running - I've needed to blow my nose a lot each day - I think now I'm starting to finish my 'detox'

[Jade]

I'm still in a moderate nose blowing phase (tomorrow will be day 7). Really as of today my biggest problem is the um, lack of additional stimulation in the intestinal area. Drinking lots of prune juice to try to remedy the discomfort, but it has been quite intense.

Pretty funny that I'm exhibiting all the physical symptoms and my husband is experiencing the emotional symptoms (depression, lethargy, anxiety, cravings). Still just glad it's not a two week migraine!

[native]

In the past few years I've taken it on as a habit. Just one cup a day, but eliminated the second at work, as I noticed it seems to stimulate the stomach/appetite. Sorry to be the bearer of temptation, but I'm interested to know if you've ever considered just one cup of coffee a day? I think in the name of health we get a little too carried away and should enjoy ourselves. I'm on the path of becoming a vegetarian, but it just seems that when it comes to nutrition, researchers are always saying "Well we used to think this was bad, but..".

The body is a complex system, making things even more complex when you throw in mental and spiritual dynamics, so I think researchers trying to nail down concretely what is good or bad for the body misses the point. My motto is to eat healthy, yet eat what you want also and don't worry so much.

Chicory root has traditionally been a coffee substitute, though I've never had it. There are a number of herbs you could take for anxiety as well.

[native]

I shouldn't refer to it as a habit by the way, because I like it for the taste.

[AnthroHeart]

I like the taste too. I should quit it because sometimes just thinking about it gives me the dry heaves.

[Aaron]

@Icaro
Yeah we sell chicory drinks (and dandelion root) at the natural foods store which I work at. I don't think they're really a replacement for coffee strictly speaking. I believe they're basically a comfort thing... It tastes like coffee, provides antioxidants and all that good stuff. But there's no caffeine. Some people do end up actually replacing their coffee drinks with this stuff due to their changing tastes as they drop the coffee. But do I think that, in regards to quitting coffee, the chicory root drinks can be used as a comfort, or stand-in for coffee. But in that sense, it's an aid for quitting, rather than a replacement. It doesn't exactly provide the same stuff to the body.

I haven't actually tried any roasted chicory drinks... Apparently they're pretty good though. There is also the option of brewing a drink with roasted cacao nibs, which supposedly makes a pretty good chocolatey drink.

[AnthroHeart]

I quit on my trip for a day, and suffered no ill effects.
Coffee sometimes thinking about it causes me to dry retch.
That goes with food too.

[native]

Aaron - Thanks for the clarification. I'd like to try it sometime. Pretty cool that you work at a natural foods store!

[Aaron]

Aaron - Thanks for the clarification. I'd like to try it sometime. Pretty cool that you work at a natural foods store!

I love being part of the movement towards healthfulness and wellness in this country.