I drink soda, I don’t consider it a lot. Between 12-36 ounces per day. Late last summer my wife convinced me to try zero calorie soda, so I settled on Diet Dew (both yellow and red).
I developed a cough and last month after struggling with it for most of the fall/winter I went to an ENT doctor and he diagnosed that my coughing was directly related to my caffeine intake. So he gave me orders to ween off caffeine and start taking Prilosec.
So I polished off my 12 pack and stopped buying more, within ten days my cough had pretty much disappeared. Problem is, I went back to work and I “need” my caffeine when I work. I’ve started back to 1-2 cans per day and the cough is back. I’m bothering my co-workers, they think I have Bronchitis.
I need a decent tasting low calorie, zero caffeine, cold drink. I hate coffee, I hate Dr Pepper, I hate brewed Iced Tea. My favorites are Coke and Dew. I’m serious about quitting if I can find a reasonable replacement. Please help.
Did your doctor elaborate as to the specifics of this cough; beyond saying it was related to caffeine intake? What sort of cough, what about the caffeine causes it, why, etc.? I am definitely a caffeine addict and I’ve never heard of this before.
He just said I had acid reflux caused by the caffeine. Hence his recommendations, which seem to work. I had scope and interview and that was his diagnosis.
I’ve really hated Diet Coke the few times I’ve been unfortunate enough to try by accident.
I have no idea what Mormons drink, only that the drink is apparently called “Mormon tea.” I’ve never had the stuff, so I don’t know how powerful it is. I doubt it is sold at a concentration any more potent than one might find the caffeine in coffee, but that’s purely conjecture.
Heck, for all I know “Mormon tea” is somehow pejorative. Certainly not my intent.
I really don’t feel any stimulative affects from the caffeine, it’s more mental. I like to have a cold drink that tastes yummy while I’m working. I’m tired of water and when I cheat, I cough too much.
Buy some store-brand soda water and some fruit juices. Add an ounce or two of juice to your glass of soda water and you have a delicious, relatively healthy drink.
I like unsweetened 100% cranberry juice for this, but I’m odd.
To combine two of the above: Mio (the store brands taste just the same to me, so I go for whatever’s cheaper) in club soda or seltzer water. I even got a SodaStream to support my seltzer-with-flavor habit!
I, too, needed caffeine to work, for years and years and years. I thought I would never get off coffee, I was drinking at least 5 cups a day, every day. Finally I was diagnosed with ADD and was prescribed a time-released stimulant for that. Drinking coffee while on it made me really nauseous, so I actually was able to quit cold turkey.
36 oz a day is not a LOT of soda or caffeine (though I’m not sure how much caffeine is in Mtn Dew).
I’m not convinced caffeine is your issue.
I also don’t see why you’re also wanting to switch to low calorie.
Regardless - go to your store and buy a few of the many caffeine free diet beverages available these days.
If you’ve got GERD significant enough to merit endoscopy, you really want to minimize gastric irritation. Avoid carbonated bevs, ephedrine, alcohol, and other acidy stuff.
The OP is not looking for a medical opinion. You really aren’t qualified to provide one given that the OP has explained his condition in about 3 sentences in an online forum. His doctor has met him and scoped him. You read 3 sentences online. I’m gonna trust the doctor on this one.