# Caffeine addicts: Do you periodically go cold turkey? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 21, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899 "2004-08-21T22:40:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/21 "2004-08-22T19:45:25Z")
I do but not on purpose or on any scedual. I just sometimes don’t want anything to drink but water, go figure. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/22 "2004-08-22T22:45:32Z")
I used to be a huge caffeine addict when I was in high school. I just quit one day because I didn’t see any need to keep drinking that much caffeine, and about a week later I was feeling the migraine coming on. That was bad enough that I hardly touch caffeine anymore. If you’re going to quit, I suggest weaning yourself off. Obviously I’m not the only one who got a migraine from just stopping, so you might want to play it safe and go slow. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/23 "2004-08-22T23:39:54Z")
The last time I tried to go without was over ten years ago. I only lasted a day, and during that day I had no energy and pretty much stayed in bed most of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/24 "2004-08-23T01:06:18Z")
I’ve consumed 2 cups a day or more for most of the last 22 years, but I’ve never gotten a headache from doing without. Last month I gave it up for 10 days while hiking (trying to save weight on the shoulders), and I felt fine from day 1 – no headache, energy high. I’ve also done the odd month or two without every once in awhile when I feel like it’s not doing me any good. However, in my twenties I could swill three cups at a diner at 2 AM and be happily asleep at 2:30. Now (at 38) if I have a cup after two or three in the afternoon I’ll be staring at the ceiling into the wee hours. (No weeing at the ceiling into the staring hours, at least not yet.) Sometimes I’ve been known to resort to the d-word [shudder]. The shame of it. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/25 "2004-08-23T01:25:07Z")
I have two large cups of tea (one of those big mugs that holds about 2 cups each), one in the morning and one in the afternoon, then a soda or two during the rest of the day. If I try to quit cold turkey over the weekend, I end up feeling fuzzy and dull and often have a headache by sunday. I make sure to drink at least one cup of tea in the morning on both saturday and sunday, and restrict myself to only one cup in the morning and one in the afternoon while at work. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/26 "2004-08-23T01:28:52Z")
Yeah, a couple of years ago I gave it up cold turkey. It sort of happened by accident. I realized one night that I hadn’t had any caffeine during the day, and it became sort of a game - I decided to see how long I could go. I think I made it for about 4 months, including final exams and projects. Around that time, I figured that the success of my experiment (I barely had any withdrawal headaches, just for the first two days) meant that I didn’t have a huge addiction, and, since I don’t really drink, and I don’t smoke, I had to have at least one vice… back to caffeine for me. I drink anywhere between 12 and 40 ounces of soda a day, now, but rarely more, and there are several days when I don’t drink any. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/27 "2004-08-23T15:26:18Z")
I do, once a year, for one month. 30 days with NO caffeine. I figure that’s long enough to get any toxins purged from my system. I get withdrawal headaches for a 1-2 days, then I’m fine. But at the end of the 30 days that coffee tastes oh-so-good. Oh, and I usually try to do it in warmer months as there’s nothing like a hot cup of coffee in 10 degree weather. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/28 "2004-08-23T15:34:35Z")
I wouldn’t even try to go cold turkey. Although I reduce my daily intake at times to 6 cups or so. My schedule is so weird, that I have to have some kind of stimulant to keep me functioning during daylight hours. And I’ve been told, by someone who did successfully quit that way, don’t use regular aspirin for the headaches. Use caffeine free aspirin - not Tylenol or any of the other ibuprofins - good old pre-WWII aspirin, caffeine free variety. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/29 "2004-08-23T15:35:27Z")
I can stop anytime I want. I just don’t _want_ to stop. [/Richard Pryor] Ok, I do occasionally stop drinking caffeine just so to make sure that I can. And I try to always avoid caffeine on the weekends. As a side topic, my kids, ages 6 and 8, have _never_ had caffeine. No Coke, Pepsi, Barq’s rootbeer, etc. Anybody else ban their kids from caffeine? Do you find that other parents think it’s weird that your kids aren’t allowed to drink Coke? ---
**Author:** ![ReBusEniGma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@ReBusEniGma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReBusEniGma)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/30 "2004-08-23T15:54:30Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > \ Anybody else ban their kids from caffeine? Do you find that other parents think it’s weird that your kids aren’t allowed to drink Coke? Yes, I’ve done the same thing with the younger ones. It’s only on _rare_ occasions that I let them. I haven’t actually encountered anyone that has thought it strange yet, or at least no one has said anything to me about it. They’re all secretly aghast 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/31 "2004-08-23T15:55:40Z")
My kids are 5 and 7 and I don’t think either of them has ever had more caffeine than you would get in a few Hershey kisses or a cup of cocoa. I haven’t needed to ban soda, though, since neither of them cares for anything with bubbles. I switched to decaf when I was pregnant the first time. I didn’t go cold turkey, though, since I had gotten caffeine headaches occasionally in the past. I just gradually mixed decaf in with my regular coffee over the course of a week or so. I don’t remember noticing any unusual fatigue, or if I did, I probably blamed in on the babe. I only drink coffee in the mornings, so it was probably easier for me than for people who drink it all day. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/32 "2004-08-23T16:15:03Z")
Normally, I drink an 8-cup pot of coffee a day (and any regular coffee drinkers know, there are _not_ eight cups of coffee in an 8-cup pot), but I have gone cold turkey, although not voluntarily. As some of you may know from my prior rantings on the boards, I suffer from kidney stones. When I get an attack, I don’t want food _or_ coffee. I only want enough cranberry juice to swallow my pain killers and anti-nausea meds. If I end up admitted to the hospital at these times (if I can’t stop puking), they put me on a clear liquid diet for a few days. I do sometimes end up with headaches, but fortunately, the nice nurse with the morphine syrette takes care of that 🙂 . Oddly enough, the first time I was pregnant, I lost my taste for coffee before I even knew I was pregnant. I walked into work one morning, poured myself a cup, took a drink and thought “ewwww. This sucks!” Three days later I found out I was expecting. That didn’t happen with my subsequent two pregnancies, though. But my doctors agreed that two _small_ cups of coffee a day would be fine; so, on the first few days after finding out the good news, I made a pot of Light (half-decaf) coffee, and drank that. Then, I started using half Light and half regular decaf, so I essentially had 75% decaf coffee. This way, I could continue drinking my regular quantity of coffee, without getting much caffeine. I continued this regimen through my nursing months, too. Incidentally, my urologist says that for the type of stones I have, coffee is a _good_ thing, so I drink it without feeling the least shred of guilt. I have a mug close at hand right now. ---
**Author:** ![ElectricZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58f4c7/32.png) [@ElectricZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElectricZ)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/33 "2004-08-23T18:49:27Z")
I can’t stand tea or coffee, so I get my fix from soft drinks. I used to be a regular six-can (or equivalent) day drinker but have been on 3 cans for several years, with occasional binging. At a restaurant with free refills I can slam down two or three 32 oz tumblers pretty easily. When I have gone cold turkey (not willingly, mind you) I’d get annoying headaches and that was about it. I am convinced that caffeine is WD-40 for the brain. Without caffeine, it dries out, seizes up and grinds to a halt. A caffeine achiever and proud, EZ ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899/34 "2004-08-23T21:00:15Z")
Mr. Lissar drinks about a litre to two litres of Coke a day. When he gives it up (as he does periodically, usually for Lent) he gets migraines for weeks. I only drink tea, really, and about a cup a day. I don’t really like feeling over-caffeinated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caffeine-addicts-do-you-periodically-go-cold-turkey/260899.md?page=1)