I went cold turkey a few years ago. Between me and my brother we would finish a 24 pack of Pepsi a day. Plus whatever I got out of the vending machine at work. I stopped on a Friday. Went to work, and when I got back I went to bed with a headache. I don’t remember getting out of bed till Sunday night. It still hurt, but I could move. I felt much better after a week, and I can now drink a soda or two without a problem. Also now caffine has more of an affect on me, so when I do need to stay awake it works.
Ah, well . . . I guess I’ll just stick to the Darjeeling, then, and save the Big Guns for when I really need a boost. My tea pusher will be happy, at least.
I find that it’s easier if I eat low simple carbs while quitting caffeine. I just quit for the hundredth time two weeks ago and I feel much better. I always go cold turkey and the headaches last for three day.
I drank a constant supply of green tea when quitting coffee, then tapered the tea down to a few cups a day. Provided some caffeine and lots of liquids. Few if any problems.
I pretty much quit caffeine a few months ago. This was inspired by a particularly nasty bout of food poisoning (well, nasty enough, anyway). I was unable to keep anything down for a day–and, even after that, I was at the bland foods and flat ginger ale stage. As a result, I didn’t have any caffiene. When I got the splitting headache, I got pissed. At the time, I was drinking probably four or five 12 ounce (diet!) sodas worth each day.
I started to switch to caffiene-free soda when possible (I don’t drink coffee, and very seldom drink tea). What I ended up doing (though I didn’t realize it at the time) was cutting down my intake to one soda-with-caffeine per day, then gradually increasing the intervals between sodas. Finally, I got off of soda altogether and started drinking only water and lemonade. Now, the majority of what I drink is water, which is much healthier.
I don’t know how that’d work with coffee. Maybe if you switched forms to soda or something first, that’d help you cut down. I’m now at the point where I very seldom want soda of any kind. I have caffeine pretty much once every couple of weeks now, if that. I just don’t worry about it, you know?
I went off coffee cold turkey in January due to irregular heartbeat. The irregularity went away with 24 hours of going off coffee, then the headaches. Ooofta!!! I thought my head was going to open up and my brains were going to ooze out! After about 3 days of that, I was fine. I drink a very occasional cup of coffee now, even too much decaf bothers me. I also drink decaf green tea. I really like being able to get up in the morning and function without having to have coffee…though I really miss drinking it…I love the flavor!
I haven’t had any substantial amounts of caffeine for about 15 years now. Contrary to popular belief, you can actually live quite well, feel energetic, focus, concentrate, and have a good life without coffee. Doesn’t it scare you guys a little bit, how bad you feel when you stop drinking it? Doesn’t that tell you something?
You know what works really well for making you feel good and energetic? Eating healthy, exercising, and getting enough sleep. I know, I know, radical ideas there.
By the way, chocolate doesn’t have caffeine. I’m so sensitive to caffeine I can’t drink more than a 1/4 cup of coffee without regretting it, but I can eat chocolate till the cows come home. It has a caffeine-like substance (theobromine? something like that) which doesn’t affect me the way caffeine does.
I think our society could use a refresher on the meaning of the word “need.” Your body does not physically require caffeine (your addiction probably makes you think you do, but that’s a different story.) You WANT caffeine.
As a migraine sufferer and one-cup-a-day caffeine addict, I can confirm from experience - not like he needs it - the esteemed QtM’s declaration that Imitrex doesn’t work on caffeine withdrawal headaches.
Thank you for posting this. My neuro concurs - caffeine withdrawal can trigger a migraine in some people, but a caffeine withdrawal headache is not a migraine. Also, caffeine help abort a migraine in some peopel - cafergot was a very common abortive before the triptans were developed. Caffergot actually worked well on my migraine, but I had to take so much that I had severe shakes and couldn’t sleep at all.
As for all migraine being caused by caffeine, I think it’s crap. When I wasn’t consuming any caffeine (no coffee, no cola, no chocolate, etc), I still got migraines. And I wasn’t taking Exedrin, eitherh (which containes caffeine).
(bolding mine) From this, I gathered that VCO3’s primary concern was not the caffeine itself, but the dependence on coffee. And the OP doesn’t say for certain that s/he wants definitely to stop caffeine - or even coffee - entirely.
So all of my recommendations (including the Excedrin) were based on what I have found personally helpful in minimizing coffee withdrawal while keeping the door open for the enjoyment of other caffeinated beverages, including some coffee. Seems to me that this is exactly the thing that the OP is asking for.
Some people are quite sensitive to caffeine or really do need to eliminate it entirely, therefore your advice is right on. VCO3 does not seem to be one of those people.
You’re entirely correct. I was far enough removed from reading the OP at that point I had forgetten he talked about possibility of tapering off. And caffeine is a kind of a hot button with me; I think more people should stop. Sodas full of sugar are making us fat. “Requiring” coffee every day is pain and a waste of money. People kind of chuckle wryly and say, “yeah, but I need my coffee in the morning just to get going” which I find either pathetic or self-delusional, depending on the person.
After kicking pill/pot/booze addictions, I figured I was entitled to my six cups or more a day of coffee. Then I hit menopause.
For three months I couldn’t bear to be in the same room with a cup of coffee. I’ve never had my body do such a turnaround on anything. It gradually went away, and now I usually drink tone 8 oz. 60 cent cup from my local grocery store machine a day, and that’s it.
I NEEDS COFFEE, (yes, that S is intentional), besides, without Coffee my wife would leave me, I would be fired from my job and space aliens would take over the Earth.
If it helps, picture the above dialogue being said with the voice of Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
Coffee has health benefits, which are due to the fact that it has many anti-oxidants which are important to a good diet.
The article says that moderate coffee drinking can provide lots of the helpful anti-oxidants and can also help lower the risk of developing one type of diabetes.
So who cares if someone needs their coffee comfort food?
When I’ve quit coffee in the past, I tapered down over the course of two weeks, because I dreaded that horrific coffee withdrawal headache. Not only does it hurt like a mutha, it makes your brain feel fuzzy and indistinct like it’s wrapped in cotton. The tapering technique worked well with minimum discomfort.
