When I go off caffeine (I’ve gone off for months at a time just because I felt like it), since I’m a soda drinker myself but not exactly picky about what I drink as long as it’s caffeinated, I just keep buying less and less-caffeinated sodas. I usually check online for a “caffeine content in beverages” guide and pick a lower-caffeine soda to switch to after a few days, and keep going from there until I’m off.
I went to a weekend event about 10 years ago where I was first introduced to Caffeine Free Diet Dr Pepper and sucked it down like the nectar it is. Sunday evening I crashed with a mega migraine from caffeine withdrawal. Now I know to moderate my caffeine intake – I drink some with, some without. And I don’t drink nearly as much of either as I used to. But that first weekend, I’d never had the unleaded before. Wow. I still remember the agony.
I get the major headache thing, too, if I try to quit cold turkey. And it’s not just a headache, it’s a fuzzy, confused, out-of-it sensation, like having your brain wrapped in cotton. No analgesic does squat to cure it, either. When it’s necessary to lay off the caffeine for awhile, I cut back gradually over a week or two.
As someone else pointed out some headache remedies contain caffeine, like Excedrin Migraine, so read your labels.
Other than that, no advice, I can’t function without at least one cup of coffee but I rarely ever have more than two. I did quit once a long time ago and it was the gradually mix caffeinated coffee with decaf, changing the ratios until it’s eventually all decaf. It didn’t last though but if I ever feel the need for more than my usual amount of coffee or an afternoon iced coffee I usually go with decaf with a teensy bit of caf.
Project East Coast Mole has been a failure. Terminate with extreme prejudice. We must find a new subject to convert the soda-ites.
Why on Earth would you want to quit caffeine?
All I have to offer is that if I quit cold turkey, I get migraines, headaches, and sleepiness for a week. If I cut down more gradually I get no side-effects at all.
I gotta second that. Caffeine is fine in sensible amounts.
I’m a coffee drinker. I don’t waste my caffeine limit on cokes or other sodas.
I haven’t drank any significant caffeine in, oh, 15 years now. I don’t miss it at all (except I did like the taste of coffee and regular tea). I handle sleepiness by getting proper sleep at night, exercising regularly, and eating healthy (I know, it’s a crazy theory!). I had no problems stopping caffeine. I’m cutting out dairy to see if it’s what’s causing my intestinal problems, and I’m having more problem with that.
That was fun - check out the “New Fang” video, too - I really like that song.
Headaches the 2nd evening or 3rd morning. With mine nothing could touch it - aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen. This lasted 2 days, for me. Then the real crash, I needed to sleep - 1st time luckily I could last the 2 1/2 hour before I could legitimately go to bed but it was hard, 2nd time I left work early and slept as soon as I got home. By a week without caffeine sleep was deeper and more restful. However, after going 5 months with no caffeine I still was getting tired around 4ish, even with 7 hours sleep.
The best cure for a caffeine withdrawal headache is to drink as little caffeine as you can with the pain killer that works the best on headaches for you. I’d take Excedrin back and body, which is Tylenol and Aspirin, but no caffeine.
As for getting sleepy: it’s really not that big a deal. You can still work when you are sleepy. Just make sure it isn’t something that requires fast reaction times, and you’ll be fine. Get some B vitamins and other natural energizers. And don’t be afraid of taking a 1 to 2 hour nap if you can.
I wish you luck.
Pretty much the only thing that will touch a caffeine headache is a little caffeine. Drink a few ounces of something with caffeine in it with your pain medications, and it would probably work a lot better.
And it’s okay to take a short nap when you are tired. I know people who take a nap as soon as they get home from work for about 30 minutes. It’s a whole lot easier than trying to sleep 8 hours in a row. But only if you’re the type that can fall asleep not at bed time.
The headache.
Oh my, the headache.
And when it happens, I don’t really realize where it’s coming from or why; my head hurts too much to put the pieces together. It subsides after a while, but brains hurt without caffeine. Or that’s what I notice when I give up caffeine.
In high school, one of my friends was a happy-go-lucky, nice, sweet guy. He went through Diet Coke like there was no tomorrow, multiple Super Big Gulps a day, plus the bottles & cans. Every so often, someone would bet him that he couldn’t go for a period of time without caffeine. By day 3 or 4, his personality would transform entirely, he would be horrible to be around, short, snappish - you might want to be kind to your friends & family and give them somewhere else to be until you’ve gotten over it.
Ironically, getting headaches is actually what made me start drinking coffee. Nothing else except a cup of coffee helps.
I did a year or so with no caffeine at all. Wasn’t terribly hard, since I’d had to stop drinking coffee years earlier (makes me feel like I have a UTI), and had switched to strong black tea. I don’t think I bothered to wean myself, I just quit. I think I had a low-level hazy headache for a couple of days, but that was it.
Nowadays, I drink white tea (hot) in the mornings, and iced tea on occasion. White tea is naturally lower in caffeine than black or green tea, and iced tea is, of course, diluted black tea. The only other caffeine I get is Excedrin, which I take for headaches.
One thing, though - I get so little caffeine normally during the course of a day that Excedrin actually gives me the shakes. And if I’m having trouble waking up, black tea does it quite nicely.
Day two. The monster headache hasn’t arrived yet. I had a great sleep and feel fine this morning, but I’m on headache alert amber!
Black tea can actually contain a ton of caffeine if you make it right. A Pakistani psychiatry student showed me how to make it with loose leaves and boiling hot milk.
It was like crack.
I quit cold turkey back in January. Didn’t really have a headache problem but I have noticed I’m a lot slower starting in the morning. I used to wake up and have a soda or a cup of tea and that got me moving. Now I sort of drag around for a hour.
Day three and woke up with the monster headache. Yay for drugs.