skunkape

Hey everyone,

I don't know whether this post belongs in here or the eating disorder forum but we don't have any support forum for people trying to kick caffeine. I am currently 2 weeks caffeine free and I have to admit I feel better than ever. I never realized what an energy drain on my system that caffeine was. I used to get tired around 1 or 2 oclock in the day and never recover, and be dead tired by dinner time. Now I feel like my energy level is consistent all day long. Also another positive side effect has been my anxiety, I really feel like I have cut my anxiety down in half just by stopping caffeine. This is really amazing to me, because I never realized what an effect it had on that mental aspect. Anyways
thanks for lett me share!

chris

Josiol

When I stopped alcohol two months ago I started drinking a ton of coffee (about a pot a day). Which for me was not a good thing seeing as I have an anxiety disorder and the caffeine made it a million times worse. My hands were shaking like crazy and I was practically bouncing off the walls. I cut out the coffee completely two days ago and I'm feeling much better already. I do still have one can of Pepsi a day. I just can't seem to give up the caffeine totally yet.

Live

Oh, yeah! I can't do caffeine either. I have an anxiety disorder and caffeine wrecks me and gives me insomnia. I understand the Pepsi a day, I have lapsed a bit and am drinking iced tea at lunch. I just love iced tea. But at home I keep decaf iced tea in the frig. Anyway, if you quit it all at once, the headaches are killer, slowly reducing the intake is the way to go and really, rather easy.
I am much calmer with NO caffeine.
I have read that caffeine contains numerous chemicals and has different effects 6 and 12 hours later.

live

FallGirl

Congrats on no caffeine!

I can totally relate to the anxiety/caffeine connection. i'm cutting down on caffeine, and my anxiety is not as bad.

stay strong!

FallGirl

Bozo

I failed in my quest for a caffeine free life.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...l-journal.html

marle

I started drinking coffee when I was probably around 4 or 5. My mom gave us each a cup with half milk, half coffee and lots of sugar. Well as an adult I would drink 10 or more cups a day. No problem until 2 years ago. I would not be able to sleep at night, felt like I wanted to jump out of my skin and run away. I quit cold turkey, only a little brain fog. Now I drink a 4 oz. cup in the morning and decaf the rest of the day. I don't miss the caffeine, but I still like a little chocolate everyday That I will never be able to give up.

daturan

it's soo good to see other folks having the desire to stop. I've been going it alone for a long time, here's my story:
I started drinking caffeine /later in life, I was ~29. It was a diffacult transitional period in my life and I started drinking it for the push it gave me along with the altered mental state. I started noticing I would drip with sweat, (I'm very fit and athletic so this was waayy not normal) and my hart rate was high. I would notice my behavior was spasmodic, jumping from one task to another, my hands would shake and were cold and clamy. I started to get a cronic sore throught along with sinus algeries,, related or not I lost my sense of balance. At this point a wanted to "get off the bean". If you're like me then you know its grip. that was 7 years ago, I've had windows of abstinace but I haven't been able to maintain. I'm "clean" at the moment have have been for a 4 months, this last time my arms would shake, I had sever hart palputations, but most concerning is my lack of memory retention (did I mention the anger issue too?)
to anyone who want's to quit, if I can do it, so can you,, and if you can,, well then so can I..

skunkape

I hate the withdrawals. Everytime I quit, I tell myself, this sucks. I hate the headaches and the irritability. So this time it's for good. I'm never going back to that devil brew. It's helped with my anxiety, depression, and acid reflux, so the cost benefit analysis is on the side of quitting for me.

1Marty

I need to really look at my caffeine "addiction" also. Since I quit drinking alcohol, I started drinking more and more coffee. I figured since it was in all the AA rooms, it must be OK, right? Now, I really find it difficult not to have an evening coffee or tea. And I have been paying the price with poor sleep. Glad to hear some of you were able to quit.

daturan

this time around it took me,, well lots of failures, I would "humbly" ask for help to not take that first (red bull) drink,, even while I knew I was going to go get one.. I'm grateful for you sharing of your tribulation and even more grateful you're still around, like me, going at it another day.

Crashnburn

I just quit everything else, but I'm going to have to taper off coffee, & cigarettes...I also found out they both can affect your vision, & I am of course, blind as a bat too...
I'm not sure when I'll tackle it, & think being clean is more important for me right now...Waiting a bit for me makes sense as I'm just two months off a couple substances, & a month or less off of certain others.
I will eventually kick the caffeine too, & make it an occasional treat just for me...
Smoking has got to go, but I had a bad experience with crawling skin in my new cleanliness, & decided to give myself some more time with cigarettes...

Congratulations on decaffeinating yourself!

-One day at a time, & staying strong.

Angie25

I stumbled across this community by chance the other day in caffeine induced despair..perhaps that's a little dramatic. I really would have checked myself into a caffeine detox center that day! It was really comforting to see all of the posts about the subject. It helped although I am sipping on a GIANT cup of coffee right now! LOL! Anyway. Glad that I joined up.

Ang

sugarssweetpea

Caffeine makes me very irritable. It makes my heart race & also palpitations sometimes I guess. Makes me very short of breath. The effects of it also seem to come hours later (the awakeness that is). The last 2 times I drank it, I became very itchy on my skin. Don't know if that was coincidence or not. I had quit for 3 years while pregnant & nursing my 2 children. Then, I was still always tired & my husband suggested going back to it. I have tried off & on, & just do not like the way it makes me feel. I'd rather be tired. If I do drink it, it is in very small amounts. One soda only when I really feel that I need it. Once in awhile.

Oh yeah, the funny thing; about 10-15 years ago, I used to drink nothing but mountain dew. Even slept with a 1 liter of it by my bed & would guzzle it when I woke up thirsty in the middle of the night & go right back to sleep. Then moved on to other uppers, cocaine, etc, but that is another story. Now I cannot even handle 1 cup of coffee.

laurience

That is awesome.. Congrats.. That is something I would love to do to however I just quit drinking 19 days ago and feel that I shouldn't put too much on myself at once. I will be careful not to increase my intake of caffeine. I quit smoking over 6 years ago after many many attempts. I read a book called "Easy Way to Quit Smoking" by Allan Carr and it worked for me. I had tried everything b4 that. I had tried the patch, zybane, acupuncture, nicorettes gum etc.. but these methods never changed my way of thinking so I always went back. Well the book changed my way of thinking.
Joanne

sugarssweetpea

Yeah, I agree with not putting too much on yourself at once. Stay strong.

laurience

Thanks Pee.. You mentionning mountain Dew gave me a craving.. lol.. I pictured this big waterwall.. hahah.. I plan on staying strong..
Joanne

Found

This thread could be the world's first internet caffeine abstention/reducing (dual purpose) forum !!!
In 1995 I woke up one morning (in my lodgings) with this in my head:
"You don't need another drink of caffeine or to plan another drink of alcohol"
That was the prelude to five much better years.
After big stresses including going back to living totally alone - and not having been to AA a long while - I found myself consuming alcohol and caffeine from time to time.
In 2003 I had to go gluten free and I have had to move home several more times in recent years. I had difficulty in staying away from all three substances. At best I would stay away from two of them at a time. I did have another sixteen months alcohol free. To date I am four months alcohol free and two months caffeine free (as well as nearly four years as near GF as I could manage).
I get ten days bad leg pains from quitting caffeine. I find it best done all in one go (it's not like sticking plaster!)
Most refreshment venues are a dead loss to me (I love meat and veg places!), I even bring my own refreshments to AA meetings (and occasionally get told off).
When I find the link I'll post the link to an article about the fact that around half of mental illness is probably just caffeine poisoning. No doctor will ever say so!
A Pepsi a day, was that just two litres? The person with the Red Bull mention, thank you, I've been there too.
(If they work for the rest of the population I'm not agin it)

optomatic5000

I had kicked caffeine when I was in the hospital (a portion of my thumb was sliced off, had a reaction to the medication... long story). Anyway, I did take notice that my energy levels were more than they were before and I didn't feel sleepy all the time.

After my stay in the hospital, I slowly got back to drinking one cup of coffee here and there and now I'm back to drinking at least 2 One Liter bottles of Pepsis per day.

I guess I understand the whole caffeine addiction and how some of us aren't ready to just give it up yet. After all, they do serve coffee at the AA meetings and I'm always one to take advantage.

Then again, maybe my caffeine addiction is contributing to the fact that I'm wide awake right now and I'm not feeling 100%.

Anyway, happy health and life to everyone.

David

daturan

Hey Bozo,, good to see you hang around here like me, anyway here's an update, I posted this over at the 43 things site that has a running "give up caffeine" thread:
Agents my better judgment I went off the wagon 3 weeks ago for a duration of 4 days,,, lost 8 pounds, slept like a crack addict, and ended up sick,, anyway I’ve made it back for the better part of 2 weeks now,, but here’s the best part,, that nagging urge is right there as if nothing happened….

dawn72

I am sipping away on my diet pepsi and after reading this thread I am going to TRY and give it up. I drink two litres a day...NEVER sleep at night...totally miserable..ill give it a whirl...ill keep ya'll posted!!

Dawn