Niamh

I am up and clean. I drank half the caffeine I normally do. I'm hoping that helps with the jittery, empty stomach feelings. I am thinking giving up caffeine, too but maybe too soon to start a new thing. I've got a headache but I am not wanting to take anything for it.

jmunns81

I drink a lot of coffee, find I can't wake up properly with out a cuppa. I've never suffered with the jitters, but does make my restless legs worse.

Niamh

I've used it as a replacement for sure.

MyShadow

You might try green tea with lemon, its a little more subtle and very good for you. I drink it a lot in the summer.

Gonnachange

Seconding MyShadow, the caffeine boost from tea is more subtle than coffee so you may want to use that to wean off the java. A lot of people I know who were heavy coffee drinkers got headaches when they initially cut it out.

DontRemember

I'm going for 30 days and then cutting out cigs... caffeine is next on the list.

Soberwolf

Hang in there Niamh your doing well bud

Aellyce

I used to be a very heavy coffee drinker, would sip on it all day. This was before I started drinking heavily, and I never noticed an adverse effect due to my coffee consumption back then. But I was certainly dependent on it.

I cut back significantly on the coffee when my alcohol drinking took off... simply because I did not desire it that much. But when I quit the booze, started drinking a lot of coffee again for a little while. Clearly, for me, the two substances have some sort of overlapping effects, which is not surprising and I've heard it from others. The problem was that when I drank a lot of coffee during alcohol withdrawal and in early sobriety, I really noticed that anything more than two cups per day would increase my anxiety levels a lot, which was already bad enough to start with. So I'm sticking with 1-2 cups of coffee now and am not drinking anything else caffeinated. Teas are also good if you like them; I drink herbal teas but am somehow not a big fan of the classic variety.

So now that I don't drink that much coffee, I can easily skip days without anything unpleasant (no headaches or spaced out feeling, for example). What happens is that I start craving the coffee after a few days in the mornings when I get up.

Niamh

Ok, I'm gonna get some tea. Try that. I need something to be drinking and I've tried water but it makes me feel sick. It's weird that my stomach always feels empty but if I eat or fill up on water I feel nauseous. I'll walk to the store later. That can be a better use of my time than the normal Friday afternoon.

Aellyce

There are herbal teas that are good for nausea, and also ones that have general calming effect, if it's not caffeine per se that you are looking for. You can go to a specialist store or a pharmacy and talk with the staff about them, if interested.

Niamh

I'm interested to see what I feel like off of everything but it never occurred to me now I gotta withdraw off caffeine. Maybe another taper in my future.

JoeCree

Cutting out Cigs is a HUGE ordeal. It might even be harder than alcohol IMO. The diff of course is Cigs are not mind altering so they are more socially acceptable. Might I suggest getting a full grip on alcohol sobriety prior to dropping off any other "bad" addictions? No doubt we all would love to be without Alcohol, nicotine, and/or caffeine (plus prescription meds) but one thing at a time.

pattyj

I waited until after a year of sobriety to quit caffeine. I couldn't give up everything that I loved right away. It took about a week worth of headaches but I have been coffee free since August and I feel great. I drink a little green tea, which does have a little caffeine but other then that I stick to lemon water and honey or coconut water to get me going in the morning.

Niamh

Lemon water and honey. Maybe I should try that. I am going to try drinking less caffeine but not quit yet. One thing at a time is a good idea and this headache, I'm not wanting it to get worse.

PurpleKnight

Keep pushing through Niamh!!

jmunns81

When cutting down on coffee, why not try have the same number of cups, but make them smaller? It might make it feel like you're not cutting down that way. Might be useful as a starting point.

Niamh

Ok. Yes I will try that. I have a little mug I should get out. I made it a little weaker too.