grubby

Hello all,

As some of you may know from my earlier posts, I've been clean off the bottle since 02/17/2014. Since tomorrow is the 17th of this month and a Monday, I figured what the hell.... let's get off coffee and see how it goes, another "fresh start"

No really, I've been noticing it's been having more and more of a negative impact on me the last 2 years or so. I'm sure the insomnia I was suffering from up until recently is due in part to caffeine present in my daily routine. Also I notice that past a certain dosage, say past 2 medium cups, I get a side-effect of excess anxiety that is quite noticeable.

Also, I've been seeing strange heart patterns recently as I mentioned in another thread. Strange BP readings of 109-115/86-89 with resting heart rate in the upper eighties. I did some Googling and apparently these numbers are borderline bad, with some places saying they indicate poor heart health. I thought to myself "I'm 27 years old, heart problems shouldn't apply to me".

I admit I have been a couch potato the last few years, in addition to the alcohol and caffeine, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I'm out of shape as far as the heart goes. I guess I'll have to get checked out and maybe get an exercise bike.

Anyways, I'm particularly concerned about the high resting heart rate numbers, and I've heard that caffeine consumption boosts both heart rate and blood pressure. According to most places the resting heart rate should be 60-70, so my own numbers coming up on 85-90 have me worried.

I'm going to quit cold turkey starting tomorrow and see how things go. Don't worry, I actually did my homework this time in fact I did a dry-run last month where I ceased all caffeine for 5 days. I got a mild headache the first day but that's about it - eazy peazy compared to quitting alcohol.

I had my last cup of coffee (until further notice) earlier this morning at McDonald's. Day 1 tomorrow, wish me luck!

Icewater15

I am planning to also quit caffeine tomorrow! Good luck! I've been on and off coffee for the past year and I do notice that I sleep much better when caffeine free.

I just want to feel normal and clean inside.

grubby

Don't we all, don't we all.....

I just want my heart to behave normally again, and I think this latest change is a step in that direction.

I'm too young for this blood pressure stuff, I want to nip it in the bud while things are still early. To the best of my knowledge there isn't any history of heart disease in my family, but then again I have been a junk-food eating typical American - they on the other hand were always active and had a pretty basic diet of rice, beans, meats, tortillas, etc. My granddad lived to 98 and died of natural causes.

Strangely during my "dry run" I noticed I could pass stools easier. I thought it would be harder, since coffee seems to push things along down there. I slept a little more soundly too.

zjw

Awesome! You will feel better! Caffeine is another drug/chemical etc

Meraviglioso

Wow! What a great step! I'm not ready to give up my morning coffee but I have noticed since I cut out the alcohol that I can only handle a maximum of 2 cups per day, otherwise I start to get anxious and jittery.
If you want a more natural boost in the morning you could try some candied ginger. Or a ginger tea.

Soberwolf

Good luck Grubby