CassandraXXX

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all are having a fine sober day. I wanted to ask you about....COFFEE.

Will giving it up reduce anxiety?

Have any of you given up coffee?

If so, how did you do it?

Thanks in advance!
Cassie

fini

i drink only decaff now, after about40 years of being addicted to my daily caffeine amount (i was at a cabin once when there was a 24 hour power outage, and within an hour of getting up in the morning and NO COFFEE, i was a physical and emotional wreck. sounds ridiculous, and it was. i was pacing, yelling at the dog, super headache, starting to shake...)
anyway, i needed a labtest done about a year ago, and it required no caffeine for five days prior.
i decided not to have the test. gave my head a few good shakes. bought some good decaff and started mixing it in with regular beans about two weeks before the test. increased the percentage of decaff vs regular beans daily until it was all decaff.
after all that, i saw no reason whatsoever to go back to regular coffee.
there are excellent decaffs available now, and the taste is exactly the same.
don't know if it will help with anxiety, but it surely wouldn't hurt

least

When I was drinking, I had to give up coffee cause it made the daily w/d anxiety so much worse.

Now that I'm sober, I can drink it again but I limit myself to three cups per day, in the morning. I've tried decaf but can't get used to it. Try the half-caf to see if that helps.

doggonecarl

There may be a link between coffee and anxiety, but with only four days sober I think what you are feeling is withdrawal-induced anxiety, the cure of which is sustained sobriety.

WhoDeyPI

I switched from coffee to herbal tea. Similar amount of caffeine, but I like the added health benefits from the tea. Acquired taste, for sure.

Abraham

Not sure about the anxiety thing but I stopped drinking coffee almost 30 years ago. I never drink coffee. I cant even stand the smell of it. All I did was stop buying it and stop drinking it. Really was nothing to it. Not even close to stopping alcohol or cigarettes. Those dont do anything for/to you so I found them easy to put down. Now alcohol, that gives you a buzz so it does effect you physically which is what I find is the hard part of putting it down. If I did not miss the buzz I would not miss the habit.

entropy1964

Yes caffeine is anxiogenic

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2983630

Chocolate can also cause anxiety in some people who are sensitive to theobromine. Just thought I'd throw that in because if anyone is like me they like chocolate with their coffee and both cause anxiety for me.

Taper off caffeine. Also the caffeine in green tea and matcha seems to make me less jumpy. There is some science behind this, other chemicals that have a calming effect, but I can't remember and don't have time to google. You can start a coffee taper then switch to green tea which might make the final cold turkey easier.

BlissWithin

I reduced to my coffee intake to almost none, I don't know about anxiety, but my sleep improved a bit.

Hevyn

Hi Cassandra. I stopped drinking it for about a week after getting sober. I was already jittery enough. Then I started drinking it again - but I have less than I used to. It doesn't bother me now.

ReadyAtLast

I just drink 3 cups in the morning as I love it but won't drink more than that.

So soon into sobriety it's normal to feel jittery and anxious. Just do whateve ryou need to do to stay sober.

bexxed

When I stopped drinking I was jittery and anxious from alcohol withdrawal. Putting caffeine withdrawal (or nicotine withdrawal) on that would have been torture for me. I like to do things one at a time to increase my chances of success. But you do you.

For me, I quit coke, alcohol, and smoking cigarettes. All three of those things were either making my life unmanageable thru my use and/or misuse of them, and/or killing me. Drinking coffee does not make my life unmanageable, nor does it adversely affect my health in any obvious way. In fact I love it. When I was drinking I was often so nauseous in the morning that it didn’t even taste very good. One of the things I love about being sober is enjoying coffee.

Primativo

Wow I thought I was the only one. I also couldn't drink coffee when I was drinking as it made me really anxious, (I was already anxious from alcohol w/d daily too). Since I quit drinking, I can drink coffee daily, but only have one in the morning, after my gym session and it goes down well. No more anxiety from coffee.

If you are already feeling anxious for whatever reason, IME its best to stay away from coffee, or any stimulants for that matter.

abgator

I actually started drinking coffee after not drinking caffeine for nearly 15 years. No anxiety induced for me and I feel better with each passing day. Only been sober about a month.

WaterOx

yes yes and YES!!

I'm off of coffee now for over 2 months and I can't believe how it's reduced my anxiety. I originally stopped for sleep reasons but I was shocked just how much more calm I feel. Way less obsessive or nervous and way more grounded.

I still drink decaff because I love my morning coffee.

Warning: in my experience, the first 2 weeks of the quit were very sucky. I felt way more tired than I expected to. My motivation was in the tank. I felt borderline depressive...but that all balances out and what I was left with was feeling amazing.

YMMV

I'm glad you asked. I have learned to shut up about this because everyone loves coffee, it would seem, and they often do not want to hear any of what I have to say. LOL!

abgator

In fairness, it's entirely subjective and every example we give is purely anecdotal.

Everyone's body reacts differently. You feel better. I haven't had an ounce of anxiety since my detox and I drink plenty of caffeine. If I don't drink it for a couple days, I don't feel any different.

The only way for each person to know is to find out themselves.

magnum102

this i couldnt imagine drinking it during withdrawals im week sober now feel fine and back to my 3 cups coffee a day. trying to drop some weight now lol