justinJustQuit

This might seem like a weird question, but in the last few days I seem to be craving coffee a lot. I used to have one cup a day, and now I'm up to three cups.

Has anyone else had this happen in early recovery? Its totally not a big deal, just something I realized yesterday.

Nonsensical

Yup.

Now I do 1 cup of coffee and switch over to tea. Easier on my stomach. Tea is fun. New stuff to learn, and there are gadgets.

Ghostlight1

Oh yeah, happened to me. When I first quit, I was drinking six POTS of coffee a day.
To say I was a little jittery is an understatement.
Be carefull, that much coffee made me irrational and made me do spur of the moment things. Luckily, drinking wasn't one of them.

justinJustQuit

I am very careful. Six pots? Wow! I wonder what causes this excessive caffeine consumption. I had the sweet tooth for maybe three days, and that makes since. The excess coffee doesn't make since to me though.

FreeOwl

I'm trying to taper from caffeine. I can see that it has a negative effect on my body. I wake in the morning and feel groggy and feel like I need to have coffee to get going, but then I have coffee and soon my hands are sweating and I feel anxious.

Even well into the day, it seems my nervous system is on high alert and I experience anxious sweating over silly little things. Coffee is the only thing I've not yet weaned out of my system and it is a known sympathomimetic agent.... it stimulates the body's fight or flight response. Also; it has a half life of 12 hours..... so if you have 150mg of caffeine at 7am, then you still have 75mg in your system at 7pm and when you wake the next morning, you have 37.5mg in you.....

then you have more coffee....

By that math based on my consumption over the past several years I guess I probably have about eighteen thousand mg of caffeine in me!!

ForMeForThem

I definitely started drinking way more coffee after quitting. I'd have it in the morning and then come home and have a few cups after work, which I never used to do (probably because I was drinking wine instead!) I'm trying to have decaf, if any, in the afternoon and cut back overall, but its been hard. Tea might be a good idea.

My husband recently said to me - "you're drinking way too much coffee, seriously that's not good for you." I thought that was pretty funny considering even at my worst he never said to me, "you're drinking too much wine, that's not good for you"!

aasharon90

I had to learn that too much of anything
is not good for me. Even coffee which is
a stimulant. Stimulants do affect organs
in our body and can cause more harm than
good.

So my lesson learned is...All in moderation.

OliveDog

I was drinking more coffee, too, the first few days. But, since I was having trouble falling asleep, I cut that way down and have been going the tea route. I used to scoff at decaf/herbal teas, but now I'm sort of into them. I'm not sure what "gadgets" Nonsensical refers to, but that sounds like added fun.

whiskeyman

This definfielty happened to me.
I only ever drank one cup now up to 5 a day.
I have noticed that the jitters are the same the next morning as withdrawl off booze.
I am gonna try and start cutting one out as mine are clearly habitual
same time of day and same excuses as to why i NEED one

marchHazel

You should go to more AA meetings. They love to drink coffee there. Get a commitment making coffee for a meeting. Not sure why but Coffee is very popular in AA. Cigarettes too at some meetings that they let smoking go on.

think ill go have some coffee now.. peace

Jayelle113

Oddly, yes. I have been drinking a LOT of coffee. I was never much of a coffee drinker before, but maybe 1 cup a WEEK. I was always drinking wine though instead, so that's why. I'm trying to avoid caffeine, so I invested in a good, quality decaf with some of the money I save from not buying wine. There is still a small amount of caffeine in decaf, however. I drink about six cups throughout the day. It's the strong flavor of coffee that keeps me preoccupied...I don't do it for a "pick-me-up", as I said I'm drinking decaf. It is funny to see myself as a coffee drinker now. I even went out and bought myself a nice coffee maker the other day with some of the not-buying-wine-anymore-fund.

Nonsensical

Caffeine, like alcohol, can temporarily spike dopamine production in the brain, resulting in a pleasant feeling. Or, for those of us accustomed (addicted) to alcohol and the dopamine spike, caffeine helps take away the bad feeling of lower dopamine levels. Nicotine can do the same thing. Coffee and cigarettes are quite common staples at AA meetings.

Nonsensical

My daughter got me this for Christmas:

adee

Yes - I switch to decaf after 2 cups to keep myself in check but I will often drink another 3 cups during the day and evening of decaf.

Kevin78

I'm drinking a few cups of coffee a day myself. Got green tea there. Might have one.

JackieC

Omg, Nonsensical, that tea thing is awesome! My mom is big into tea; I'm giving her that for her birthday.

Yes, like the others, I'm more into coffee. I always had a cup in the morning (it's what gets me out of bed) but now I'm doing three cups over the course of the morning. My stomach is not happy with me so I'm trying to stick to two cups and go to decaf hot tea after that. I love the feel of the hot mug in my hand!

I'm amazed and impressed people can try to cut back on caffeine at the same time they're quitting drinking. I'm pretty sure I can only give up one vice at a time!

Jackie

Johnston

Same here, except for weekends when I tend to splurge on espresso. Added benefit of tea is that I'm less jumpy.

12mancan

It's an interesting insight... hadn't really picked up on it, but I was a very solid 2 cups between 6am and about 9, then I didn't have any coffee after that.... however now that you mentioned it, the last few days I just kept filling up the coffee all day at work.... maybe 6-7 cups each day.

halfvictory

I've always been a morning coffee drinker but since I quit alcohol I have added a cup of decaf each night. Psychologically, it makes me think I'm having some exotic drink that I sip while watching TV ; whereas, before that would have been a beer so it works for me.

I've seen some people mention quitting coffee while they're quitting alcohol and that I haven't been able to wrap my head around. I need to take it one thing at a time. But to each his/her own. Not criticizing, just don't get that

quadrant

Oh man, I totally overdid the coffee thing today. Drank a full pot (I normally just have a two-cup mug in the morning). Got all sweaty and my neck was twitching... Not pleasant.

I'm on Day 5, and I was kind of starting to worry I was going into DTs, despite the fact that I'd felt no withdrawal since end of Day 2!

Apparently I'll just drink too much of anything...

Ah well, lesson learned.