anattaboy

I made it til 2pm yesterday and drank 3 glasses of iced tea so fast I got some brain-freeze. This taper is gonna have to be more gradual than the booze. I'm ready for cup 4 of the syrup I make for mornings (6 heaping tbsp. ground coffee in 12 cup machine).

Blood500

Another fitting link I read this morning...

Is Caffeine Addiction In Your DNA? | The Fix

And I drink coffee most thee day.

BlissWithin

sometimes I drink it in the morning, but I really like coffee in the late afternoon/early evenings, I drink 2 to 3 cups a day.

FreeOwl

today I had one cup of half-caf blend when I got up at 6. By 9 I was getting a headache, so I had an Americano (instead of my usual red-eye). That took the edge off the headache and is still less than what I normally have.

The taper is hell....

Particularly when you really desperately WANT to keep drinking coffee....

Nowsthetime

I drink it every day. My husband makes it for me and it's kind of our little ritual. I drink a little bit more through today but try not to drink any in the afternoon because it doesn't allow me to sleep properly. As with everything: too much, no good! I love it though!!!

UnixBer

I dare even say that caffeine has been a major contributor to my alcoholism.
I feel that without its effects on me I would've seen the big picture earlier.

About seeing big pictures (lol) science has proven that caffeine can increase your mental endurance for limited set of tasks for a while, and afterwards causing the crash phenomenon. It is proven that caffeine restricts attention to a narrow 1-dimensional view of things. And some claim this to be smart. Lol.
The reason for this is probably mostly due to elevated cortisol and adrenalin caused by caffeine, so the chemical stress puts the body and mind into a more primitive and limited/confined space and mode of operation.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. This was one interesting point to ponder.

veryready

For what its worth, I have not drank alcohol for almost 2 years but my anxiety was still really high. I have never felt comfortable in my own skin, so I thought it might be time to also let go of coffee. I have to say it has been awesome. I feel the most relaxed I have felt in 20 years. I'll never be calm cool and collected, but my anxiety is 1/2 what it used to be. I never thought I could give up coffee, but I feel better in many ways, including sleep, digestion, head, etc. It was super hard and it took a few weeks, but now I just drink 1 cup of green tea in the morning. I should add though that I never could have quit drinking and coffee at the same time.

FreeOwl

woke up at 4am with a headache today. I tapered too much yesterday with just one 1/2 caf coffee when I woke and one Americano mid morning.

So - just under 24 hours later my body is in withdrawal and BAM... headache wakes me.

So I had an excedrin and a half (about 100mg of caffeine) and one 1/2 caf Americano (about another 50mg).


Headache went away.

But..... then I went and had another two cups of brewed coffee and another americano full strength. So, great. Now I'm having anxiety, shortness of breath, hands are sweating.....

Just like that, I let myself have way too much.


GRRRRR!!!!

Trying again with the taper tomorrow. I blew it today.

UnixBer

I've always had basically all of those symptoms when I've stopped all caffeine use. Those symptoms can also be quite extreme. That's why the tapering approach is recommended for caffeine in most articles.

This time insomnia was worst at the 6th and 7th days. The initial withdrawal lasted me for about 9 days.
I would just add to that depression-part that another symptoms similar to depression is a general feeling of discontentment. It's difficult to describe. It's just a feeling of unhappiness, and it's temporary. The only thing I didn't get was a headache.

Cigarette smoking actually does help with caffeine detoxification and withdrawal, since there are some chemicals in the smoke that speed up the metabolism of caffeine. I can attest to this. The cigarette thing also proves in a subjective way that caffeine really does accumulate in the body, and detoxing it can have quite huge consequences.

readerbaby71

Free Owl, don't be so hard on yourself. I agree with Jennie. Start cutting back one cup at a time. Don't start off your day with 1/2 caff. It's just not going to cut it and will give you a headache. You quit alcohol, you can surely do this! There's no need to overwhelm and sabotage yourself with all-or-nothing thinking right now. I also second trying tea when you want more coffee. I didn't drink tea very often until I quit drinking but now I love it!

Hang in there and be gentle with yourself. Baby steps.

N3p3nth3

I've been a pretty heavy coffee drinker since high school. During my drinking years, I drank heaps of coffee and it helped me feel a bit more normal on the day after a binge.

But now that I've stopped drinking, my response to caffeine seems to have changed. It feels like I'm now much more sensitive to it. One in the morning is OK, but anything more and I can feel my heart racing all morning.

I've shifted to drinking herbal teas with just a few coffees per day, but I may try cutting out coffee altogether just to see how I feel.

ArtFriend

Scientists discover Coffee Genes

Scientists Discover Coffee Addiction Gene - Businessweek

FreeOwl

thanks RB... the trouble is that it feels more and more like caffeine is an "all or nothing" drug for me. I try to have less... but then I'll find myself saying well screw it I already had two today... may as well have three. Then having four.

And all of them strong. So even with half-caf I'm winding up with probably 500-600mg of caffeine each day. Tea won't cut the craving I get - and I don't think it's just the flavor.

Anyway, thanks for your post. I'm going to keep working at the tapering and try to get to a point where I'm off caffeine for at least a few weeks to detox and see if the physical and mental issues I'm seeing are influenced by caffeine. But, it's obviously not going to be fast or easy getting there.

XIIIXXIXXVI

I've never been big on coffee but I do drink tea and up until a few months ago I'd drink around 3 Red Bulls a day. When I decided to get sober and start taking my mental health seriously (I'm Bipolar) my doctor asked me to stop drinking caffeine altogether while we tested out new medications. It was EXTREMELY tough at first. I got the headaches, the anxiety, the insomnia, the whole nine but I stuck with it and now I don't miss it. In fact, I can tell a major difference in how [negatively] the caffeine was contributing to my overall anxiety. I now look at caffeine the same way I look at alcohol. I have no desire to go back at all.

-B

ElleDee

I love coffee... drank a full pot today (10-12 cups). If I don't have it, I get no withdrawal symptoms. It's something I enjoy very much, savor as a matter of fact. However, if a day or days go by that I don't have it... I'm fine. When a doctor tells me I have to quit or I'm going to die (as with alcohol), then I'll stop drinking it.

UnixBer

I'd think it is true that there are these genes. There's been a study that found that people who have a caffeine-gene take 40mg more caffeine daily on average. They seem to need more.

I've also started to view caffeine in a very similar way to alcohol. Better off without it in any case.

UnixBer

Quote from: CAFFEINE addiction & rehabilitation - Hawaii Natural Drug Rehabilitation via Raw Detox & Psychotherapy - Mind Your Body & Mend Your Mind.
A rehab for caffeine. Interesting.

This at least should shoot down the idea that coffee is safest drink in the world. No safe drink would be able to cause all that. And caffeine does. By the way, there are also ochratoxins in coffee. Those are carsinogens.

alwayssober1

Okay so despite "only drinking tea" I decided to go "cold turkey" after looking into the subject. I managed 3 days without caffeine and replaced it with a lot of water and had the typical withdrawal symptoms:- headache for days, tiredness, body aches, irritable/depressed mood etc, I finally gave in after the end of the 3rd day after severe backache, shortly after drinking caffeine again the pain disappeared.

But what I find strange is quitting caffeine for 3 days has lowered my tolerance to caffeine, normally I would find tea relaxing, but now shortly after i drink a cup of tea I feel really anxious, stressed, uneasy, the same effect I used to get with coffee!

During those 3 days without caffeine I felt really relaxed, calm, level headed, my eyes have certainly been opened to the stimulating effects of caffeine!

Unfortunately I'm no good at moderating consumption (like alcohol) so for me its all or nothing! Seriously considering giving it another go....just got to build up some willpower again! Lol

FreeOwl

I've had few days of having a half-caff and an Americano instead of an Americano and a super strong red-eye or more.

Last night my sleep was better than usual and I still felt like I could go on sleeping this morning.

Today I had the half-caff and an americano again and am going to resist any further until tonight when I'll take a half an excedrin for a slight bump in caffeine in my system to avoid waking with a headache and try to drop to JUST an Americano tomorrow.

I will try holding at that and the evening excedrin for a few days, then try to drop to the half-caff only.....

I do love coffee but I've loved it so much for so long I believe it has caused some major and negative changes in my body that - together with the anxiety of sobriety, sobriety itself, and just generally getting older are all tied together.

alwayssober1

Good luck tapering freeowl, wish I could do the same to escape the hellish withdrawals but like with quitting alcohol and nicotine, I find reducing caffeine slowly frustrating, I have no discipline, for me its cold turkey all the way!