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Still drinkng like an addict...

Old 03-29-2015, 09:43 AM
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Two cups????

I wish. I'd had two cups by 5am.

And despite about 6-8 cups equivalent.... Still exhausted
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Old 03-29-2015, 10:08 AM
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I drank coffee a lot when I got Sober at first, then made the switch to green tea!!

I still have coffee in the morning though!!
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Old 03-29-2015, 10:13 AM
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I drink coffee 'alcoholically' too! As do several of my sober friends. We cant seem to moderate anything!
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Old 03-29-2015, 10:14 AM
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Originally Posted by FreeOwl View Post
And despite about 6-8 cups equivalent.... Still exhausted
Yikes.

There's a 12 Step program for that.

Or there should be. It sounds like caffeine has stopped working for you. Rehab? IOP? JK, I know it's affecting you. There is no way I could drink 6-8 cups of full caff coffee and stay sane.

Half caff espresso, all the way. Weaning may be in order to avoid withdrawals. WD from caffeine is awful.

You can do it.
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Old 03-29-2015, 10:21 AM
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I just poured out the rest of a perfectly good pot of coffee (in honor of a new member who just poured out his alcohol - it was time I took a dose of my own medicine).

I'm preparing for the headache that I know is in my future.
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Old 03-29-2015, 10:23 AM
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Diabetes and high blood pressure don't like caffeine so I have my one cup of it in the AM to help wake up and then switch to decaf coffee and half&half diet rite cola/water unless my asthma is flared up then I have another cup of caffeine because its a bronchial dilator. Back when I was kicking caffeine addiction because of my health, that's how I did it. I stopped thinking of or referring to caffeinated coffee as coffee. It was a cup of caffeine. Decaf is the only thing I call coffee... same goes for caffeine sodas... they're a can of caffeine. Diet rite is the only soda I call pop... just my little mental gymnastics... whatever it takes when the substance can be life-threatening.
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Old 03-29-2015, 10:25 AM
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Originally Posted by FreeOwl View Post
Two cups????

I wish. I'd had two cups by 5am.

And despite about 6-8 cups equivalent.... Still exhausted
That was my start - I just poured out the fresh pot that was 3/4 full - but two cups by that time was progress in itself.
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Old 03-29-2015, 12:58 PM
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Drinking so much coffee might well be part of the reason why you feel exhausted and needing more... I think it's often the case with stimulants, even sugar. Short periods of "high" and transient satisfaction alternating with crashes, repeat. There was a period in my life when I used quite a lot of stimulants: lots of coffee and energy drinks, herbal stimulants, diet pills... I was never much into illicit stimulants (given that we don't count psychedelic drugs as such), but many other things yes. It was before I started drinking heavily. I remember then I started drinking alcohol more heavily in that period... probably in part as an attempt to try to arrive to a chemically regulated seeming "evenness" in my physical and emotional states. It kinda worked for a year maybe in the larger scheme, but it wasn't a peaceful existence, it was constant highs and lows. I think sometimes we (especially we addicts) forget that when we feel exhausted, often a good treatment is some rest... I know it's hard. I think what we desire is to have externally applicable control over our mind and body with all these substances and other habits that rely on external sources.

Good luck with the coffee, FreeOwl... it's never easy to regulate or give up our DOC, whatever they are.
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Old 03-29-2015, 10:40 PM
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Originally Posted by FreeOwl View Post
Serenidad... A total caffeine detox is what I keep thinking of..... Replacing with herbal teas, vegetable juices and green smoothies. I will get there!
Great idea!!! Let me know how it goes & how I can help. :-)
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Old 03-29-2015, 10:58 PM
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I think I drink a gallon of diet coke a day....ugh. I need the caffeine but this is probably killing me too...just a little slower.
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Old 03-30-2015, 02:40 AM
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Hi there

Well, I'm still brand new at this so I am no authority but...

...I guess that changing behaviour is hard enough - changing one's genome...now there is a challenge!!!

Seems to me that moving from alcohol to coffee is a massive leap forward - is there any chance that you could substitute something for the coffee, at least from say lunchtime, that moves you forward another square? If you can't solve the issue, maybe whittle a bit off it?

Only day 16 for me so I have a lot of questions but not many answers at this stage, I'm afraid! :-)

Best of luck with it though!!!

CC
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Old 03-30-2015, 02:52 AM
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Don't be afraid!! Day 16 is great!
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Old 03-30-2015, 06:28 AM
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well... I was going to start stopping today.

That was over by 6am.

I wake SO exhausted and weary.... SO tired....

I go straight to that coffee because I feel like I can't even function until I've had a couple cups.

Then once I've had those couple.... I'm discouraged so, "Hell with it, I'll have more".

Then it's 9:30 and I'm having my fourth (VERY STRONG) cup....


maybe tomorrow..... this merry-go-round is getting to be almost as bad as the booze. Just that the consequences arent' as severe.

blargh.
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Old 03-30-2015, 06:32 AM
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OMG, I have the same exact problem but with Coca Cola! I have always been a Coke drinker but since I quit alcohol, I have upped my soda consumption too. I want to let soda (especially Coke) go but I always relapse in the end. I need help too....I may have to treat this like alcohol & accept I will never be able to moderate my soda drinking. Sigh...
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Old 03-30-2015, 06:36 AM
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I know this comes from bim's book of the obvious, but are you sleeping 7-9 hours a day?

Do you snore? Are you overweight? If you snore you could have sleep apnea which sort of keeps you from getting good restorative sleep, because you are constantly stopping breathing, therefore waking yourself up. Being overweight can also cause fatigue. The solution to being tired is rest, like haennie said. How about exercise? Do you get any? That helps with sleep, too.
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Old 03-30-2015, 06:52 AM
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I'm drinking lots of coffee, too. About 24oz in the morning then 16oz of water and another 20 at lunch time. After that I'm on to tea. I'm beginning to think I should pull my desk into the ladies lounge.
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Old 03-30-2015, 06:59 AM
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Originally Posted by FreeOwl View Post
Coffee.

Every day.

I'm drinking coffee alcoholicly - every single day I say to myself tomorrow I'll cut back. Every day I don't. Always tomorrow.

Several days a week when I've already had too much I say to myself 'you've already had too much' ... Then; 'hell with it, I'll cut back tomorrow'.

I'm sure that it underpins my stress and my exhaustion and my sleep problems and my general fatigue in detrimental ways.

How very frustrating....
Same here 4 mugs of coffee before heading to work a cup of tea for smoko, a can of zero coke for lunch 3 cups/mugs of coffee when i get home on average 2-4 cans of zero coke in the evening plys loads of tea in the evening

Still in the pattern of constantly pooring fluid in my body feeling like im getting hooked on cafeine too
Detox clinic's doc told me it's ok for now as long as i dont drink beer or other alcohol
She said it'll settle down. I hope so
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Old 03-30-2015, 07:00 AM
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Originally Posted by biminiblue View Post
I know this comes from bim's book of the obvious, but are you sleeping 7-9 hours a day?

Do you snore? Are you overweight? If you snore you could have sleep apnea which sort of keeps you from getting good restorative sleep, because you are constantly stopping breathing, therefore waking yourself up. Being overweight can also cause fatigue. The solution to being tired is rest, like haennie said. How about exercise? Do you get any? That helps with sleep, too.
Not overweight, no apnea. I try to work out at least 3x per week but admittedly exercise and downtime has been at a minumum for far too long. I'm a father of two young girls under 10 and co-parent my fiancee's 14 year old. I have a demanding full time job and several volunteer efforts in my community. The past 12-18 months - though sober - have been fraught with emotion and context ranging from despair to depression to anxiety to overwhelming stress. Perhaps life has been like that all along....

In the past five weeks it's gotten worse as the demands of a new job have me working near-constantly and unable to keep up. Everyone in my field and in my organization is like this. I replaced a guy who told me "I had to stop this job or I was going to have a heart attack".

He told me that AFTER I'd already accepted the job and been doing it for several weeks.

My exhaustion comes from always being spiked with adrenaline and cortisol... every damn minute of the day feels like I'm running to keep up with the next deadline. There is so much on my to-do list I don't even know what to start with when I have a few free moments... so I just deal with whatever is the next crisis in line as a management strategy.

When I do have some time away from work - then it is the demands of fatherhood... two sisters constantly at one another.... a fiancee who is trying to cope with her own high stress from school, work and parenting a teen....

I know the obvious answer is "get more rest". I go to bed at 9pm. I rise at 4:30 or 5 depending on the day. I am unable to sleep beyond that most days because I wake with a headache or the panic of racing thoughts of work. Sleep is usually punctuated by tossing, turning and several wake-ups.

When I wake I am just exhausted.... munted and weary. The only option feels like coffee. After a couple cups of coffee.... I start to feel I can manage through another day.... then by 9pm I am totally blown once again. If I'm lucky, I get a short run or half an hour at the gym. I'm mangaging, I'm getting by, I'm mostly in a positive mood about it.... I am supportive of my family and community and generally happy....

But the coffee and the exhastion and the stress take a heavy toll and it cannot be sustainable....

I 'know' that shifting away from dependence on caffeiene and back to a natural stasis and getting more rest and finding things to cut back on in my life are essential steps....

I have as yet been unable to make it happen.
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Old 03-30-2015, 07:13 AM
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And I thought I was the only one here with a caffeine problem.

I'm probably averaging 8 - 10 cups a day with slightly less on the weekend but I replace that with a 2 liter bottle of diet soda each day. Still find time to drink about 80 oz of water each day too.

Figure if I can quit drinking alcohol, I can quit anything and I'm just not ready to quit caffeine yet... Blood pressure good; now that I quit alcohol; not overweight; now that I quit alcohol; and sleeping ok.

Guess I'll fight the caffeine battle down the road.
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Old 03-30-2015, 07:22 AM
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I'm really sorry you are in that situation at work.

I hope you figure out a way to either get more help or move on. You obviously need some relief. I quit my last job because of exactly what you are describing.

((FreeOwl))
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