Caffeine !
 

Ok so, I am trying to wean myself off of coffee. Amazing how I switched from liquor to coffee. On a daily basis this is my caffeine consumption:

Large Dunkin Donuts iced coffee with a turbo shot (shot of expresso) on the way to work.

1-2 more cups of strong coffee in the morning

Diet coke with lunch

Medium iced coffee with a shot of expresso around 1

1-2 more cups of coffee over the course of the day

Diet coke with dinner

Medium iced coffee with a shot of expresso before my nightly AA meeting.

So...all together that amounts to about 10 "Standard" cups of coffee a day and 2 diet cokes.

Holy crap.

I'm starting to get really bad headaches lately. Not sure if it is from TOO much caffeine or caffeine withdrawals. I need to drink more water and I need to cut back on the coffee. What's the best way? Cut down immediately to 1 cup a day? Or cut out the evening coffee....or gradually taper down?

Anyone have experience quitting caffeine?

I'm such an addict. Who in their right mind drinks this much coffee?!

I was forced to cut way back on caffeine after some limited sober time because it started making my anxiety go through the roof. Not sure why I never had that problem when I was still drinking, but now I can't drink more than one or 2 cups of regular coffee in the morning without being a nervous wreck for a while.

The headaches are most likely from withdrawal....you are drinking a LOT of caffeine.

That much caffeine can cause headaches and other problems. Good idea to quit! You're also getting way too much sugar.

I'd just quit it all at once. You may experience some withdrawal symptoms, though not everyone gets them.

I needed to quit coffee when I quit drinking, since it suddenly started to give me anxiety attacks. I tested it today and the anxiety still happens.

But I did quit for a while and didn't notice anything special. You get used not having caffeine pretty quickly.

After you've quit, you can always see if you can stick to a couple of cups a day.

And if you want something as a replacement, go for green tea! I love it. It has so little caffeine in it that I can drink 10 cups and have no anxiety. And it's very healthy as well!

I was drinking upto 12 coffees a day and drinking diet coke too! I had really bad anxiety and my psychiatrist had to give me some diazepam.

He also told me that I shouldn't have more than two cups of coffee a day and to cut the diet coke out.

I now have four cups of coffee and drink blackcurrant instead of diet coke. I still wake up with a headache tho as if Ive been on the bottle. Don't know why that is tho. But the anxiety has gone since.

I have the exact same anxiety problem Scott. When I quit alcohol, caffeine started to turn me into a nervous wreck. High anxiety. Weird. But I don't feel like I'm missing anything. I'm fine with water, milk and green tea.

Btw, when I was taking CBT, they told me that some people they get that need help with anxiety just needed to quit drinking coffee. And their problems would be completely gone!

I was drinking energy drinks in my first year but I knocked that on the head

Ive been yo-yo-ing in efforts to moderate for over a year.

Quitting hasn't worked because of headaches and nausea of withdrawal, but moderation invariably leads back to excess.

Basically, I find myself still stuck in an addictive cycle that is very much akin to tye cycles I had with nicotine, alcohol and other drugs.

I know that my life, my health, my mind and emotions will be better off with little to no caffeine but so far its the one remaining addiction i can't shed

I went from 1/2 pot of coffee per day to 2 pots of coffee per day when I quit drinking. I've quit caffeine, cold turkey, in the past and ended up with a 3 day headache. I'm weaning. I've switched to green tea in afternoon and I'm making my coffee weaker than I usually do.

I quit caffeine once .. I was tired and my head felt almost swollen for 3 days .. 4th day I woke up feeling great. I have anxiety so at some point I will tackle the caffeine problem as well as the alcohol problem. Already dealt with the nicotine problem.

Hi Bunny

I am also a coffee addict. Someone helped me by suggesting I pay attention to how coffee makes me feel.
I'm fine in the morning but after a few inches of coffee I start feeling stressed.

It was suggested to me to start drinking that half coffee-half decaf. The other day I even tried a DD decaf and it wasn't bad. Actually pretty smooth, at least while hot.

We have choices. We can treat it like we did alcohol or we can cut back.
I just have to remember to bring God into the picture. That is when I'm able to toss out the cup.

Another thought I just had. One day a woman who noticed my skin was looking dry and I wasn't being as good to myself as I could be said to me: "Did you ever think of drinking water and saying, 'God, thank you so much for this fresh natural drink you provide me with.'"

I had to give up coffee in early recovery cause it was making my withdrawal anxiety a lot worse. But after a while I went back to my normal consumption, about 6 cups of coffee a day, down from 10 or 12. I just can't give it up altogether...

I quit caffeine a little over five years ago (too bad I didn't put down the booze then too). Like a good addict, I was pounding coffee and energy drinks all day long. The headaches after quitting were pretty awful, but they went away after a week or so. Good luck!

When I was drinking alcohol, I would only drink one or two cups of coffee in the morning and was jittery and anxious as the alcohol made me anxious as it was.

When I was on the wagon for half a year, my coffee intake after the first month kept increasing to get that kick in the butt in the morning as I somehow felt more and more groggy in the mornings. This would perpetuate into the afternoon, and would always have coffee in my hand. After a while, I just started drinking half caff and eventually decaf. Months 4-6 felt great for me sober with little caffiene. I'm sure this will vary for most, but that was my experience.

I was never a big caffeine drinker so I can't give you tips on tapering. But once you cut back there are fantastic teas like matcha,Yerba mate, or green/black/white teas that have low caffeine and are full of antioxidants.

Hi Bunny. When I gave up booze, I also gave up coffee and soda at the same time because, like Scott said, my anxiety was sky rocketing through the roof. So my alcohol withdrawals also had some of the caffeine stuff in it too (like headaches). Over a year and I still don't drink coffee or sodas and I feel so much better. I do have one cup of caffeinated tea in the morning. Good luck on finding a balance!

Coffees bad ???? :c008: I too like to drink coffee, a lot . My appetite for coffee hasn`t changed though since I quit drinking alcohol a year ago. I would also say to substitute some decaf in there a little at a time. And I also say CUT OUT DIET sodas altogether :scared: You can do it.

Bunny if I drank that much caffeine, especially that late, I wouldn't sleep for a week!

It's interesting to hear from so many of you that caffeine has worsened your anxiety after quitting alcohol. I was actually just journaling about that very thing this morning. It took me awhile to put two-and-two together, but I definitely see a correlation now. I drink half caff first thing in the mornings at home, but lately have been following up with the "high test" coffee at work, followed by iced tea or diet coke at lunch. I need to put the breaks on.

Another coffee addict here. I drink 4-6 cups of brewed coffee a day here in SE Asia. Decaf or half calf are pretty much unavailable, so I'm pretty wired up by lunch time. I try to stop at 1pm, as we go to bed early here.

When I'm in the States, I drink half-caff Americano's or latte's. An espresso coffee has much less caffeine than brewed (drip) due to the steam extraction. It's better for you. As a result, my anxiety is lower and my sleep is better when I'm there.

Once I successfully get off the sugar, coffee is next. I don't want to quit entirely because I get some health benefits, but want to find a way to limit it to two cups per day. Hard to moderate because, well, I can't moderate anything enjoyable, lol..

To keep things short. I just recently quit. Been a whole week without caffeine. I did get headaches. I took ibuprofen and that relieved the headaches. You are drinking 2 to 3x as much as I did btw. Yours looks more expensive than mine too. You could save a few bucks if ya quit. I believe in you. Don't give up. Treat it loke alcohol. Don't drink no matter what! (COFFEE)

I have cut back to one or two diet sodas a day, I don't drink coffee, and need the caffeine. Maybe at some point I will be able to give up the soda completely, but not in the foreseeable future!

I'm impressed that you are committing to this!!

Ditto. Before I stopped drinking I had maybe 2 cups (tops). Now I have like 6 cups a day! I think it's because I started adding that crappy coffee mate sweet stuff. (Oh yeah, I'm also addicted to sugar...) Well, I'd start with cutting the evening coffee/diet Coke and switching to herbal tea or something. I also like the diet cranberry cocktail juice, especially the cranberry/cherry flavor. Whatever, it's all better than alcohol!

In early sobriety I would keep consumption way down as it can cause anxiety. If you drink it daily, and stop suddenly, you can get headaches. Like anything else some people can have their own unique sensitivities to it

It should be emphasized that THERE ARE HUGE HEALTH BENEFITS FOR PEOPLE DRINKING LOTS OF COFFEE!!!!!!

Look it up. The information is all over the internet. There have been all sorts of studies.

I can't believe nobody has mentioned it in this thread.

I get this too, and cigarettes make me extremely tired.
Never seemed to notice this when drinking.
Probably too busy trying fight through a hangover to notice anything else

One of my delimas is this: going to an average restaurant your choices are so limited. I wish I was a big fan of water, but I feel like I need variety, which is basically diet soda or tea. I guess I need to retrain my brain to love water. However I totally agree with uncorked, "It's all better than alcohol"!

Great thread, Bunny

See the part in bold above.

That is totally possible. My favorite thing to drink is water. I love how it's natural, essential, fresh, refreshing, good for you and I actually like the taste.

Have you ever been so thirsty that you craved for water so bad that you once you were able to drink it, it tasted so good? Take that as a reference point. Water can be delicious.

And I like that it's one of the most important things for your body. Lack of water, second to oxygen, will kill you the fastest if you deprive yourself from things.

As it happens, I totally LOVE fresh air. :)

I'm going through this as well. Although, I'm only at about 3 a day. I find that extra water is good. Exercise and stretching help with the withdrawal headaches. I'd go slowly on weaning off. At least a caffeine addiction is much less daunting than alcoholism in my opinion.

I went through this in May/June, but I was a heavy coffee consumer when I was a drinker. I found removing the alcohol and drinking lots of coffee left me very wound up (and crashing at the end of the day).

I was up to 1-2 pots of coffee a day, so that's easily 10 mugs of coffee. I slowly weaned myself down to 1 large cup a day, and for the most part I've stayed at that. I also keep some green tea at work for through out the day. I mostly avoided headaches by cutting back slowly, but I had some other odd side effects of caffeine withdrawal like pain in the lower back. Luckily I didn't return to my old coffee intake. On the weekends, I might splurge and have a second cup of coffee.

Coffee is healthy, but I agree with Scott that the anxiety level in early sobriety is bad enough that too much caffeine for me makes it go through the roof.

Hi Bunny, I don't have any advice but I can share with you my situation. I have a large cup of coffee in the morning and that is it for the day. I've done it for 20 years. Any and all other liquids are caffeine free. IF...I drink a regular Coca-Cola or Pepsi in the afternoon, I feel like I'm on speed for about 5 hrs. I guess my point is that I believe caffeine is a stronger "drug" than people think it is. It may be the source of your headaches.