Quitting Coffee

[Corazon]

Decided to quit coffee.

I've been a regular coffee drinker for 15 years on and off. Strangely enough I picked up the habit while doing java programming.

I enjoy the effects. The work I do now is related to thinking and ideas, and I've had productive, enjoyable sessions under the influence of caffeine.

My regular habit is about 1/2 to 1 pot of coffee / day.

Why am I quitting? - It's my last remaining addictive substance, Lower baseline energy levels, tolerance, side-effects with large enough dosing are the main reasons. From what I've been reading, my adrenals are probably fatigued, and my tolerance is way up. I may choose to drink coffee on a rare (weekly?) occasion when working, but the plan is to STOP the habitual daily use.



Any quitting-coffee comments are welcomed.




sad sad journal to a life without my dear Caffeine:


Friday 7/25 - No Coffee

Saturday 7/26 - I think I had about 1 POT of coffee (bad that I can't remember?)

7/27 - 1/2 cup of coffee - early this morning, before deciding to quit for good. I kind of feel out of it. Not sleepy, but not very mentally sharp and some definite anhedonia.

7/28 - 1 POT of coffee - was feeling bad, so I brewed a pot of coffee. Drank the pot throughout the day. Felt pretty good for a while then somehow had to take a 2-hour nap after I had an early dinner. Not 100% sure the anhedonia and sick feelings were from caffeine withdrawals or not, as they haven't gone away into the next day even after drinking coffee again. Not giving up on quitting but in the short term, feeling semi-decent is taking a priority.

7/29 - consumed between 1/3 and 1/2 POT of coffee.

7/30 - yikes the other half+ of 7/29's coffee-POT + 2.5 monster energy drinks

7/31 - 1/2 cup of coffee + half an energy drink left over from the previous day. Not that bad!

8/01 - no coffee + 1 16oz Red Bull ...

8/02 - 4 energy drinks : (

8/03 - nothing

8/04 - no Coffee again!

 

[llama112]

That's awesome! My boyfriend quit coffee and he quit by drinking half decaf / half regular coffee. Then switched to decaf. Sometimes he had caffeinated tea as well. Then eventually switched to caffeine free tea. I'm not sure how long it took.

Good luck

 

[Corazon]

That's awesome! My boyfriend quit coffee and he quit by drinking half decaf / half regular coffee. Then switched to decaf. Sometimes he had caffeinated tea as well. Then eventually switched to caffeine free tea. I'm not sure how long it took.

Good luck

If this fails, I may have to get decaf and try going half/half etc...
-That way I could maintain my routine, and slowly decrease the caffeine content. Tapering hasn't worked for me with drugs like opiates, but caffeine is pretty much the perfect profile for tapering.

Some people get horrible headaches when stopping caffeine, and I am so lucky that I'm not getting those, but it's becoming uncomfortable today.

I had an hour nap last night, was up for a while, then slept 10 more hours. Woke up at noon.
At least I got some much needed rest.

Feeling off. = No energy. Low motivation. Nervous. Kind of a surreal feeling.

I feel like I have some stored energy but my brain is waiting for me to give-in and drink my coffee lol.
Coffee isn't even that great, but I'm sitting here rationalizing that I've caught up on my rest etc.. etc...

 

[Maya]

I'm one of the lucky ones who has never had an addiction to coffee but the main reason is it gives me headaches after consumption and messes up my sleep.

 

[miscbrahh]

never understood how people could get addicted to caffeine but i guess it's cause after 1 coffee i gotta take a dump

 

[little BIG Pecker]

never understood how people could get addicted to caffeine but i guess it's cause after 1 coffee i gotta take a dump

Dump Thirty :D

 

[Two_in_the_pink]

I dont drink coffee, but i do drink a shitload of mt dew everyday. It sucks and i hate it. If i dont have one, i get a severe headache and i cant conentrate.

Going to try to stop drinking it, and i think switching to tea sounds like a good idea.

 

[Corazon]

I dont drink coffee, but i do drink a shitload of mt dew everyday. It sucks and i hate it. If i dont have one, i get a severe headache and i cant conentrate.

Going to try to stop drinking it, and i think switching to tea sounds like a good idea.

Good luck, if you want to - post in here about any progress quitting the Dew as well.

i haven't given up lol

 

[llama112]

It's sooooo easy to get addicted to caffeine!
Corazon, I really hope your suggestion helps, just wanted to offer an alternate. But I'm sure yours will be fine :D

The main thing is that tea is caffeine, although less caffeine. So it's good for the tapering!