Caffeine detox

[touchypoontang]

Right then, first post. Not really sure where to start, there's threads on here started by people withdrawing off far harder substances than caffeine but I really don't want people to knock the difficulty and severity of the symptoms of caffeine withdrawl - It is addictive and can be dangerous. I need help, my extreme caffeine consumption for 15 years put me into hospital last night with a heart rate of 170 (resting is 65) and arrythmia. My right arm, shoulder and jaw were all going numb scaring me that I was stroking.

I started with a coffee when I was 12, by the time I was 15 I was drinking instant coffee with 8 teaspoons in before school, 2 energy drinks on the way to school, 2 more at lunch and probably two more coffees like my morning one during the evening. The quantity has only increased, my daily caffeine consumption over the last 2 years has averaged 3 grams of caffeine a day, sometimes exceeding 5 grams: Pro-plus, 3 litres of homemade espresso, energy drinks - anything. The longest I could ever manage without would be 24 hours before caving into cravings.

This is now 24 hours without any caffeine. My head is pounding, everything seems to be on the tip of my tongue but not actually in my head and I'm starting to feel tired instead of wired. I'm smoking cigarettes at double my normal rate and drinking gallons of water. My intention is to document daily on here how the detox and withdrawl is going and how its affecting me; if anyone has any experience of caffeine withdrawl, then please, I could do with your advice and support.

I live with people who smoke marijuana, would this help with withdrawl?

 

[Snake_Eyes]

Marijuana does help with headaches but I haven't personally tried it for caffeine w/d.

Is there a reason why you are quitting caffeine c/t? I've came off enough dependence causing drugs to know that tapering makes withdrawal a hell of a lot more bearable.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

It will probably help how you feel, but may not immediately alleviate headaches.

Caffeine is a vasodilator, so without it, you're not getting the same oxygen flow you became accustomed to, causing the headaches.

Hang in there, and stay strong! Congrats on deciding to quit caffeine. I use it infrequently and have never had a problem with it, but I have seen others with pretty bad physical dependency to caffeine.

 

[Sixxam]

Captain heroine, you obviously don't have Tim Horton's.... It's Canadians drink coffee like water!

Touchy, good on ya for making the quit, stick with it and ask around if you have questions. Great bunch of folks over here.

Sixx

 

[touchypoontang]

Thankyou for the messages of support.
48 hours been and gone without any caffeine now. Slept for 10 hours last night and woke up feeling fully rested for the first time in years. Brain fog is still here as are deep cravings for a can of Monster (strangely, coffee seems very unappealing). Ibuprofen is helping with the headaches, weed is just making me far too sleepy to function right now. The worst part of all of this is the irritability, I'm a sarcastic bastard at the best of times and don't need to be unintentionally mean along with it.
Captain, I'm quitting outright rather than tapering as I was so scared about my heart the other night. My blood pressure was 170/100 (VERY low normally) with a heart rate of 170 (65 normally), I was given propanolol (beta-blocker) at the hospital to reduce it. I also have a condition known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome that can cause prolapse of heart valves, I'm too young to live with permenant heart damage or need heart meds to prevent an attack. Having done enough other stimulants when younger, I know it wasn't just irrantional panic - I knew there was something not right with my heart at that point.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Have you tried any kind of stress reduction techniques? If not, this would be the ideal time to give them a go. It would really help with the stress of what you're going through.

Ever heard of MBSR - mindfulness based stress reduction? It's a really great six week long outpatient program (you meet once a week for two hours, have "homework" and a daylong retreat at the end) developed out of U.Mass (mostly) that has been used to great success to treat a variety of chronic conditions, especially those exacerbated by stress and anxiety.

And, of course, there is always out mindfulness based harm reduction sticky here :D which reminds me, I still have a shit load of work left to do on that...