8 ms·

For anyone that tries this, don't naively go cold turkey and expect just a headache. It generally takes 12 days before your body resets it's relevant receptors

For anyone that tries this, don't naively go cold turkey and expect just a headache. It generally takes 12 days before your body resets it's relevant receptors for caffeine consumption. E.g if you drink three coffees a day and barely feel a hit, you need to go cold turkey for 12 days. After that the impact of coffee should be more significant. (1) (edit: sources state 2 weeks to 2 months in fact!) I decided to give it a go a few years ago and fuck me. The come down sucked. The first few days were okish. Slight headache. But from the 3rd day for about 4-5 days. I had a headache that'd compete with my past migraines. I was nauseated and was throwing up several times a day. These stopped at roughly day 8 or day 9. I didn't consider myself a heavy coffee drinker either. Perhaps 2-3 coffees a day, these were double shot espresso's. My colleagues hilariously wrote a medical blog to document my descent into madness. I'll try and dig it up. (1) - https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-tolerance https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-tolerance

chrisjs96 6y ago
I did it a couple months ago. I've been drinking 3 - 5 cups a day(sometimes more) for years. I just slowly went from drinking it throughout the whole day eliminating cups until I had 1 cup in the morning. This was over 2 weeks. Then I slowly reduced that 1 cup until nothing. Then I switched to a single cup of green tea in the morning just for the ritual. The lack of caffeine hasn't really had any effect on my psoriasis or stress levels, so maybe it was all for nothing.
- LilBytes 6y ago
  In hind sight this is how I should have done in. But I was morbidly curious to see how bad the cold turkey would be. It was quite a while a go now, I might think about doing it again. But do it without the masochistic torture I put myself through last time. 'psoriasis or stress levels' - is there a link to psoriasis and coffee?
- thisisnico 6y ago
  1-2 cups of coffee are medically fine. It won't likely have much of a significant effect on your health.
  - chrisjs96 6y ago
    I did it because when I was on an elimination diet, it was recommended to quit caffeine too. Hasn't seemed to have much effect. I sleep the same, still grind my teeth, still have psoriasis. I've cut everything from diet except salt, vegetables, fruit and fish.
    - LilBytes 6y ago
      Caffeine is an excellent hunger surpressent too, I swear by it for losing weight.
      - chrisjs96 6y ago
        I don't need to lose weight though. Diet more for just other health reasons. 5' 11" 165lb. I could probably lose a little belly fat, but nothing crazy right now.
  - Fezzik 6y ago
    Maybe medically fine, but that doesn’t mean it is ideal. And how fine it is varies (drastically, I think) from person to person. I know caffeine is horrible for me, even 150 mg/day - it disrupts my sleep, clouds my thinking, and makes me more irritable (not helpful as a trial attorney). I started drinking it late in life (32 then, 38 now) and every time I quit I feel infinitely healthier. I am 5 days in to (hopefully) quitting caffeine forever. For me, it is a drug worse than alcohol. I have a feeling a lot of people are in this boat and just don’t realize it because they have been consuming caffeine beverages for so long.
  - commandlinefan 6y ago
    > 1-2 cups of coffee Cups or mugs? Most of us, when we pour a mug of coffee, pour about 12 ounces, which is a cup (8 oz) and a half. So if you have two mugs of coffee, you're actually drinking about 3 cups.
    - gowld 6y ago
      A "cup" of coffee in US coffee language is 6oz.
- zwirbl 6y ago
  > The lack of caffeine There is a not insignificant amount of caffeine in green tea, but still less than in coffee
  - numpad0 6y ago
    I’ve heard there’s more caffeine in tea. Coffees do feel stronger than tea, I wonder if that’s due to oil in coffee working as a solvent
    - snoopen 6y ago
      I've heard this too but need to see the numbers. I wonder if it's the caffeine per dry weight or per brewed serve. But don't get me started on what a serving of coffee is.
    - stepstop 6y ago
      Every tea is different. Black teas have more caffeine than green, for example.
    - wartijn_ 6y ago
      A cup of coffee has way more caffeine than tea. Coffee has 163mg per cup, black tea 42mg and green tea 25mg.[0][1][2] 1kg of dry tea does have more caffeine than 1kg of coffee beans, according to Wikipedia[3] > Tea contains more caffeine than coffee by dry weight. A typical serving, however, contains much less, since less of the product is used as compared to an equivalent serving of coffee. Also contributing to caffeine content are growing conditions, processing techniques, and other variables. Thus, teas contain varying amounts of caffeine Also kinda interesting: I've often seen people opt for an espresso instead op a cup of coffee, because they say they need the caffeine. But an espresso has only 77mg of caffeine, way less caffeine than a cup of coffee. [4] (Unless you fill a coffee cup with espresso shots, but who does that?) [0] https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/coffee-brewed https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/coffee-bre... [1] https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/tea-brewed https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/tea-brewed [2] https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/green-tea https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/green-tea [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Beverages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Beverages [4] https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/espresso https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/espresso
- yulker 6y ago
  I had a very similar experience. 3+ cups per day minimum for over a decade, phased out over two weeks with no withdrawal at all. Didn't drink coffee for the better part of a year looking for a benefit. Also noted no improvement with my psoriasis, no increased alertness, sleep felt the same, and actually gained weight over that time period. I'm happily enjoying coffee daily again.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 6y ago
    There is peer reviewed evidence that caffeine increases your metabolism, so it would make sense that you would gain weight after cessation. I’m in a weight loss phase and have upped my caffeine intake for that reason.
ecdavis 6y ago
> I didn't consider myself a heavy coffee drinker either. Perhaps 2-3 coffees a day, these were double shot espresso's. That's a lot of caffeine - at or beyond the typically recommended daily maximum of 400mg.
Ghjklov 6y ago
I like to ween myself off coffee by drinking lower caffeinated tea instead.
nawgszy 6y ago
Drug sensitivity is always such a strange thing to me. It strikes me as having characteristics of qualia - to you, going cold turkey on caffeine was apparently monstrous, but I've had the exact opposite experiences. I drink a lot of coffee, 3 cups a day average, but if I stop for a day or three or a week I certainly don't feel any pain, just a different focus.
- LilBytes 6y ago
  Try stopping for 4/5 days and see where you're at. I'd love to get a better sample size.
  - yetihehe 6y ago
    I stop for a full week every year. I drink 3-4 rather strong cups every day (no coffee after 4pm), but only 1 cup daily on weekends. Only symptom for me when I don't have caffeine is being a little harder to focus, but that's not a problem for me when I don't need to code.
felipemnoa 6y ago
I went cold turkey once. I had a horrible headache that kept me bedridden for a whole day. After that the headache went away but I couldn't keep my eyes open by around noon. I decided to wean off of coffee and that worked better.
meow81 6y ago
I was a heavy coffee drinker most of my life and had to stop cold turkey and did so for a month due to GI issues. Had a headache the first days, but was fine otherwise. Now I just do half caf and have two cups a day and found a nice balance of not being too dependent on the caffeine. More than the caffeine I love the taste of good coffee, so I can live with the reduced caffeine. Not everyone has extreme withdrawal from stopping caffeine.
swivelmaster 6y ago
I quit caffeine all together before, and the way I did it was that I tapered for SIX MONTHS! That's probably overkill but by the time I was ready to quit completely, everything was fine. Unfortunately, I picked up the habit again after my son was born, for reasons I shouldn't have to explain. Once he's sleeping more consistently I'd like to quit caffeine again, hopefully over a shorter period of time.
karmakaze 6y ago
This happened to me recently as well, on a smaller scale. I typically consume 1 double-shot espresso, 1 green tea, 1 small cup of brew, and sometimes decaf in a day. It's mostly just a part of my work day routine. I used to go some weekend day without caffeine altogether. Since working remotely at home I don't have a specific caffeine schedule and lost track of my consumption. After one long weekend I didn't consume much/any caffeine but I didn't realize this. On Monday my stomach was uneasy so I drank some water and avoided caffeine because on an empty stomach it can make me feel worse. The next thing that happened was inconceivable. I was curled up in bed clutching my stomach in agony for several hours. It wasn't extreme discomfort but just enough that I didn't want to do anything else. After it eased I had a coffee and everything magically felt perfectly normal. The next day I started to get that same feeling and immediately had a coffee. My day went fine.
andrei_says_ 6y ago
I tapered down from 2 cups down to zero a few years ago. The secret was to switch to green tea during the transition and sip from it only when needed. Eliminating the green tea was not an issue.
systemvoltage 6y ago
Since we are giving anecdotal points: I quit coffee after drinking 2-3 cups a day to cold turkey. I had minor discomforts, a bit of a light headache but it was extremely easy. Readers of HN: This is not some generic withdrawal that happens to everyone unless we have data that proves with randomized trail. My anecdote completely contrasts with the parent and both opinions need to be taken as a grain of salt.
cuddlybacon 6y ago
I decided to quit at the beginning of the quarantine. The first couple days were annoying, but tolerable. Just a general tiredness. The for days 5 to 8, I probably clocked in 12 to 14 hours of sleep a day. I was drinking 3 or so grande/venti coffees a day.

chrisjs96 6y ago

I did it a couple months ago. I've been drinking 3 - 5 cups a day(sometimes more) for years. I just slowly went from drinking it throughout the whole day eliminating cups until I had 1 cup in the morning. This was over 2 weeks. Then I slowly reduced that 1 cup until nothing. Then I switched to a single cup of green tea in the morning just for the ritual. The lack of caffeine hasn't really had any effect on my psoriasis or stress levels, so maybe it was all for nothing.

LilBytes 6y ago
In hind sight this is how I should have done in. But I was morbidly curious to see how bad the cold turkey would be. It was quite a while a go now, I might think about doing it again. But do it without the masochistic torture I put myself through last time. 'psoriasis or stress levels' - is there a link to psoriasis and coffee?
thisisnico 6y ago
1-2 cups of coffee are medically fine. It won't likely have much of a significant effect on your health.
- chrisjs96 6y ago
  I did it because when I was on an elimination diet, it was recommended to quit caffeine too. Hasn't seemed to have much effect. I sleep the same, still grind my teeth, still have psoriasis. I've cut everything from diet except salt, vegetables, fruit and fish.
  - LilBytes 6y ago
    Caffeine is an excellent hunger surpressent too, I swear by it for losing weight.
    - chrisjs96 6y ago
      I don't need to lose weight though. Diet more for just other health reasons. 5' 11" 165lb. I could probably lose a little belly fat, but nothing crazy right now.
- Fezzik 6y ago
  Maybe medically fine, but that doesn’t mean it is ideal. And how fine it is varies (drastically, I think) from person to person. I know caffeine is horrible for me, even 150 mg/day - it disrupts my sleep, clouds my thinking, and makes me more irritable (not helpful as a trial attorney). I started drinking it late in life (32 then, 38 now) and every time I quit I feel infinitely healthier. I am 5 days in to (hopefully) quitting caffeine forever. For me, it is a drug worse than alcohol. I have a feeling a lot of people are in this boat and just don’t realize it because they have been consuming caffeine beverages for so long.
- commandlinefan 6y ago
  > 1-2 cups of coffee Cups or mugs? Most of us, when we pour a mug of coffee, pour about 12 ounces, which is a cup (8 oz) and a half. So if you have two mugs of coffee, you're actually drinking about 3 cups.
  - gowld 6y ago
    A "cup" of coffee in US coffee language is 6oz.
zwirbl 6y ago
> The lack of caffeine There is a not insignificant amount of caffeine in green tea, but still less than in coffee
- numpad0 6y ago
  I’ve heard there’s more caffeine in tea. Coffees do feel stronger than tea, I wonder if that’s due to oil in coffee working as a solvent
  - snoopen 6y ago
    I've heard this too but need to see the numbers. I wonder if it's the caffeine per dry weight or per brewed serve. But don't get me started on what a serving of coffee is.
  - stepstop 6y ago
    Every tea is different. Black teas have more caffeine than green, for example.
  - wartijn_ 6y ago
    A cup of coffee has way more caffeine than tea. Coffee has 163mg per cup, black tea 42mg and green tea 25mg.[0][1][2] 1kg of dry tea does have more caffeine than 1kg of coffee beans, according to Wikipedia[3] > Tea contains more caffeine than coffee by dry weight. A typical serving, however, contains much less, since less of the product is used as compared to an equivalent serving of coffee. Also contributing to caffeine content are growing conditions, processing techniques, and other variables. Thus, teas contain varying amounts of caffeine Also kinda interesting: I've often seen people opt for an espresso instead op a cup of coffee, because they say they need the caffeine. But an espresso has only 77mg of caffeine, way less caffeine than a cup of coffee. [4] (Unless you fill a coffee cup with espresso shots, but who does that?) [0] https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/coffee-brewed https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/coffee-bre... [1] https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/tea-brewed https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/tea-brewed [2] https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/green-tea https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/green-tea [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Beverages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Beverages [4] https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/espresso https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/espresso
yulker 6y ago
I had a very similar experience. 3+ cups per day minimum for over a decade, phased out over two weeks with no withdrawal at all. Didn't drink coffee for the better part of a year looking for a benefit. Also noted no improvement with my psoriasis, no increased alertness, sleep felt the same, and actually gained weight over that time period. I'm happily enjoying coffee daily again.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 6y ago
  There is peer reviewed evidence that caffeine increases your metabolism, so it would make sense that you would gain weight after cessation. I’m in a weight loss phase and have upped my caffeine intake for that reason.

ecdavis 6y ago

> I didn't consider myself a heavy coffee drinker either. Perhaps 2-3 coffees a day, these were double shot espresso's. That's a lot of caffeine - at or beyond the typically recommended daily maximum of 400mg.

Ghjklov 6y ago

I like to ween myself off coffee by drinking lower caffeinated tea instead.

nawgszy 6y ago

Drug sensitivity is always such a strange thing to me. It strikes me as having characteristics of qualia - to you, going cold turkey on caffeine was apparently monstrous, but I've had the exact opposite experiences. I drink a lot of coffee, 3 cups a day average, but if I stop for a day or three or a week I certainly don't feel any pain, just a different focus.

LilBytes 6y ago
Try stopping for 4/5 days and see where you're at. I'd love to get a better sample size.
- yetihehe 6y ago
  I stop for a full week every year. I drink 3-4 rather strong cups every day (no coffee after 4pm), but only 1 cup daily on weekends. Only symptom for me when I don't have caffeine is being a little harder to focus, but that's not a problem for me when I don't need to code.

felipemnoa 6y ago

I went cold turkey once. I had a horrible headache that kept me bedridden for a whole day. After that the headache went away but I couldn't keep my eyes open by around noon. I decided to wean off of coffee and that worked better.

meow81 6y ago

I was a heavy coffee drinker most of my life and had to stop cold turkey and did so for a month due to GI issues. Had a headache the first days, but was fine otherwise. Now I just do half caf and have two cups a day and found a nice balance of not being too dependent on the caffeine. More than the caffeine I love the taste of good coffee, so I can live with the reduced caffeine. Not everyone has extreme withdrawal from stopping caffeine.

swivelmaster 6y ago

I quit caffeine all together before, and the way I did it was that I tapered for SIX MONTHS! That's probably overkill but by the time I was ready to quit completely, everything was fine. Unfortunately, I picked up the habit again after my son was born, for reasons I shouldn't have to explain. Once he's sleeping more consistently I'd like to quit caffeine again, hopefully over a shorter period of time.

karmakaze 6y ago

This happened to me recently as well, on a smaller scale. I typically consume 1 double-shot espresso, 1 green tea, 1 small cup of brew, and sometimes decaf in a day. It's mostly just a part of my work day routine. I used to go some weekend day without caffeine altogether. Since working remotely at home I don't have a specific caffeine schedule and lost track of my consumption. After one long weekend I didn't consume much/any caffeine but I didn't realize this. On Monday my stomach was uneasy so I drank some water and avoided caffeine because on an empty stomach it can make me feel worse. The next thing that happened was inconceivable. I was curled up in bed clutching my stomach in agony for several hours. It wasn't extreme discomfort but just enough that I didn't want to do anything else. After it eased I had a coffee and everything magically felt perfectly normal. The next day I started to get that same feeling and immediately had a coffee. My day went fine.

andrei_says_ 6y ago

I tapered down from 2 cups down to zero a few years ago. The secret was to switch to green tea during the transition and sip from it only when needed. Eliminating the green tea was not an issue.

systemvoltage 6y ago

Since we are giving anecdotal points: I quit coffee after drinking 2-3 cups a day to cold turkey. I had minor discomforts, a bit of a light headache but it was extremely easy. Readers of HN: This is not some generic withdrawal that happens to everyone unless we have data that proves with randomized trail. My anecdote completely contrasts with the parent and both opinions need to be taken as a grain of salt.

cuddlybacon 6y ago

I decided to quit at the beginning of the quarantine. The first couple days were annoying, but tolerable. Just a general tiredness. The for days 5 to 8, I probably clocked in 12 to 14 hours of sleep a day. I was drinking 3 or so grande/venti coffees a day.