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To give some hope to some of you: I stopped drinking coffee back in December. I was a heavy drinker before. I stopped because my stomach wouldn’t stop being ups
by baxtr 6y ago
To give some hope to some of you: I stopped drinking coffee back in December. I was a heavy drinker before. I stopped because my stomach wouldn’t stop being upset permanently, and I had a sore throat all the time. And no, I didn’t drink cheap shit coffee, quite the opposite.
It all vanished after I stopped drinking coffee. The first day was brutal, the second a bit better. A week later, I was fine. Now I drink green tea all day and feel quite good from a stomach perspective.
And, I truly hope green tea is not transported on the same ships as coffee!
- ianai 6y agoMatcha. Smooth constant rush of caffeine and theanine as your body digests the powder. Pu-erh is another favorite though.
- cyberpunk 6y agoPh-erg really is the path of righteousness; it’s not for everyone though and there is such minutia involved in this type of tea that it’s very easy to get a bit.. obsessive.. I mean, it’s normal to have separate yixing teapots depending on the age of your sheng right? ;)
- theragra 6y agoHeretic! You need separate teapot for each variety of sheng.
- cyberpunk 6y agoWhat do you think of younger sheng? I’ve had a few from Mei leaf that have been fantastic (tub highness especially) — but generally I find it difficult to find decently aged stuff..
- theragra 6y agoI am not fan of sheng, honestly. So, I only drink truly aged stuff. It happens not so often, because it is pricey, but I don't want to pay :)
- damontal 6y agoMatcha gives me an initial kick but then I get so relaxed it’s hard to stay awake.
- glenmorangie_14 6y agoI am quite addicted to coffee, but I've given it up multiple times for 1-2 months. What I've found is that I can get off of coffee easily by substituting tea for coffee and then ween myself off tea. I can skip coffee or other forms of caffeine, but I'll get headaches on day 2. What always brings me back to coffee is that I find myself in a generally mild depressive state when I'm not drinking it. Coffee makes me feel happy.
- bpodgursky 6y agoI dropped coffee about two weeks ago, but still drink about a pot of (flavored) decaf a day. Maybe you could get the same mental benefits from the warmth + taste?
- danaris 6y agoJust bear in mind that "decaf" coffee does still contain caffeine—roughly 5-10% of the amount in regular coffee, as I understand it.
- skillpass 6y agoI recently noticed the same thing about depression and coffee after trying to quit several times over the past several years. Even months after the headaches ceased, I generally felt more depressive. Upon resumption of drinking, I started feeling more elevated in mood.
- 323454 6y agoI had a similar experience but I eventually found that sticking to a consistent 8hr sleep schedule and doing a quick 20-30 minute physical warm up first thing in the morning fixed the problem.
- skillpass 6y agoMy first hypothesis was like the others here - that it somehow screws with my brain chemistry to make me permanently dependent on it for my mood. Another possibility is that coffee enforces some level of ritual and regularity into my mornings. Since I have a physical dependency on it, I'll go out of my way each morning to get caffeine and usually induce some tangential benefit, whether that be by brewing some coffee (benefit - I usually make breakfast while waiting on it to brew), by going to a coffee shop (benefit - I go for a walk), or by taking preworkout (benefit - I get a workout in). So I guess if I was able to be super consistent about some alternative positive morning ritual (like a physical warm up) maybe it would fix the problem of feeling more depressed when not drinking it.
- zeku 6y agoTo give another perspective... I drink about 3 cups of coffee a day. When I quit cold turkey I have a headache so bad I can't do anything at all for 3 days or so, and on day 2 I am bedridden with flu like symptoms(ive tried quitting multiple times). My reaction to stopping is so severe, but I notice no issues while regularly consuming coffee other than I need it 1 or so hours max after I wake or I will have a headache all day. I also feel low energy for weeks after stopping coffee.
- anonporridge 6y agoI feel like people are slowly waking up to how insane our collective addiction to (and glorification of) caffeine actually is.
- Afton 6y agoI feel that addictions are only a problem if they are a problem. As far as we can tell, non-crazy-quantity coffee drinking isn't bad for you, might be helpful for some things, and tastes delicious. The only downside is that I have to be slightly prepared if I am not going to be able to easily consume my regular doses of caffeine. And if I want to cut/stop, it takes about a week or so to do so comfortably. As for the glorification, I think it's really a glorification of workaholics, and 'needing coffee to get through yet another pile of TPS Reports' is more a badge of honor than anything else.
- anonporridge 6y agoI think that many addictions can be ok, so long as you understand how much power they have over you and keep a wary eye on them. An addiction can work well in some environment but completely destroy you if your environment changes. Also, I'm not convinced that caffeine addiction is completely overcome in the week or so it takes for the physical withdrawal. Even for myself when I decide to go through long periods of decaffeination, I find that my energy and motivation is significantly deteriorated from when I regularly caffeinate. Sometimes I wonder if my regular use as a college student permanently altered my brain chemistry. On the flip side, maybe this use set me up for the early career success that I might not otherwise have achieved.
- YinglingLight 6y agoI find it ironic that the demographic that purchases expensive coffee machines/workflows is the demographic most likely to quit entirely.
- robocat 6y agoBuy caffiene pills (Caffiene only nodoz or equivalent) and wean yourself off by lowering your dosage down over a few weeks (“titrate yourself off”). Breaking the pills into smaller amounts during the last week is annoying, but the technique prevents headaches and other symptoms. And beware that some bags of coffee beans have residual amounts of pesticides/fungicides etcetera which is possibly a cause of your problem. I sometimes get a mild allergic reaction to a coffee supplier, so I have to change suppliers until I find one I am not allergic to. I am pretty sure it is pesticides or another treatment... I am a fairly scientific person who loathes unscientific hypochondriacs: I have reasons to believe it is something in the beans and prior experiences suggest a treatment product.
- maddyboo 6y agoI have read that coffee is quite prone to pesticide contamination, so these days I only purchase organic coffee beans. Out of curiosity, have you tried organic and if so have you noticed a difference between it and conventional?
- robocat 6y agoEven organic... Labels are not to be trusted.
- yellow_lead 6y agoMy stomach also stopped tolerating coffee. Decaf is fine for me so I think it's the caffeine. However, I can tolerate a caffeinated cup every now and then, just not daily or twice daily as I had been before. Would be curious if anyone has ever been able to regain their tolerance. I really loved coffee.
- Zancarius 6y agoI don't think this really answers your question since I never had the symptoms you or the OP did, but I did have caffeine-antagonized panic attacks that (mostly) subsided after I quit caffeine entirely. I think I went something like 13 years without having any substantial amount of caffeine outside whatever was present in decaf tea or coffee (and often avoiding coffee entirely). Recently, within the last 10 months or so, I've gone back to drinking it without much effect. The only significant difference in my case was that I started a regular and fairly intense exercise regimen after my exgf dumped me. The way she did it was horrible, it was stressful, and made me lose a bunch of weight (for me, ~10 pounds) in less than a week, but the end result was that I recognized the benefits and decided to work to lose more and keep it off. I wasn't hugely over my ideal weight (25-30 over) but losing most of it helped with a bunch of different things, including this. I don't know if this changed my ability to metabolize caffeine somewhat faster (I think it did; or minimized the effects), but before this I could feel my heart starting to act a bit funny within minutes of drinking anything with caffeine to the extent I'd wind up with a full blown panic attack. Now, I can drink it without noticing much other than the jitters (normal for me). Doesn't affect my heart rate unless I drink too much. That said, I very slowly ramped up my caffeine intake over a few weeks starting with regular black teas. Maybe try switching up your exercise routine and slowly reintroduce it? The first couple cups I had over a week definitely upset my stomach slightly but it got better. Though, I noticed even decaf would do that as well. Doesn't now for whatever reason. Did you normally drink it by itself or with something to eat?
- yellow_lead 6y agoI can give that a try - willing to try anything at this point haha :) Mixing caffeine and decaf beans to make a low-caff actually tastes decent. I always drink it with food. Glad you were able to reintroduce it!
- tayo42 6y agoI went to a doctor for this, he told me that caffeine slows down how fast a part of your esophagus responds that is responsible for keeping the acid in your stomach.
- amelius 6y agoInteresting. Did you find a remedy?
- nend 6y agoThey just described what acid reflux is. The remedy would be to stop drinking coffee. Or take an antacid.
- amelius 6y agoI was thinking more about something targeting the valve, not the acidity.
- tayo42 6y agoOmeprazole for a little, otherwise I stopped drinking coffee and keep in mind the regular recommendations for gerd.
- baxtr 6y agoInteresting. Thx for sharing. I get it from black tea , too, but not from green tea or matcha. Any clue why this is?
- tayo42 6y agomaybe the amount of caffeine is enough in black tea but not green? that never came up for me
- silicon2401 6y agoI quit caffeine over a year ago after drinking a lot of coffee (coffee = coffee, espresso, latte, etc). By a lot I mean easily 1-2 coffees before work, 3-4 coffees during work, and another 1-3 after work, every single day, for years and years. This was just because I enjoyed the flavor, not for energy. Eventually I just got tired of how much time I was spending on coffee: if I wasn't drinking coffee, I was basically waiting for the next time I felt like drinking coffee. Quitting was no issue. I had some light headaches for a day or two but otherwise just went cold turkey overnight. However the relief from just disallowing myself to drink coffee has been incredibly liberating. For me it's been equivalent to sugar or dairy: I really enjoy consuming these things and get no bad effects from them, but quitting is beneficial from the sheer time savings I get. Anyway, the point is coffee isn't necessary for energy anymore than rice is necessary for a meal. It's all cultural. I spent a long time waking up at 4 am, going through a full day of work, exercise, socializing, etc and having no problems staying awake or going to sleep. Western culture places a high cultural emphasis on coffee (like other things) so we think it's important, just like some hispanic and asian cultures tend to place a high emphasis on rice and so people from those cultures think it's critical. It's all just habits and it's almost always possible to break habits or learn different ones. If you feel like coffee has a net negative impact on your life, try quitting. It's not necessary at all, and you might enjoy life without it
- olladecarne 6y agoI also recommend switching from coffee to tea if you consume a lot of it. I used to drink gallons of coffee a day. Basically from late highschool to a few years into my career (so like 10 years), I didn't drink anything but coffee (with milk). No water, even at night I was drinking coffee. I quit cold turkey a few times and I basically passed out for a few days from the headaches and feeling dizzy. When I quit I would sleep like 16 hours a day for a couple of days and in a weird way it felt great because I wouldn't be conscious for the worst of the withdrawal symptoms. As I got older it became clear that this was probably both unhealthy and unsustainable so I switched to drinking black tea (with milk) all day instead. I make a giant batch every few days. I feel much better now and the headaches are not nearly as bad in the morning, I just feel slightly tired if I don't drink tea. I may have undiagnosed ADHD or something because I basically can't concentrate without a stimulant (this was true even before I started drinking coffee), but once I take it I find it much easier to focus. I also drink matcha sometimes, but don't like the taste as much. There's something about the bitter taste of strong tea or coffee plus milk to smooth it out that is irresistible to my brain.
- Stratoscope 6y agoCoffee shouldn't taste bitter. Bitterness generally indicates that the grind is too fine for the brew time. Short brew times work with finer grinds, long brew times with coarser. As an example, I'd used an Aeropress for years with a rather fine grind (finer that typical drip, but not as fine as espresso) and short brew time. (For Aeropress aficionados, I was using the regular method, not inverted.) The coffee was always smooth and never bitter. Then I got a Clever Dripper (highly recommended!) which typically uses a much longer brew time. I started with the same fine grind and it was coming out bitter. So I increased the grind size to more of a typical drip grind (and slightly on the coarse side of that), and it fixed that problem. The Clever Dripper also uses much less coffee (again because of the longer brew time), and it pretty much replaced the Aeropress for me.
- nullsense 6y agoI used to drink about a litre of RedBull a day, sometimes more. I got diagnosed with ADHD a year ago. I'm on Methylphenidate now, and the caffeine, though it helped, didn't come close to the positive impact the right treatment has had. Changed my life. If Driven To Distraction, How To ADHD, and r/ADHD resonate deeply, then it's worth getting evaluated. Statistically speaking untreated ADHD shaves 13 years off expected life span due to high rates of comorbid health problems, fatal accidents, drug/alcohol/gambling addiction, and higher suicide rates from the depression that goes with severely fucking your life up.
- clairity 6y agoi just periodically switch to decaf for a few days (usually gradually). but these days, making 60%-caff coffees instead of full strength allows me to still drink 2-3 cups a day without getting too much caffeine while also not trading off too much of the taste (decaf tends to taste “dry”, or more astringent).
- cwkoss 6y agoI get the majority of my caffeine from Ito En Sencha Shot. Canned japanese green tea, unsweetened and vitamin c is the only preservative. I much prefer chilled green tea, but am too lazy to make it all of the time - works great for me.
- euroderf 6y agoAnother data point. Trying to quit coffee led to massive headaches in my 20s and 30s. In my 50s and 60s, not so.
- lee 6y agoI often wean myself off of coffee so that my sensitivity to it returns. One tip for those trying to reduce or stop their coffee in-take: you don't have to go cold turkey. Just gradually reduce. I'm always surprised at the amount of people who put themselves through misery trying to abruptly stop. You could even go as gradual as reducing your coffee intake by 25% a day. After a few days it'll be a gentle let down.
- packetlost 6y agoBefore the pandemic I'd have 2-3 cups of espresso a day. Once we started working from home though, I went down basically immediately to 1 cup of regular coffee with an occasional second cup if the post lunch nap vibes hit too hard.
- path411 6y agoI just normally try to go one random day a week without coffee. Seems to really help with the addiction
- gtm1260 6y agoFunny story my manager told me when I joined. "I tried to quit coffee one time. Didn't get anything done for an entire year" LOL! anyways that just kind of made me think, like its not that bad for me, helps me get stuff done, and I love making and drinking it. No reason to stop now!