5 ms·

Quitting caffeine after decades of use was a bit of a mixed bag for me in the short term, but positive in the long term. Going caffeine-free made it much easie

Quitting caffeine after decades of use was a bit of a mixed bag for me in the short term, but positive in the long term. Going caffeine-free made it much easier to lose weight as I have far less cravings for high carbs and sugar now, presumably this is related to the impulsivity impact talked about in the paper. Going caffeine-free also made me very depressed for a while with severe anhedonia, this lasted way longer (like 3-4 months) than one would generally expect for caffeine withdrawal symptoms. I had seemingly become so used to the increased dopamine signaling while buzzed on caffeine that my brain was a mess for a rather extended period of time as it got used to not having it. Overall I view quitting as a positive for me, but I'd warn anyone thinking about doing it to do it carefully and closely monitor their mental health. AFAIK the impacts of quitting can be quite different for different people, so my experience may differ than that of others, but I had no idea how much of a (temporary) mental health crash quitting caffeine could cause until I experienced it.

gabriel-uribe 6mo ago
I'm almost exactly 1 year coffee-free (not caffeine free, but significantly less because tea is much less addictive for me). Also positive in the long-term for me. Fewer digestive issues, less spiky dopamine sensitive or impulsiveness and performance during the day, better memory. I wish it weren't so. But damn was the 3-6 months of anhedonia awful. I still feel pangs of it.
- PsylentKnight 6mo ago
  How much coffee were you drinking before quitting? 3-6 months seems like a very long time. As far as I know, most withdrawal symptoms should end within 2 weeks, with the most intense symptoms ending within a few days
  - gabriel-uribe 6mo ago
    3-4 cups a day. Was deeply stressed building products with <$100/mo in rev. Couldn't sleep at night from all the caffeine and cortisol spikes. The ensuing several months were some of the worst in my life (many confounding variables) missing coffee, feeling anhedonic, and inadequately caffeinated/lucid to tackle my problems.
fc417fc802 6mo ago
> Going caffeine-free made it much easier to lose weight as I have far less cravings That's surprising to me. In my case one of the reasons I discontinued it (emotional effects aside) was mild but consistent weight loss. The stimulant part of the effect seems to suppress my appetite quite effectively although at least part of that is likely indirect due to sustained task focus leading me to skip meals.
- Lalabadie 6mo ago
  You're not alone, caffeine is a known appetite suppressant.
- bayarearefugee 6mo ago
  > That's surprising to me. I think this is one of those YMMV things with caffeine. It is an appetite suppressant in general but for me it seems to cause a significant rebound effect. On caffeine I would eat less early in the day (when I was most using caffeine) but then I would get severe cravings for carbs/sugar later at night. Without the caffeine everything is nice and evened out and I feel way more in control of my eating habits without really trying.
- sph 6mo ago
  A lot of people and research focus on coffee suppressing appetite, which is downstream to the cortisol-raising effects of fight-and-flight response which raise blood sugar among a myriad other things. What they forget is that elevated blood sugar and cortisol eventually results in lower blood sugar than baseline — which is when the hunger strikes. So yes, coffee is an appetite suppressant, but 6-8 hours later your appetite rebounds. Many people don't feel this effect simply because they have frequent-enough meals and/or coffees to stay ahead of the blood sugar crash. If you get into intermittent fasting, it's pretty easy to notice. In my quest to fix my metabolism, I am constantly aware that my morning cup of coffee is the biggest reasons why I get ravenous around 5pm.
Noaidi 6mo ago
You may have naturally low dopamine production or release (or low ATP or GTP). Everyone will react differently because genetics so you are right, everyone needs to be mindful of their reaction. You might want to look at this pathway, and the enzymes, and the cofactors for these enzymes: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pingyuan-Gong/publication/316361485/figure/fig1/AS:514765312270336@1499741022363/Dopaminergic-pathway-genes-and-serotonergic-pathway-genes-Dopaminergic-pathway-genes-A.png https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pingyuan-Gong/publicati... Tyrosine 3-monooxygenase (TH) needs Iron Aromatic-L-amino-acid decarboxylase (DDC) needs B6
randusername 6mo ago
I experienced a similar anhedonia when quitting caffeine. I don't think the caffeine itself was the problem, I think it was just helping a lot more than I knew with the inertia of circling the pit without tottering in. Turns out I needed stimulants from time to time, just not that one.
- pdimitar 6mo ago
  What stimulants have you landed on? And do you feel they're better for you? I'm pondering getting a coffee machine at home. 400 EUR is not a sizable investment and one I'd have forgotten about it 3 months but I'm getting cold feet when it gets to committing. Americano coffee definitely picks me up and is a full net positive for me. But that's only if I drink 2-3 times a week. Not sure how it's going to be if I start getting it every day.
  - nchmy 6mo ago
    Get yourself a moka pot, aeropress or French press. Fantastic coffee for very cheap. Highly unlikely that 2-3 times a week will last though - either religiously stick to once a week or be open to drinking it daily.
    - ValentineC 6mo ago
      I second either a moka pot or an AeroPress. The moka pot would be better if you have easy access to cooking facilities (the stainless versions are also easier to clean, and work on induction). The AeroPress would be better if you only have access to hot water.
      - pdimitar 6mo ago
        As written above, coffee from moka pot absolutely destroys me. :( It's too concentrated.
        freshchilled 6mo ago
Uptrenda 6mo ago
I think this monthly withdrawal syndrome with the anhedonia reflects a true gap in scientific understanding of caffeine. There are communities where people routinely quit caffeine (e.g. /r/decaf) who all notice the same thing. Yet if you look at how long caffeine withdrawal lasts: the reference answer is 1 - 2 weeks (then everything is "normal.") I think caffeine is legitimately more disruptive and addictive than is commonly acknowledged. It creates quite a life-style loop where you need it for [drive, energy, mood, alertness] as a fix to many of the issues it causes, lol. Caffeine is such a widely used drug yet doesn't seem to have been studied that much. It's fascinating to me how the drugs that are socially acceptable seem completely arbitrary. Like alcohol (which in terms of addictiveness isn't far behind the most addictive drugs.) In tables that compare the most addictive drugs, you know what drug is always missing yet seems to be consumed more widely than any other recreational drug on the planet: caffeine. This is funny though. It may be difficult to actually do high quality, comparative research on caffeine because to do so you would need to find people who don't already consume caffeine and I suspect that is a harder problem than it sounds. By the way: the set of people who have never been effected by caffeine shrinks even further if you consider whether the mother consumed it during pregnancy.

gabriel-uribe 6mo ago

I'm almost exactly 1 year coffee-free (not caffeine free, but significantly less because tea is much less addictive for me). Also positive in the long-term for me. Fewer digestive issues, less spiky dopamine sensitive or impulsiveness and performance during the day, better memory. I wish it weren't so. But damn was the 3-6 months of anhedonia awful. I still feel pangs of it.

PsylentKnight 6mo ago
How much coffee were you drinking before quitting? 3-6 months seems like a very long time. As far as I know, most withdrawal symptoms should end within 2 weeks, with the most intense symptoms ending within a few days
- gabriel-uribe 6mo ago
  3-4 cups a day. Was deeply stressed building products with <$100/mo in rev. Couldn't sleep at night from all the caffeine and cortisol spikes. The ensuing several months were some of the worst in my life (many confounding variables) missing coffee, feeling anhedonic, and inadequately caffeinated/lucid to tackle my problems.

fc417fc802 6mo ago

> Going caffeine-free made it much easier to lose weight as I have far less cravings That's surprising to me. In my case one of the reasons I discontinued it (emotional effects aside) was mild but consistent weight loss. The stimulant part of the effect seems to suppress my appetite quite effectively although at least part of that is likely indirect due to sustained task focus leading me to skip meals.

Lalabadie 6mo ago
You're not alone, caffeine is a known appetite suppressant.
bayarearefugee 6mo ago
> That's surprising to me. I think this is one of those YMMV things with caffeine. It is an appetite suppressant in general but for me it seems to cause a significant rebound effect. On caffeine I would eat less early in the day (when I was most using caffeine) but then I would get severe cravings for carbs/sugar later at night. Without the caffeine everything is nice and evened out and I feel way more in control of my eating habits without really trying.
sph 6mo ago
A lot of people and research focus on coffee suppressing appetite, which is downstream to the cortisol-raising effects of fight-and-flight response which raise blood sugar among a myriad other things. What they forget is that elevated blood sugar and cortisol eventually results in lower blood sugar than baseline — which is when the hunger strikes. So yes, coffee is an appetite suppressant, but 6-8 hours later your appetite rebounds. Many people don't feel this effect simply because they have frequent-enough meals and/or coffees to stay ahead of the blood sugar crash. If you get into intermittent fasting, it's pretty easy to notice. In my quest to fix my metabolism, I am constantly aware that my morning cup of coffee is the biggest reasons why I get ravenous around 5pm.

Noaidi 6mo ago

You may have naturally low dopamine production or release (or low ATP or GTP). Everyone will react differently because genetics so you are right, everyone needs to be mindful of their reaction. You might want to look at this pathway, and the enzymes, and the cofactors for these enzymes: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pingyuan-Gong/publication/316361485/figure/fig1/AS:514765312270336@1499741022363/Dopaminergic-pathway-genes-and-serotonergic-pathway-genes-Dopaminergic-pathway-genes-A.png https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pingyuan-Gong/publicati... Tyrosine 3-monooxygenase (TH) needs Iron Aromatic-L-amino-acid decarboxylase (DDC) needs B6

randusername 6mo ago

I experienced a similar anhedonia when quitting caffeine. I don't think the caffeine itself was the problem, I think it was just helping a lot more than I knew with the inertia of circling the pit without tottering in. Turns out I needed stimulants from time to time, just not that one.

pdimitar 6mo ago
What stimulants have you landed on? And do you feel they're better for you? I'm pondering getting a coffee machine at home. 400 EUR is not a sizable investment and one I'd have forgotten about it 3 months but I'm getting cold feet when it gets to committing. Americano coffee definitely picks me up and is a full net positive for me. But that's only if I drink 2-3 times a week. Not sure how it's going to be if I start getting it every day.
- nchmy 6mo ago
  Get yourself a moka pot, aeropress or French press. Fantastic coffee for very cheap. Highly unlikely that 2-3 times a week will last though - either religiously stick to once a week or be open to drinking it daily.
  - ValentineC 6mo ago
    I second either a moka pot or an AeroPress. The moka pot would be better if you have easy access to cooking facilities (the stainless versions are also easier to clean, and work on induction). The AeroPress would be better if you only have access to hot water.
    - pdimitar 6mo ago
      As written above, coffee from moka pot absolutely destroys me. :( It's too concentrated.
      - freshchilled 6mo ago

Uptrenda 6mo ago

I think this monthly withdrawal syndrome with the anhedonia reflects a true gap in scientific understanding of caffeine. There are communities where people routinely quit caffeine (e.g. /r/decaf) who all notice the same thing. Yet if you look at how long caffeine withdrawal lasts: the reference answer is 1 - 2 weeks (then everything is "normal.") I think caffeine is legitimately more disruptive and addictive than is commonly acknowledged. It creates quite a life-style loop where you need it for [drive, energy, mood, alertness] as a fix to many of the issues it causes, lol. Caffeine is such a widely used drug yet doesn't seem to have been studied that much. It's fascinating to me how the drugs that are socially acceptable seem completely arbitrary. Like alcohol (which in terms of addictiveness isn't far behind the most addictive drugs.) In tables that compare the most addictive drugs, you know what drug is always missing yet seems to be consumed more widely than any other recreational drug on the planet: caffeine. This is funny though. It may be difficult to actually do high quality, comparative research on caffeine because to do so you would need to find people who don't already consume caffeine and I suspect that is a harder problem than it sounds. By the way: the set of people who have never been effected by caffeine shrinks even further if you consider whether the mother consumed it during pregnancy.