5 ms·

Feeling miserable for three days seems ... unlikely after 800mg/day of caffeine. I say that to mean, it should be much longer (been there, done that, took many

by mmsc 2mo ago

Feeling miserable for three days seems ... unlikely after 800mg/day of caffeine. I say that to mean, it should be much longer (been there, done that, took many months) Caffeine use especially at that level massively grows the amount adenosine receptors your brain has, and they don't just disappear overnight. A 500ml Diet Coke (assuming you don't mean the caffeine free version) also contains about 65 mg of caffeine, which is the same as an espresso. I'm not sure if you really quit. Caffeine is also in a surprisingly large amount of soft drinks you wouldn't expect.

isoprophlex 2mo ago
Right now I think 800 mg/d of caffeine would send me to the ER lol. Discontinuing 800mg/d steady state, cold turkey... that would mean 3 weeks of migraine-like headaches I couldn't even get away from 2 cups/day until i started hyperbolic tapering by slowly mixing decaf into my regular beans.
tombert 2mo ago
My goal wasn't to completely quit. The goal was to keep my caffeine intake less than or equal to 400mg (the FDA's recommended max) and to cut it off at 2pm. I didn't cold-turkey cut off caffeine. I stopped getting acute headaches after about three days; other prolonged side effects are harder to quantify. I should also clarify, it wasn't 800mg every day (which I realize I didn't make clear), it was just one thing where I saw that at least a few days of the last week I had consumed 800mg.
jodacola 2mo ago
Everybody's physiology is different, but I drank a full pot of coffee every day, for about 15 years. After Getting Older™, I was noticing more and more effects that I didn't like, so I made the decision to (mostly) detox off caffeine using decaf beans. Cold turkey would have destroyed me. I went with the following schedule: * Week 1: 75% caffeinated/25% decaf beans * Week 2: 50% caf/50% decaf * Week 3: 25% caf/75% decaf * Week 4: 100% decaf At week 4, I entered a full failure mode I hadn't yet experienced, namely migraines that were untouchable by OTC medications. Only caffeine helped. I tried to get through the week to "be done" with the weening but couldn't. So... * Week 5: back up to 25% caf/75% decaf! * Weeks 6-12: decreasing caffeine by half each week (to the point I was measuring beans using my home scale). After week 12, I was able to go without caffeine, and now I drink 1 cup of coffee and, if I'm feeling wild, I'll occasionally get an espresso. My physiological dependence on caffeine was no joke, but I feel a heck of a lot less anxious and jittery after cutting it down to where I'm now at.
- drcongo 2mo ago
  For about 8 years now I've been down to one caffeinated coffee per day, first thing in the morning. If I miss it, I have the start of a migraine by about 1pm. It's mad.
  - vinc 2mo ago
    Yes completely! I started drinking one small but dense cup of coffee every work day just after lunch to avoid being sleepy after the meal two years ago, and this year I noticed that I wasn't feeling good during the weekend, then I noticed that if I drank a coffee after lunch I'd be normal. Skip forward a few months, I notice now that if for some reason I forget to drink my coffee after lunch I wake up the next day with a migraine, each time. I like the ritual of grinding my fresh grains and brewing my cup, but I think I'll move to decaf and a quick nap like I was doing before. The migraine is the proof of an addiction.
  - Insanity 2mo ago
    I had to avoid caffeine for some time due to medical issues. I really missed the morning ritual of waking up slowly with a cup of coffee, so I replaced it with decaf coffee which satisfies the ritual part of my morning at least. Definitely a 'YMMV' thing and it wouldn't solve the headaches of course, but it at least makes the morning a bit nicer.
- neutronicus 2mo ago
  Did you try Excedrin? It has some caffeine in it. It does seem to be especially helpful relative to just Tylenol for me as a migraine sufferer. Specifically for helping to disperse the aura.
  - jodacola 2mo ago
    That was the only OTC I avoided, specifically because I was trying to tightly control and titrate down the caffeine dose (granted, measuring beans isn't precise dosing, but I didn't want to blow my work out of the water by throwing some Excedrin into the mix).
  - 2mo ago
elmer2 2mo ago
If I consume 1-2 canned coffees a day (which is around 300mg at most), it takes me around 7 days after I quit to stop getting headaches, body aches, or mood issues.
andai 2mo ago
I think the actual threshold is when the withdrawal misery falls below the noise floor of the ambient misery.
randallsquared 2mo ago
I dunno. Caffeine doesn't affect me very much (I mean to say, I can drink regular coffee and go to sleep an hour later without difficulty), though it is somewhat pleasant. I used to regularly detox from caffeine to get that initial rush again, and that would mean 3-4 days of mild headache, and another few days of fuzzy-headedness, and then things were normal again. I'm aware, though, that some people can't have coffee or cola after early afternoon if they want to sleep well, so. Various people have quite different responsiveness to caffeine.
deinonychus 2mo ago
>A 500ml Diet Coke (assuming you don't mean the caffeine free version) also contains about 65 mg of caffeine, which is the same as an espresso. that's for one shot of espresso, and most standard regularly-sized espresso drinks are served with two shots, so that's closer to 100-130 mg of caffeine i've experimented with reducing caffeine and it's overall been a great experiment. but also i take a stimulant for adhd so you could imagine it's easy for me to overdose on caffeine while i already have other uppers in my system. when medicated, a coke zero is basically the perfect amount of caffeine for me if i need a pep without becoming a nervous wreck
ulrikrasmussen 2mo ago
I quit cold turkey and consumed around 1200mg/day, not by drinking energy drinks but coffee, 6 strong cups of filter or more. I made sure to also quit caffeinated sort drinks and switched to herbal tea. The immediate withdrawal symptoms started after around 24h and consisted of headache, cold sweats and brain fog that lasted around three days and seriously impeded my ability to work. However, the psychological craving just... never really got better once it plateaued. I always felt a bit more understimulated than before I stopped, and a bit less motivated. I kept it up for about 1.5 years or so before I decided it wasn't worth it. The first cup of coffee seriously gave me euphoria comparable to a low dose of amphetamine. That was so pleasurable that I tried to keep my consumption to one cup per week, but even with that spacing I felt the tolerance build up again.
- hombre_fatal 2mo ago
  I limited to 1-2 servings of coffee by switching to an aeropress and a hand cranked grinder. When I brew one big carafe, then I have this compulsion to drink it, like every new task needs a prelude where I get up to refill my mug. But now there’s too much friction to brew the 2nd or 3rd cup since I know I won’t even feel it.
  - ulrikrasmussen 2mo ago
    I ended up brewing just one cup of filter in the morning, then drinking one more cup when I arrive at the office. I have a rule to stop before 9am which I found is the latest I can do caffeine without disrupting my sleep. I think I am one of the slow metabolizers.

by mmsc 2mo ago

isoprophlex 2mo ago

Right now I think 800 mg/d of caffeine would send me to the ER lol. Discontinuing 800mg/d steady state, cold turkey... that would mean 3 weeks of migraine-like headaches I couldn't even get away from 2 cups/day until i started hyperbolic tapering by slowly mixing decaf into my regular beans.

tombert 2mo ago

My goal wasn't to completely quit. The goal was to keep my caffeine intake less than or equal to 400mg (the FDA's recommended max) and to cut it off at 2pm. I didn't cold-turkey cut off caffeine. I stopped getting acute headaches after about three days; other prolonged side effects are harder to quantify. I should also clarify, it wasn't 800mg every day (which I realize I didn't make clear), it was just one thing where I saw that at least a few days of the last week I had consumed 800mg.

jodacola 2mo ago

Everybody's physiology is different, but I drank a full pot of coffee every day, for about 15 years. After Getting Older™, I was noticing more and more effects that I didn't like, so I made the decision to (mostly) detox off caffeine using decaf beans. Cold turkey would have destroyed me. I went with the following schedule: * Week 1: 75% caffeinated/25% decaf beans * Week 2: 50% caf/50% decaf * Week 3: 25% caf/75% decaf * Week 4: 100% decaf At week 4, I entered a full failure mode I hadn't yet experienced, namely migraines that were untouchable by OTC medications. Only caffeine helped. I tried to get through the week to "be done" with the weening but couldn't. So... * Week 5: back up to 25% caf/75% decaf! * Weeks 6-12: decreasing caffeine by half each week (to the point I was measuring beans using my home scale). After week 12, I was able to go without caffeine, and now I drink 1 cup of coffee and, if I'm feeling wild, I'll occasionally get an espresso. My physiological dependence on caffeine was no joke, but I feel a heck of a lot less anxious and jittery after cutting it down to where I'm now at.

drcongo 2mo ago
For about 8 years now I've been down to one caffeinated coffee per day, first thing in the morning. If I miss it, I have the start of a migraine by about 1pm. It's mad.
- vinc 2mo ago
  Yes completely! I started drinking one small but dense cup of coffee every work day just after lunch to avoid being sleepy after the meal two years ago, and this year I noticed that I wasn't feeling good during the weekend, then I noticed that if I drank a coffee after lunch I'd be normal. Skip forward a few months, I notice now that if for some reason I forget to drink my coffee after lunch I wake up the next day with a migraine, each time. I like the ritual of grinding my fresh grains and brewing my cup, but I think I'll move to decaf and a quick nap like I was doing before. The migraine is the proof of an addiction.
- Insanity 2mo ago
  I had to avoid caffeine for some time due to medical issues. I really missed the morning ritual of waking up slowly with a cup of coffee, so I replaced it with decaf coffee which satisfies the ritual part of my morning at least. Definitely a 'YMMV' thing and it wouldn't solve the headaches of course, but it at least makes the morning a bit nicer.
neutronicus 2mo ago
Did you try Excedrin? It has some caffeine in it. It does seem to be especially helpful relative to just Tylenol for me as a migraine sufferer. Specifically for helping to disperse the aura.
- jodacola 2mo ago
  That was the only OTC I avoided, specifically because I was trying to tightly control and titrate down the caffeine dose (granted, measuring beans isn't precise dosing, but I didn't want to blow my work out of the water by throwing some Excedrin into the mix).
- 2mo ago

elmer2 2mo ago

If I consume 1-2 canned coffees a day (which is around 300mg at most), it takes me around 7 days after I quit to stop getting headaches, body aches, or mood issues.

andai 2mo ago

I think the actual threshold is when the withdrawal misery falls below the noise floor of the ambient misery.

randallsquared 2mo ago

I dunno. Caffeine doesn't affect me very much (I mean to say, I can drink regular coffee and go to sleep an hour later without difficulty), though it is somewhat pleasant. I used to regularly detox from caffeine to get that initial rush again, and that would mean 3-4 days of mild headache, and another few days of fuzzy-headedness, and then things were normal again. I'm aware, though, that some people can't have coffee or cola after early afternoon if they want to sleep well, so. Various people have quite different responsiveness to caffeine.

deinonychus 2mo ago

>A 500ml Diet Coke (assuming you don't mean the caffeine free version) also contains about 65 mg of caffeine, which is the same as an espresso. that's for one shot of espresso, and most standard regularly-sized espresso drinks are served with two shots, so that's closer to 100-130 mg of caffeine i've experimented with reducing caffeine and it's overall been a great experiment. but also i take a stimulant for adhd so you could imagine it's easy for me to overdose on caffeine while i already have other uppers in my system. when medicated, a coke zero is basically the perfect amount of caffeine for me if i need a pep without becoming a nervous wreck

ulrikrasmussen 2mo ago

I quit cold turkey and consumed around 1200mg/day, not by drinking energy drinks but coffee, 6 strong cups of filter or more. I made sure to also quit caffeinated sort drinks and switched to herbal tea. The immediate withdrawal symptoms started after around 24h and consisted of headache, cold sweats and brain fog that lasted around three days and seriously impeded my ability to work. However, the psychological craving just... never really got better once it plateaued. I always felt a bit more understimulated than before I stopped, and a bit less motivated. I kept it up for about 1.5 years or so before I decided it wasn't worth it. The first cup of coffee seriously gave me euphoria comparable to a low dose of amphetamine. That was so pleasurable that I tried to keep my consumption to one cup per week, but even with that spacing I felt the tolerance build up again.

hombre_fatal 2mo ago
I limited to 1-2 servings of coffee by switching to an aeropress and a hand cranked grinder. When I brew one big carafe, then I have this compulsion to drink it, like every new task needs a prelude where I get up to refill my mug. But now there’s too much friction to brew the 2nd or 3rd cup since I know I won’t even feel it.
- ulrikrasmussen 2mo ago
  I ended up brewing just one cup of filter in the morning, then drinking one more cup when I arrive at the office. I have a rule to stop before 9am which I found is the latest I can do caffeine without disrupting my sleep. I think I am one of the slow metabolizers.