12 ms·

A year without caffeine (part 2)

231 points by sramsay 14y ago

andrewcooke 14y ago
if you haven't (though i suspect you have) i would suggest giving napping one more try now you're caffeine free. it's seriously good if you can get it to work.
- meaty 14y ago
  This is good but the amount of times I've gone past a bus stop or station recently is insane :)
- doctornemo 14y ago
  Good thought, andrew, but it still doesn't work for me. It's hard to wake up from a nap, and I'm dazed - and tired! - afterwards. I've tried this all times of day, and each time it's like being clobbered by a baseball bat.
  - nedwin 14y ago
    I have had similar issues so mostly a "nap" for me is closing my eyes while laying down in a dark room for 20 minutes at most, often with my hands behind my head. I always feel really refreshed afterwards. YMMV
geoka9 14y ago
Reading this gave me chills - the symptoms of withdrawal described here are not unlike those of a heroin addict gone cold turkey. I can't imagine normal healthy people routinely taking a drug and teaching their children to take one. And yet this happens with coffee all the time. Many are even proud of their addiction ("coffee snobs").
- pretoriusB 14y ago
  >I can't imagine normal healthy people routinely taking a drug and teaching their children to take one. And yet this happens with coffee all the time. Many are even proud of their addiction ("coffee snobs"). It also happens with sugars, salt, corn syrup and tons of other stuff. Lots of things can be a "drug". Coffee, when drank in moderation, is actually absolutely beneficial to one's health.
  - brador 14y ago
    Salt and corn syrup are drugs? Explain please.
    - deleted 14y ago
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    - lambda 14y ago
      Consuming large amounts of them can cause you to have temporary bursts of pleasure, which then cause you to crave them more when they are missing. Have you never had the experience of eating something salty, and realizing that you craved more, to the point where you ate too much salt? Or had some sugar, and then had a sugar crash a little while later, where you got grumpy until you could have something to eat?
      - dalke 14y ago
        That does not make salt or corn syrup a "drug", which is what brador asked about. Your definition is so broad as to make the term "drug" meaningless, as it means that even water is a drug. Yes, after swimming in the ocean waves for an hour, cold freshwater is pure pleasure, and if I haven't had enough water for a while I start to suffer from dehydration. A friend of mine has to eat a small amount every few others, else she becomes irritable. I've sometimes forgotten to eat until the afternoon, with little effect on my personality. Does that mean that food is a drug to her, or that she's more addicted to food than I am? Obviously not. Can you come up with a better definition of "drug" which makes makes sense? That is, one where "water" and "food" are not drugs, but for which salt and corn syrup is a drug?
- desbest 14y ago
  There was a heroin addict who filmed himself going cold turkey for his family, and at the end of the video, was himself on camera, having a brain hemorrhage. Very unlike caffeine.
  - deleted 14y ago
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  - herdrick 14y ago
    Actually, withdrawal from heroin is a trivial matter. http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/3212846/withdrawal-from-heroin-is-a-trivial-matter/ http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/3212846/withdrawal-from-... Unlike alcohol, for example.
    - DanBC 14y ago
      Trivial is perhaps a bit too dismissive. But, yes, drug and alcohol detox units save the beds for alcoholics (who can die during detox) and not for heroin addicts (who tend not to die during detox).
    - bpatrianakos 14y ago
      Actually withdrawal from heroin is hell. You can't die from it but it's very far from trivial.
  - ahelwer 14y ago
    Anecdotal evidence I know, but I was a three cups/day guy for a while then quit cold turkey. After about a week of feeling a bit fuzzy and irritable I was back to normal. Is this atypical or something?
    - beloch 14y ago
      I don't think 3 cups is that much really, except maybe if they're all Starbucks Venti brewed coffees. If you drank more quitting would be harder.
    - randallsquared 14y ago
- deleted 14y ago
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- lambda 14y ago
  I've been addicted to coffee before, quit it for a couple of years, then chose to start drinking it again. It wasn't nearly as bad for me as described here. Sure, it's a week in which your life sucks more than usual, and you have a kind of constant nagging headache. But then it's over, and you're fine. It's really nothing like a heroin addict going cold turkey; though I've never tried heroin, from what I've heard of going cold turkey on heroin, it's far more harrowing. Perhaps the OP is exaggerating slightly, or perhaps he had a stronger reaction than I did. Given other people I've talked to who have quit caffeine, their experience is about like mine; a week or so of nagging headaches and just feeling kind of lousy (like a low-grade flu), and then you're fine. I decided later on that I really liked the regularity of coffee; something hot and stimulating every morning, that I would be able to look forward to. I also like the taste of coffee (once I acquired a taste for it). And caffeine does improve productivity; the additional wakefulness and concentration are helpful. Now, when you get addicted, you lose that benefit; the same amount of caffeine puts you back at your baseline performance. But I can, on occasion, have a second cup of coffee when I need a little boost; it's a lot easier for me to do that when I'm drinking coffee regularly, since if I have caffeine when I'm not drinking it regularly, I find it makes me a little too jittery and anxious. Being used to it helps smooth out its effects. And furthermore, there is research that has shown that caffeine can be neuroprotective. There are several pieces of research linking caffeine intake to reduced incidents of Alzheimers, in both mice: http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/16938404/reload=0;jsessionid=hNYeCLXEBdZ8CRTt9nfc.12 http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/16938404/reload=0;jsession... and humans: http://epicentre.massey.ac.nz/EJC/Stuff/PastPapers/Papers_2007/Maia_2002_caffeine.pdf http://epicentre.massey.ac.nz/EJC/Stuff/PastPapers/Papers_20... Now, that's not to say that caffeine isn't without its downsides. That week of withdrawal symptoms did suck; and if I need to quit again, or don't have access to caffeine for a few days, it sucks all over again (especially if I'm too sick to drink coffee, I now wind up with withdrawal symptoms on top of my existing problem). And for some people coffee is too hard on the stomach, or can cause other problems like anxiety; whether that's the case for you depends on your body. Caffeine can be either helpful or harmful, depending on the person and how you use it. The harm generally is fairly mild. I started drinking it this time around consciously, knowing full well what it's like to quit, and knowing what the advantages are, and I decided that the advantages outweighed the disadvantages, at least for myself.
- pkulak 14y ago
  Hey now, let's not lump all addiction together. I'm a coffee snob (I drink 2 2-oz shots a day), but I'd say that 60% of it is because I love the taste of coffee. The other 40% is the ability to regulate my alertness better and that it's tough to find good decaf coffee. I've quit caffeine several times. Each time I get headaches each morning (which can be controlled fine with aspirin) for about a week. Then I'm done. I've always gone back though after a couple months. I'm also addicted to chapstick. Those are my two addictions and I'm fine with them.
- bpatrianakos 14y ago
  As a recovered heroin addict I can say they're very different from going cold turkey. The symtoms may be the same but the intensity is the huge difference. Also, the mental process is very different too. Whenever people ask me what it's like I always say I'd rather have the pain of childbirth or terminal cancer. Pure hell is what it is. Oddly enough though, it's often times the more "benign" addictions that are hardest to kick. Maybe because there's less pressure to do so or because they're more socially acceptable. Caffeine, like heroin,isn't completely bad in and of itself though. It's the effect of taking too much and becoming dependent on it that are the real problems. Even vitamins can be harmful to your health if you take too much (which is luckily quite hard to do because the body just can't absorb them efficiently, at least in pill form). Drugs aren't bad. Behaviors are bad. What we do with them are bad. I'd have no problem having a cup of coffee with my child (if I had one and the kid was old enough). Now, had I not experienced real, severe addiction myself I don't think I'd feel this way and I can understand if others can't understand why I feel this way.
  - noveltyaccount 14y ago
    "'What’s it like,' Karla asked me once, 'cold turkey off heroin?' I tried to explain it. 'Think about every time in your life that you’ve ever been afraid, really afraid. Someone sneaks up behind you when you think you’re alone, and shouts to frighten you. The gang of thugs closes in around you. You fall from a great height in a dream, or you stand on the very edge of a steep cliff. Someone holds you under water and you feel the breath gone, and you scramble, fight, and claw your way to the surface. You lose control of the car and see the wall rushing into your soundless shout. Then add them all up, all those chest-tightening terrors, and feel them all at once, all at the same time, hour after hour, and day after day. And think of every pain you’ve ever known—the burn with hot oil, the sharp sliver of glass, the broken bone, the gravel rash when you fell on the rough road in winter, the headache and the earache and the toothache. Then add them all up, all those groin-squeezing, stomach-tensing shrieks of pain, and feel them all at once, hour after hour, and day after day. Then think of every anguish you’ve ever known. Remember the death of a loved one. Remember a lover’s rejection. Recall your feelings of failure and shame and unspeakably bitter remorse. And add them all up, all the heart-stabbing griefs and miseries, and feel them all at once, hour after hour, and day after day. That’s cold turkey. Cold turkey off heroin is life with the skin torn away.'" - Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts
- deleted 14y ago
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- redwood 14y ago
  I recommend reading "Shantaram" if you want to get a written sense (not that I can confirm its accuracy) of the total hell that is cold turkey off heroin. Both may be tough and painful to quit, but in "Shantaram" the turn off heroin is described as: imagine everything that is in any way good in your life, your being: warmth between your toes, energy to look up at the sky, hope for tomorrow, etc: now imagine every single shred of that positive-chemical-energy is shredded. What's left is all the horrible pain of being with none of the chemicals that help us get by. Or something like that. Great book, mostly about Bombay in the 80s and heroin only has small focus, but really worth the read!
  - doctornemo 14y ago
    Shantaram is a terrific read.
  - noveltyaccount 14y ago
    Great book. I just posted the full quote above. Cheers.
yawgmoth 14y ago
Sort of an odd question, but have you found that the flora of your mouth changed when you cut out all of the acidity and sugary drinks? Less plaque \ bad breath? How long does it take you to go from first opening your eyes when you awake, to being 'normally awake'? One of my big things is to get out of bed ASAP and get a dose of caffeine right away (powdered, usually). It's a fairly small dose (50mg) but I found that I really despise the first few waking moments enough to keep it up.
- mtrimpe 14y ago
  I quit caffeine cold-turkey about a month ago and when I was still drinking caffeine I was much like you brewing a killer espresso at home or having an energy drink on the way to work. The basic gist seems to be that caffeine allows you to not have a healthy morning ritual. After you quit you'll have to learn to have a decent breakfast and ideally some exercise as well, since otherwise you'll most likely just be a zombie until lunch every day. This post, which includes some self-reflection, is the best on the topic I've come across: http://zentofitness.com/a-story-about-100-caffeine-free-living/ http://zentofitness.com/a-story-about-100-caffeine-free-livi...
  - omegant 14y ago
    Well I don't drink coffee (i can't remember if I've ever finished a cup), and I love to sleep (not an early bird). I can tell you that I have to wake up at Retty early hours (like 5 in the morning or earlier, never the same hour) due to my work, and I never feel sleepy the way coffee drinkers do. Neither I need to exercise. I am also aboe to have heavy breakfasts very early, unlike coffee drinkers who usually can't eat more than a toast. I don't know that many people who doesn't drink coffee, so I don't know if my experience is common or not.
vasco 14y ago
Never having liked the taste of coffee, I rarely drink it. I think the first time I had one was in a school field trip where everyone decided to pull our first all-nighter. Now I only use it when I need to finish something with a deadline and I can't possibly sleep to do it (this would be mitigated with better time management, but alas, this is how it is). Never having made an habit of it though, a single espresso (1 once) gives me the jitters, a slight disturbing feeling in my heart area and keeps me fully pumped up for about ~4 hours if I am falling asleep when I take it. I think this way of using it is much more valuable than "wasting" it by accustoming my body to a morning "pick-me-up" ritual.
- zanny 14y ago
  I used to be addicted to soda as a kid, but quit it in high school. Now 21, I can count the number of caffinated beverages I've drunk on my hands since 16. I get the same reaction to caffeine now. It is really scary to think the norm is to guzzle that stuff like candy daily.
  - jrockway 14y ago
    It's less scary if you realize that different people react differently to caffeine.
- ulyssesgrant 14y ago
  I agree with your utilitarian approach to coffee, I drink it with the same mindset. The only problem is I love the taste, the smell, just the whole experience of a good cup of coffee.
- mirsadm 14y ago
  I love coffee and drink it pretty much every day. The issue I found with coffee drinkers in North America (when I lived there) was that most people would order huge cups of extremely sweetened coffee. I use to call it sugar water with coffee flavor. The general level of quality of coffee was also quite poor. I generally drink my coffee with a little bit of milk and no sugar. It is quite easy to do when you get an amazing shot of espresso (or make it yourself at home with an AeroPress for eg.) I never really feel any kind of disturbing feeling from coffee. I do get that feeling from energy drinks and generally avoid them.
ChuckMcM 14y ago
This is pretty inspiring. It is always amazing to people how much diet and exercise affect their health, which I find amazing that they are amazed. Its fundamental. Of course the ulcers could have been cleared up with the right antibiotics [1] but regardless, Bryan is in a much better place than he was and it doesn't matter which path he took. [1] http://www.cdc.gov/ulcer/consumer.htm http://www.cdc.gov/ulcer/consumer.htm
- Evgeny 14y ago
  It is always amazing to people how much diet and exercise affect their health This is true. It is equally amazing to me how much abuse the human body can take before it actually breaks down. Sometimes I think it would be better if the results of bad dietary or exercise habits revealed themselves faster - I suppose it would be more convincing and easier to undo the damage.
  - gfunk911 14y ago
    This is a very interesting observation. Fail fast....
    - marcosdumay 14y ago
      Not a very good tought when you can only fail once.
    - jacques_chester 14y ago
      Fail fast is a search rule that makes sense for a startup business. The all-up cost (including opportunity cost) to exploit an unprofitable niche is so high relative to the cost of exploration that it's sensible to jump out of weak local optima and keep moving. It is not a universal rule of infinite wisdom. Not all situations are startup businesses.
  - enjo 14y ago
    Even worse, undoing the damage can take a very long time. It's hard to make the change to exercising and eating right when the results (energy and the like) can be months away.
NeilRShah 14y ago
Thanks for the article - that was a good read.
jperras 14y ago
The title seems a tad misleading. The author describes some relatively major lifestyle changes (huge changes in diet, sleeping habits, large increase in aerobic/anaerobic physical activity), of which the elimination of caffeine is but a small part. I used to have some very bad problems with acidity as well, to the point where my doctor thought I might have had acute ulcerative colitis, but what fixed it for me was sleeping more, eating better, and exercising more frequently. I still drink 1-3 cups of coffee a day (every few months I go for a week without coffee, just to make sure I can still function without it), and have had no flare-ups or problems since I changed the rest of my lifestyle habits.
- benjaminwootton 14y ago
  If you don't mind, could you explain what your problems with acidity were? I've had a few issues over the last year or so and I'm only just making the link back to an acidic diet (diet coke, spicy food and chocolate being the main ones!)
  - jperras 14y ago
    When I was in university it got to the point where drinking tap water was difficult; forget orange juice, coffee and pasta sauce. In addition to the physical pain of consuming anything that was remotely acidic, the frequent (6-8/day) bowel movements of sometimes very bloody stool is what finally made me go visit my doctor. Those days I was pulling all-nighters every week or so, sleeping 4-5 hours on nights where I actually went to bed, ate complete crap (typical university student), and hadn't done any sort of exercise other than walking to-and-from class for a solid 12 months. Yes, I was drinking 3-6 cups of coffee and/or energy drinks a day, but it was when I fixed all of the other stuff (mainly sleeping & eating better) that I started to not feel like death every day.
  - jobu 14y ago
    I started having issues with ulcers and acid reflux in college, and for over a decade I took Prilosec (omeprazole) to control it. Last year I started drinking wheatgrass and other veggie shakes (and trying to eat a little healthier in general), and I've been able to stop taking the Prilosec with no major acid issues. It started when my brother forced me to listen to one of his self-help CD's from Tony Robbins about the acid/alkaline diet (http://www.alkalinephdiet.com/anthony-robbins-alkaline-diet/ http://www.alkalinephdiet.com/anthony-robbins-alkaline-diet/). Mostly I view that stuff with a huge amount of skepticism, but my stomach will vouch for this one. As long as I have a veggie shake or a couple salads each day I'm able to safely drink coffee and alcohol, and occasionally eat pizza and other spicy food.
phormula 14y ago
Why wouldn't he just get treated for H. Pylori if he had stomach ulcers
- mynegation 14y ago
  Author is not talking about that, but from what I know testing for H. Pylori and E. Coli is part of any endoscopy. Stomach ulcers may and do appear even if there is no harmful bacteria in a stomach.
- jrockway 14y ago
  This was my thought. The author does mention a combination of drugs that his doctor put him on, which is probably the "triple therapy" of antibiotics and a proton-pump inhibitor. After this part of the story, incidentally, is when he starts getting better. Maybe it was the lack of coffee, but the antibiotics were probably helpful too.
- doctornemo 14y ago
  I should have mentioned this, and will revise the post: yes, I was tested, and no, H. Pylori wasn't the culprit. Which is rare.
jakeonthemove 14y ago
Going off caffeine gives me 2-3 days of indescribable headaches, then it's a pronounced fatigue for another 2 weeks. It ain't pretty. However, if coffee must be eliminated from your diet, I believe you can always use caffeine pills - same energy without any side effects on the stomach.
- jrockway 14y ago
  I think the caffeine itself is linked to the stomach irritation, actually.
- rdtsc 14y ago
  I like the taste of coffee but don't feel like a need or want the caffeine boost. Decaf coffees don't taste the same though either. So once in a while I go for about a week or so of drinking coffee, then quit and pay for it with headaches.
  - jacques_chester 14y ago
    Decaf taste depends a lot on the process. Out of the different kinds I've tried, CO2 distillate is best.
    - alexkus 14y ago
      I switched to decaffeinated coffee a couple of years ago (why?[1]). I was drinking about 250mg worth of caffeine a day before I stopped. I had a week of bad headaches, interrupted sleep, night sweats and crankiness and I was done. It's not nice but it's only a week or so. I avoided taking painkillers to mask the symptoms as some contain caffeine (especially the "Express" versions) to speed up the body's metabolism and get them into the bloodstream quicker; suffering the full symptoms also serves as a reminder of why I was doing it. Decaf still contains some caffeine, so my 5 cups a day are probably still giving me ~25mg or so of caffeine. I drink it because I like the taste of coffee although I'm considering giving it up completely. I'm not a coffee snob and I'm happy with the taste of instant coffee. 25mg is still less caffeine than is contained in a single can of Coke (36mg). Years ago I stopped eating chocolate and drinking soda for both dental and health reasons (I want to avoid the increased risk of Type II Diabetes from large intakes of sugary drinks). I still, once a week maybe, have a non-decaf coffee if decaf isn't available, but I try to limit myself to one that day as I do notice the buzz from having a full strength coffee again. 1. Primary driver was in preparation for some long distance cycling where I'd be getting <10 hours (in total) sleep[2] over 4 days. I needed caffeine to have its old effect of giving me a temporary boost in case I was a few hours from somewhere where I could comfortably get some sleep[3]. Secondary driver was that it's a pernicious drug that I wanted to drop any dependency on. 2. I cope with sleep deprivation very well, indeed I coped a lot better with lack of sleep than a lot of other people on the event. Having children is good training for sleep deprivation (or at least not getting more than 3 hours sleep in a single stretch). 3. My planned naps (one or two hours a day) staved off most of the problems but I did get caught out a couple of times. One was at night and so I loaded up with coffee (many locals along the route set up roadside stalls giving out free coffee and food to riders) to keep myself awake for the three hours to the next control where I slept; the other was during the day when it was nice and sunny so I had an hour long nap on some grass by the road side.
Mz 14y ago
I am medically curious and would like to hear the dehydration story. :-)
rcthompson 14y ago
I personally have never been a caffeine user. I had always assumed that if I used it regularly, my body would eventually counteradjust so that I would require coffee just to bring me back to my original baseline level of alertness. Can anyone comment on whether this is the case?
- Posibyte 14y ago
  I have a purely anecdotal case. Before my Junior year of college, I had drank about four cups (two coffee cups) of coffee every morning since I was twelve. That's about nine years of coffee consumption for me. I stopped one day a year-or-so ago, and besides the two-day migraine, it didn't have any noticeable effect on me thereafter. I still drink coffee every now and then, especially during points where I'm lodging with my parents. I can't tell a difference when I drink coffee or not, other than I think more clearly with coffee. I'm not jittery with or without, or craving coffee abnormally. Again, anecdotal. I have no idea if this is the general case.
  - Dylan16807 14y ago
    That means you adjusted back quickly, but it doesn't really answer the question. Which is: If you have coffee almost every day, does it still provide you an alertness boost?
    - killahpriest 14y ago
      I drink coffee everyday (somedays four or more espressos). I also stop drinking coffe for a few days at least twice every semester, just in case. Even at peak coffee, more coffee still stimulates my mind and makes me infinitely more focused. The only times coffee hasn't worked is when I'm genuinely sleep deprived, although I typically get 6-8 hours of sleep.
      - ElliotMingee 14y ago
        I hesitate to contribute anecdotal evidence but my experience has been very similar. In college, I routinely took 200 mg caffeine pills and I would always stop cold turkey after exams, when I was usually hitting about 300 mg a day. Definitely felt the alertness almost every time I consumed more caffeine and, surprisingly, never had any withdrawal symptoms outside of drowsiness.
Sindrome 14y ago
I think I could do a year without caffeine. But a year without alcohol? IMPOSSIBLE.
- evincarofautumn 14y ago
  It’s interesting how they’re both so important to humanity. We socialise over alcohol all the time, and we’re more productive with a little bit of caffeine each day. Plus it’s generally safer to drink beer and boiled beverages than water.
- peteretep 14y ago
  I just finished my first year without it. First few months were pretty hard, but I got over it. Saved a bunch of money, got more confident in social situations, lost some weight. It was good enough, I've just started my second year...
drivebyacct2 14y ago
This is scary to read. GERD, Barrett's Esophagus and acid reflux is not to be taken lightly. It is life altering. I have a relative who has to take 3 days every year to be sedated and have their throat stretched, another 3 later to have it scoped and this is after the surgery that effectively tied her esophagus in a knot (she can't physically vomit). If you're popping antacids all of the time, be wary.
- evincarofautumn 14y ago
  Not to mention the hazards of excessive antacid use, such as bezoars.
hobbyist 14y ago
Why is green tea not included in the drinks to be avoided. I thought green tea also contains caffeine.
- doctornemo 14y ago
  It does not, according to the various medical people I asked. Alas, I still don't like the taste.
  - Tichy 14y ago
    Hm, weird, can't imagine that is true. So where does the caffeine in black tea come from?
    - krallja 14y ago
      Brewed green tea contains 24-40mg of caffeine per 240mL; brewed black tea contains 14-61mg of caffeine per 240mL. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/AN01211 http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/AN01211
- wsc981 14y ago
  Since both green teas and black teas are made from the same plant -a plant that contains caffeine- it seems likely both tea variants contain caffeine. The withering & oxidation processes might increase the caffeine in black teas though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_processing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_processing If you want a caffeine free tea that tastes well (imo), consider Rooibos tea. It contains no caffeine whatsoever: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooibos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooibos
  - krallja 14y ago
    This seems like the place to point out the difference between a tea and a tisane: rooibos is a tisane, or "herbal tea," because it is not made from a tea plant.
  - rdtsc 14y ago
prtk 14y ago
I guess deleting facebook account will have similar healthy effects on peoples minds.
kysol 14y ago
I've been without coffee for two months now. Having been someone that loved coffee and needed it to "survive" the daily work environment, if I was to have just quit it voluntarily, it wouldn't have happened. For me I was on a business trip where I fell ill prior to the flight home. Lets just say that it wasn't pretty, my girlfriend picked me up from the Airport struggling to stand up. The next week I wasn't able to eat anything surviving on water. Seeing that I consumed an unhealthy amount of coffee daily, and how I hadn't had one in a week, I decided to make the break while I could. I was already weak from what ever I had picked up on that trip, but it was nothing to the next few weeks. I was lucky to only get mild headaches, but the lethargy and the sleepless nights drove me insane. Having read this article, I'm now re-thinking what I eat as well. I too challenge the heat of my curries... and thanks to desk jobs I don't get out that much. Looks like I'll be changing things shortly. One kicker that has happened to my health since this change, an ailment that I had never had prior to the removal of coffee, has caffeine as a way to help reduce the effects. My body... hates me.
chimpinee 14y ago
Coffee withdrawal headaches and tiredness can be reduced by taking caffeine pills (approx 50mg per day for five days).
mleonhard 14y ago
> I get as much work done as I used to. I get more work done without caffeine. When I use caffeine, my attention level spikes and plunges. The increased productivity of the spikes doesn't make up for the dips.
tsahyt 14y ago
2 years ago, I was drinking 12 cups of coffee on an average day. More than that on days when I had night shifts. For some unknown reason I suddenly started reacting weirdly to all the caffeine. Somehow it sparked anxiousness in me. So I decided to stop drinking coffee altogether, since only a single cup would make me feel and behave strangely. At first it was hard to concentrate, I had headaches, it was harder to wake up in the morning, etc. However, after two years I wonder why I was drinking coffee in the first place. I feel calmer and more relaxed nowadays and I'm capable of greater workloads now without feeling too exhausted. Going without caffeine also made me appreciate the power and importance of sleep. In the fast-paced world we're living in, I believe people underestimate that. I honestly know people who think they can achieve more by sleeping less. In my opinion they couldn't be more wrong about it. A good night's sleep is what productive days are built upon.

231 points by sramsay 14y ago

if you haven't (though i suspect you have) i would suggest giving napping one more try now you're caffeine free. it's seriously good if you can get it to work.

meaty 14y ago
This is good but the amount of times I've gone past a bus stop or station recently is insane :)
doctornemo 14y ago
Good thought, andrew, but it still doesn't work for me. It's hard to wake up from a nap, and I'm dazed - and tired! - afterwards. I've tried this all times of day, and each time it's like being clobbered by a baseball bat.
- nedwin 14y ago
  I have had similar issues so mostly a "nap" for me is closing my eyes while laying down in a dark room for 20 minutes at most, often with my hands behind my head. I always feel really refreshed afterwards. YMMV

geoka9 14y ago

Reading this gave me chills - the symptoms of withdrawal described here are not unlike those of a heroin addict gone cold turkey. I can't imagine normal healthy people routinely taking a drug and teaching their children to take one. And yet this happens with coffee all the time. Many are even proud of their addiction ("coffee snobs").

pretoriusB 14y ago
>I can't imagine normal healthy people routinely taking a drug and teaching their children to take one. And yet this happens with coffee all the time. Many are even proud of their addiction ("coffee snobs"). It also happens with sugars, salt, corn syrup and tons of other stuff. Lots of things can be a "drug". Coffee, when drank in moderation, is actually absolutely beneficial to one's health.
- brador 14y ago
  Salt and corn syrup are drugs? Explain please.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - lambda 14y ago
    Consuming large amounts of them can cause you to have temporary bursts of pleasure, which then cause you to crave them more when they are missing. Have you never had the experience of eating something salty, and realizing that you craved more, to the point where you ate too much salt? Or had some sugar, and then had a sugar crash a little while later, where you got grumpy until you could have something to eat?
    - dalke 14y ago
      That does not make salt or corn syrup a "drug", which is what brador asked about. Your definition is so broad as to make the term "drug" meaningless, as it means that even water is a drug. Yes, after swimming in the ocean waves for an hour, cold freshwater is pure pleasure, and if I haven't had enough water for a while I start to suffer from dehydration. A friend of mine has to eat a small amount every few others, else she becomes irritable. I've sometimes forgotten to eat until the afternoon, with little effect on my personality. Does that mean that food is a drug to her, or that she's more addicted to food than I am? Obviously not. Can you come up with a better definition of "drug" which makes makes sense? That is, one where "water" and "food" are not drugs, but for which salt and corn syrup is a drug?
desbest 14y ago
There was a heroin addict who filmed himself going cold turkey for his family, and at the end of the video, was himself on camera, having a brain hemorrhage. Very unlike caffeine.
- deleted 14y ago
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- herdrick 14y ago
  Actually, withdrawal from heroin is a trivial matter. http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/3212846/withdrawal-from-heroin-is-a-trivial-matter/ http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/3212846/withdrawal-from-... Unlike alcohol, for example.
  - DanBC 14y ago
    Trivial is perhaps a bit too dismissive. But, yes, drug and alcohol detox units save the beds for alcoholics (who can die during detox) and not for heroin addicts (who tend not to die during detox).
  - bpatrianakos 14y ago
    Actually withdrawal from heroin is hell. You can't die from it but it's very far from trivial.
- ahelwer 14y ago
  Anecdotal evidence I know, but I was a three cups/day guy for a while then quit cold turkey. After about a week of feeling a bit fuzzy and irritable I was back to normal. Is this atypical or something?
  - beloch 14y ago
    I don't think 3 cups is that much really, except maybe if they're all Starbucks Venti brewed coffees. If you drank more quitting would be harder.
  - randallsquared 14y ago
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lambda 14y ago
I've been addicted to coffee before, quit it for a couple of years, then chose to start drinking it again. It wasn't nearly as bad for me as described here. Sure, it's a week in which your life sucks more than usual, and you have a kind of constant nagging headache. But then it's over, and you're fine. It's really nothing like a heroin addict going cold turkey; though I've never tried heroin, from what I've heard of going cold turkey on heroin, it's far more harrowing. Perhaps the OP is exaggerating slightly, or perhaps he had a stronger reaction than I did. Given other people I've talked to who have quit caffeine, their experience is about like mine; a week or so of nagging headaches and just feeling kind of lousy (like a low-grade flu), and then you're fine. I decided later on that I really liked the regularity of coffee; something hot and stimulating every morning, that I would be able to look forward to. I also like the taste of coffee (once I acquired a taste for it). And caffeine does improve productivity; the additional wakefulness and concentration are helpful. Now, when you get addicted, you lose that benefit; the same amount of caffeine puts you back at your baseline performance. But I can, on occasion, have a second cup of coffee when I need a little boost; it's a lot easier for me to do that when I'm drinking coffee regularly, since if I have caffeine when I'm not drinking it regularly, I find it makes me a little too jittery and anxious. Being used to it helps smooth out its effects. And furthermore, there is research that has shown that caffeine can be neuroprotective. There are several pieces of research linking caffeine intake to reduced incidents of Alzheimers, in both mice: http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/16938404/reload=0;jsessionid=hNYeCLXEBdZ8CRTt9nfc.12 http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/16938404/reload=0;jsession... and humans: http://epicentre.massey.ac.nz/EJC/Stuff/PastPapers/Papers_2007/Maia_2002_caffeine.pdf http://epicentre.massey.ac.nz/EJC/Stuff/PastPapers/Papers_20... Now, that's not to say that caffeine isn't without its downsides. That week of withdrawal symptoms did suck; and if I need to quit again, or don't have access to caffeine for a few days, it sucks all over again (especially if I'm too sick to drink coffee, I now wind up with withdrawal symptoms on top of my existing problem). And for some people coffee is too hard on the stomach, or can cause other problems like anxiety; whether that's the case for you depends on your body. Caffeine can be either helpful or harmful, depending on the person and how you use it. The harm generally is fairly mild. I started drinking it this time around consciously, knowing full well what it's like to quit, and knowing what the advantages are, and I decided that the advantages outweighed the disadvantages, at least for myself.
pkulak 14y ago
Hey now, let's not lump all addiction together. I'm a coffee snob (I drink 2 2-oz shots a day), but I'd say that 60% of it is because I love the taste of coffee. The other 40% is the ability to regulate my alertness better and that it's tough to find good decaf coffee. I've quit caffeine several times. Each time I get headaches each morning (which can be controlled fine with aspirin) for about a week. Then I'm done. I've always gone back though after a couple months. I'm also addicted to chapstick. Those are my two addictions and I'm fine with them.
bpatrianakos 14y ago
As a recovered heroin addict I can say they're very different from going cold turkey. The symtoms may be the same but the intensity is the huge difference. Also, the mental process is very different too. Whenever people ask me what it's like I always say I'd rather have the pain of childbirth or terminal cancer. Pure hell is what it is. Oddly enough though, it's often times the more "benign" addictions that are hardest to kick. Maybe because there's less pressure to do so or because they're more socially acceptable. Caffeine, like heroin,isn't completely bad in and of itself though. It's the effect of taking too much and becoming dependent on it that are the real problems. Even vitamins can be harmful to your health if you take too much (which is luckily quite hard to do because the body just can't absorb them efficiently, at least in pill form). Drugs aren't bad. Behaviors are bad. What we do with them are bad. I'd have no problem having a cup of coffee with my child (if I had one and the kid was old enough). Now, had I not experienced real, severe addiction myself I don't think I'd feel this way and I can understand if others can't understand why I feel this way.
- noveltyaccount 14y ago
  "'What’s it like,' Karla asked me once, 'cold turkey off heroin?' I tried to explain it. 'Think about every time in your life that you’ve ever been afraid, really afraid. Someone sneaks up behind you when you think you’re alone, and shouts to frighten you. The gang of thugs closes in around you. You fall from a great height in a dream, or you stand on the very edge of a steep cliff. Someone holds you under water and you feel the breath gone, and you scramble, fight, and claw your way to the surface. You lose control of the car and see the wall rushing into your soundless shout. Then add them all up, all those chest-tightening terrors, and feel them all at once, all at the same time, hour after hour, and day after day. And think of every pain you’ve ever known—the burn with hot oil, the sharp sliver of glass, the broken bone, the gravel rash when you fell on the rough road in winter, the headache and the earache and the toothache. Then add them all up, all those groin-squeezing, stomach-tensing shrieks of pain, and feel them all at once, hour after hour, and day after day. Then think of every anguish you’ve ever known. Remember the death of a loved one. Remember a lover’s rejection. Recall your feelings of failure and shame and unspeakably bitter remorse. And add them all up, all the heart-stabbing griefs and miseries, and feel them all at once, hour after hour, and day after day. That’s cold turkey. Cold turkey off heroin is life with the skin torn away.'" - Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts
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redwood 14y ago
I recommend reading "Shantaram" if you want to get a written sense (not that I can confirm its accuracy) of the total hell that is cold turkey off heroin. Both may be tough and painful to quit, but in "Shantaram" the turn off heroin is described as: imagine everything that is in any way good in your life, your being: warmth between your toes, energy to look up at the sky, hope for tomorrow, etc: now imagine every single shred of that positive-chemical-energy is shredded. What's left is all the horrible pain of being with none of the chemicals that help us get by. Or something like that. Great book, mostly about Bombay in the 80s and heroin only has small focus, but really worth the read!
- doctornemo 14y ago
  Shantaram is a terrific read.
- noveltyaccount 14y ago
  Great book. I just posted the full quote above. Cheers.

yawgmoth 14y ago

Sort of an odd question, but have you found that the flora of your mouth changed when you cut out all of the acidity and sugary drinks? Less plaque \ bad breath? How long does it take you to go from first opening your eyes when you awake, to being 'normally awake'? One of my big things is to get out of bed ASAP and get a dose of caffeine right away (powdered, usually). It's a fairly small dose (50mg) but I found that I really despise the first few waking moments enough to keep it up.

mtrimpe 14y ago
I quit caffeine cold-turkey about a month ago and when I was still drinking caffeine I was much like you brewing a killer espresso at home or having an energy drink on the way to work. The basic gist seems to be that caffeine allows you to not have a healthy morning ritual. After you quit you'll have to learn to have a decent breakfast and ideally some exercise as well, since otherwise you'll most likely just be a zombie until lunch every day. This post, which includes some self-reflection, is the best on the topic I've come across: http://zentofitness.com/a-story-about-100-caffeine-free-living/ http://zentofitness.com/a-story-about-100-caffeine-free-livi...
- omegant 14y ago
  Well I don't drink coffee (i can't remember if I've ever finished a cup), and I love to sleep (not an early bird). I can tell you that I have to wake up at Retty early hours (like 5 in the morning or earlier, never the same hour) due to my work, and I never feel sleepy the way coffee drinkers do. Neither I need to exercise. I am also aboe to have heavy breakfasts very early, unlike coffee drinkers who usually can't eat more than a toast. I don't know that many people who doesn't drink coffee, so I don't know if my experience is common or not.

vasco 14y ago

Never having liked the taste of coffee, I rarely drink it. I think the first time I had one was in a school field trip where everyone decided to pull our first all-nighter. Now I only use it when I need to finish something with a deadline and I can't possibly sleep to do it (this would be mitigated with better time management, but alas, this is how it is). Never having made an habit of it though, a single espresso (1 once) gives me the jitters, a slight disturbing feeling in my heart area and keeps me fully pumped up for about ~4 hours if I am falling asleep when I take it. I think this way of using it is much more valuable than "wasting" it by accustoming my body to a morning "pick-me-up" ritual.

zanny 14y ago
I used to be addicted to soda as a kid, but quit it in high school. Now 21, I can count the number of caffinated beverages I've drunk on my hands since 16. I get the same reaction to caffeine now. It is really scary to think the norm is to guzzle that stuff like candy daily.
- jrockway 14y ago
  It's less scary if you realize that different people react differently to caffeine.
ulyssesgrant 14y ago
I agree with your utilitarian approach to coffee, I drink it with the same mindset. The only problem is I love the taste, the smell, just the whole experience of a good cup of coffee.
mirsadm 14y ago
I love coffee and drink it pretty much every day. The issue I found with coffee drinkers in North America (when I lived there) was that most people would order huge cups of extremely sweetened coffee. I use to call it sugar water with coffee flavor. The general level of quality of coffee was also quite poor. I generally drink my coffee with a little bit of milk and no sugar. It is quite easy to do when you get an amazing shot of espresso (or make it yourself at home with an AeroPress for eg.) I never really feel any kind of disturbing feeling from coffee. I do get that feeling from energy drinks and generally avoid them.

ChuckMcM 14y ago

This is pretty inspiring. It is always amazing to people how much diet and exercise affect their health, which I find amazing that they are amazed. Its fundamental. Of course the ulcers could have been cleared up with the right antibiotics [1] but regardless, Bryan is in a much better place than he was and it doesn't matter which path he took. [1] http://www.cdc.gov/ulcer/consumer.htm http://www.cdc.gov/ulcer/consumer.htm

Evgeny 14y ago
It is always amazing to people how much diet and exercise affect their health This is true. It is equally amazing to me how much abuse the human body can take before it actually breaks down. Sometimes I think it would be better if the results of bad dietary or exercise habits revealed themselves faster - I suppose it would be more convincing and easier to undo the damage.
- gfunk911 14y ago
  This is a very interesting observation. Fail fast....
  - marcosdumay 14y ago
    Not a very good tought when you can only fail once.
  - jacques_chester 14y ago
    Fail fast is a search rule that makes sense for a startup business. The all-up cost (including opportunity cost) to exploit an unprofitable niche is so high relative to the cost of exploration that it's sensible to jump out of weak local optima and keep moving. It is not a universal rule of infinite wisdom. Not all situations are startup businesses.
- enjo 14y ago
  Even worse, undoing the damage can take a very long time. It's hard to make the change to exercising and eating right when the results (energy and the like) can be months away.

NeilRShah 14y ago

Thanks for the article - that was a good read.

jperras 14y ago

The title seems a tad misleading. The author describes some relatively major lifestyle changes (huge changes in diet, sleeping habits, large increase in aerobic/anaerobic physical activity), of which the elimination of caffeine is but a small part. I used to have some very bad problems with acidity as well, to the point where my doctor thought I might have had acute ulcerative colitis, but what fixed it for me was sleeping more, eating better, and exercising more frequently. I still drink 1-3 cups of coffee a day (every few months I go for a week without coffee, just to make sure I can still function without it), and have had no flare-ups or problems since I changed the rest of my lifestyle habits.

benjaminwootton 14y ago
If you don't mind, could you explain what your problems with acidity were? I've had a few issues over the last year or so and I'm only just making the link back to an acidic diet (diet coke, spicy food and chocolate being the main ones!)
- jperras 14y ago
  When I was in university it got to the point where drinking tap water was difficult; forget orange juice, coffee and pasta sauce. In addition to the physical pain of consuming anything that was remotely acidic, the frequent (6-8/day) bowel movements of sometimes very bloody stool is what finally made me go visit my doctor. Those days I was pulling all-nighters every week or so, sleeping 4-5 hours on nights where I actually went to bed, ate complete crap (typical university student), and hadn't done any sort of exercise other than walking to-and-from class for a solid 12 months. Yes, I was drinking 3-6 cups of coffee and/or energy drinks a day, but it was when I fixed all of the other stuff (mainly sleeping & eating better) that I started to not feel like death every day.
- jobu 14y ago
  I started having issues with ulcers and acid reflux in college, and for over a decade I took Prilosec (omeprazole) to control it. Last year I started drinking wheatgrass and other veggie shakes (and trying to eat a little healthier in general), and I've been able to stop taking the Prilosec with no major acid issues. It started when my brother forced me to listen to one of his self-help CD's from Tony Robbins about the acid/alkaline diet (http://www.alkalinephdiet.com/anthony-robbins-alkaline-diet/ http://www.alkalinephdiet.com/anthony-robbins-alkaline-diet/). Mostly I view that stuff with a huge amount of skepticism, but my stomach will vouch for this one. As long as I have a veggie shake or a couple salads each day I'm able to safely drink coffee and alcohol, and occasionally eat pizza and other spicy food.

phormula 14y ago

Why wouldn't he just get treated for H. Pylori if he had stomach ulcers

mynegation 14y ago
Author is not talking about that, but from what I know testing for H. Pylori and E. Coli is part of any endoscopy. Stomach ulcers may and do appear even if there is no harmful bacteria in a stomach.
jrockway 14y ago
This was my thought. The author does mention a combination of drugs that his doctor put him on, which is probably the "triple therapy" of antibiotics and a proton-pump inhibitor. After this part of the story, incidentally, is when he starts getting better. Maybe it was the lack of coffee, but the antibiotics were probably helpful too.
doctornemo 14y ago
I should have mentioned this, and will revise the post: yes, I was tested, and no, H. Pylori wasn't the culprit. Which is rare.

jakeonthemove 14y ago

Going off caffeine gives me 2-3 days of indescribable headaches, then it's a pronounced fatigue for another 2 weeks. It ain't pretty. However, if coffee must be eliminated from your diet, I believe you can always use caffeine pills - same energy without any side effects on the stomach.

jrockway 14y ago
I think the caffeine itself is linked to the stomach irritation, actually.
rdtsc 14y ago
I like the taste of coffee but don't feel like a need or want the caffeine boost. Decaf coffees don't taste the same though either. So once in a while I go for about a week or so of drinking coffee, then quit and pay for it with headaches.
- jacques_chester 14y ago
  Decaf taste depends a lot on the process. Out of the different kinds I've tried, CO2 distillate is best.
  - alexkus 14y ago
    I switched to decaffeinated coffee a couple of years ago (why?[1]). I was drinking about 250mg worth of caffeine a day before I stopped. I had a week of bad headaches, interrupted sleep, night sweats and crankiness and I was done. It's not nice but it's only a week or so. I avoided taking painkillers to mask the symptoms as some contain caffeine (especially the "Express" versions) to speed up the body's metabolism and get them into the bloodstream quicker; suffering the full symptoms also serves as a reminder of why I was doing it. Decaf still contains some caffeine, so my 5 cups a day are probably still giving me ~25mg or so of caffeine. I drink it because I like the taste of coffee although I'm considering giving it up completely. I'm not a coffee snob and I'm happy with the taste of instant coffee. 25mg is still less caffeine than is contained in a single can of Coke (36mg). Years ago I stopped eating chocolate and drinking soda for both dental and health reasons (I want to avoid the increased risk of Type II Diabetes from large intakes of sugary drinks). I still, once a week maybe, have a non-decaf coffee if decaf isn't available, but I try to limit myself to one that day as I do notice the buzz from having a full strength coffee again. 1. Primary driver was in preparation for some long distance cycling where I'd be getting <10 hours (in total) sleep[2] over 4 days. I needed caffeine to have its old effect of giving me a temporary boost in case I was a few hours from somewhere where I could comfortably get some sleep[3]. Secondary driver was that it's a pernicious drug that I wanted to drop any dependency on. 2. I cope with sleep deprivation very well, indeed I coped a lot better with lack of sleep than a lot of other people on the event. Having children is good training for sleep deprivation (or at least not getting more than 3 hours sleep in a single stretch). 3. My planned naps (one or two hours a day) staved off most of the problems but I did get caught out a couple of times. One was at night and so I loaded up with coffee (many locals along the route set up roadside stalls giving out free coffee and food to riders) to keep myself awake for the three hours to the next control where I slept; the other was during the day when it was nice and sunny so I had an hour long nap on some grass by the road side.

Mz 14y ago

I am medically curious and would like to hear the dehydration story. :-)

rcthompson 14y ago

I personally have never been a caffeine user. I had always assumed that if I used it regularly, my body would eventually counteradjust so that I would require coffee just to bring me back to my original baseline level of alertness. Can anyone comment on whether this is the case?

Posibyte 14y ago
I have a purely anecdotal case. Before my Junior year of college, I had drank about four cups (two coffee cups) of coffee every morning since I was twelve. That's about nine years of coffee consumption for me. I stopped one day a year-or-so ago, and besides the two-day migraine, it didn't have any noticeable effect on me thereafter. I still drink coffee every now and then, especially during points where I'm lodging with my parents. I can't tell a difference when I drink coffee or not, other than I think more clearly with coffee. I'm not jittery with or without, or craving coffee abnormally. Again, anecdotal. I have no idea if this is the general case.
- Dylan16807 14y ago
  That means you adjusted back quickly, but it doesn't really answer the question. Which is: If you have coffee almost every day, does it still provide you an alertness boost?
  - killahpriest 14y ago
    I drink coffee everyday (somedays four or more espressos). I also stop drinking coffe for a few days at least twice every semester, just in case. Even at peak coffee, more coffee still stimulates my mind and makes me infinitely more focused. The only times coffee hasn't worked is when I'm genuinely sleep deprived, although I typically get 6-8 hours of sleep.
    - ElliotMingee 14y ago
      I hesitate to contribute anecdotal evidence but my experience has been very similar. In college, I routinely took 200 mg caffeine pills and I would always stop cold turkey after exams, when I was usually hitting about 300 mg a day. Definitely felt the alertness almost every time I consumed more caffeine and, surprisingly, never had any withdrawal symptoms outside of drowsiness.

Sindrome 14y ago

I think I could do a year without caffeine. But a year without alcohol? IMPOSSIBLE.

evincarofautumn 14y ago
It’s interesting how they’re both so important to humanity. We socialise over alcohol all the time, and we’re more productive with a little bit of caffeine each day. Plus it’s generally safer to drink beer and boiled beverages than water.
peteretep 14y ago
I just finished my first year without it. First few months were pretty hard, but I got over it. Saved a bunch of money, got more confident in social situations, lost some weight. It was good enough, I've just started my second year...

drivebyacct2 14y ago

This is scary to read. GERD, Barrett's Esophagus and acid reflux is not to be taken lightly. It is life altering. I have a relative who has to take 3 days every year to be sedated and have their throat stretched, another 3 later to have it scoped and this is after the surgery that effectively tied her esophagus in a knot (she can't physically vomit). If you're popping antacids all of the time, be wary.

evincarofautumn 14y ago
Not to mention the hazards of excessive antacid use, such as bezoars.

hobbyist 14y ago

Why is green tea not included in the drinks to be avoided. I thought green tea also contains caffeine.

doctornemo 14y ago
It does not, according to the various medical people I asked. Alas, I still don't like the taste.
- Tichy 14y ago
  Hm, weird, can't imagine that is true. So where does the caffeine in black tea come from?
  - krallja 14y ago
    Brewed green tea contains 24-40mg of caffeine per 240mL; brewed black tea contains 14-61mg of caffeine per 240mL. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/AN01211 http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/AN01211
wsc981 14y ago
Since both green teas and black teas are made from the same plant -a plant that contains caffeine- it seems likely both tea variants contain caffeine. The withering & oxidation processes might increase the caffeine in black teas though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_processing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_processing If you want a caffeine free tea that tastes well (imo), consider Rooibos tea. It contains no caffeine whatsoever: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooibos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooibos
- krallja 14y ago
  This seems like the place to point out the difference between a tea and a tisane: rooibos is a tisane, or "herbal tea," because it is not made from a tea plant.
- rdtsc 14y ago

prtk 14y ago

I guess deleting facebook account will have similar healthy effects on peoples minds.

kysol 14y ago

I've been without coffee for two months now. Having been someone that loved coffee and needed it to "survive" the daily work environment, if I was to have just quit it voluntarily, it wouldn't have happened. For me I was on a business trip where I fell ill prior to the flight home. Lets just say that it wasn't pretty, my girlfriend picked me up from the Airport struggling to stand up. The next week I wasn't able to eat anything surviving on water. Seeing that I consumed an unhealthy amount of coffee daily, and how I hadn't had one in a week, I decided to make the break while I could. I was already weak from what ever I had picked up on that trip, but it was nothing to the next few weeks. I was lucky to only get mild headaches, but the lethargy and the sleepless nights drove me insane. Having read this article, I'm now re-thinking what I eat as well. I too challenge the heat of my curries... and thanks to desk jobs I don't get out that much. Looks like I'll be changing things shortly. One kicker that has happened to my health since this change, an ailment that I had never had prior to the removal of coffee, has caffeine as a way to help reduce the effects. My body... hates me.

chimpinee 14y ago

Coffee withdrawal headaches and tiredness can be reduced by taking caffeine pills (approx 50mg per day for five days).

mleonhard 14y ago

> I get as much work done as I used to. I get more work done without caffeine. When I use caffeine, my attention level spikes and plunges. The increased productivity of the spikes doesn't make up for the dips.

tsahyt 14y ago

2 years ago, I was drinking 12 cups of coffee on an average day. More than that on days when I had night shifts. For some unknown reason I suddenly started reacting weirdly to all the caffeine. Somehow it sparked anxiousness in me. So I decided to stop drinking coffee altogether, since only a single cup would make me feel and behave strangely. At first it was hard to concentrate, I had headaches, it was harder to wake up in the morning, etc. However, after two years I wonder why I was drinking coffee in the first place. I feel calmer and more relaxed nowadays and I'm capable of greater workloads now without feeling too exhausted. Going without caffeine also made me appreciate the power and importance of sleep. In the fast-paced world we're living in, I believe people underestimate that. I honestly know people who think they can achieve more by sleeping less. In my opinion they couldn't be more wrong about it. A good night's sleep is what productive days are built upon.