Quitting coffee and the ensuing effects

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i hate coffee. it tastes like real poo and only grown ups drink it.
it makes you stink inside also

― splatter, Thursday, 22 April 2004 22:46 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

I am trying to go at least a week without caffeine as part of a detox - i've had kinds of digestive problems recently so thought i'd give healthy living a go. it's now 4pm on day one of caffeine-free living and result so far is a filthy headache and chonic latte cravings. anyone offer some hope that i'll feel better soon, or should i just go to starbucks right now and be done with it?

― Mog, Thursday, 10 June 2004 14:16 (twenty-two years ago)

headache will last a day (maybe a day and a half if you drank alot). the hard part will be learning to wake up without caffeine. after a week you will feel awesome.

― dyson (dyson), Thursday, 10 June 2004 14:24 (twenty-two years ago)

ten months pass...

i quit caffeine about 2 years ago. before that i was a pretty serious about things like coffee. withdrawal was pure hell -- i had cold sweats, headaches, shook a lot, etc. took me three weeks for it to get out of my system properly. and to think it was a new years resolution that i had pretty much expected to give up after a week!

but here i am and im feeling fine. well, right now im not. starbucks gave me a regular latte and i feel like im going to die.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

i had like 3 oz. of coffee yesterday morning and i was wired all day! this is what happens when you give up caffeine. seriously, it was the first bit of coffee i've had in several months. i was just happy i was able to fall asleep last night.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

i had one of those "venti" sized things. i dont think my stomach has felt this bad since i had food poisioning.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Coffee is the Man's drug, the only drug supplied to the workforce free by EVERY EMPLOYER. It is a tool to make you "more productive". It made me irritable and hurt my stomach. Fuck that shit. I quit shortly after college (where I'd had a coffee-jerk job and drank *way* too much espresso). I ddin't have any trouble giving it up, I guess I may have used chai as a crutch occasionally while in the "quitting" process...I'll still drink it every now and then for specific purposes (long car trips, late night mixing sessions, etc.) but as a daily stimulant I don't miss it at all. I think I am sort of an aberration in this respect tho, most people look at me like I'm totally insane when I tell them I regularly hop out of bed, ready to go, every morning (work day or no) at 7:30am. My body just does that...

― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 25 April 2005 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I try not to drink the stuff for more than 2 days in a row and no more than 4 times a week. I find that keeps away all the weird side effects I suffered from when I used to be a regular coffee drinker.

xpost - I can't handle the venti caliber coffees either. One of those and I'm ready to jump out of my skin!

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

My hypersensitivity to caffeine prevents me from overindulging. 2 small cups a day is all I can handle, and that seems to prevent it from getting out of hand.

― Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:51 (twenty-one years ago)

* looks at Shakey Mo as if he's totally insane *
* falls asleep *

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 25 April 2005 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm thinking about doing this, at least for a while. Anyone kicked the bean here? What effects/strategies/advice have you?

-- webcrack (signon2...), March 23rd, 2004.

I quit for four or five months at one point. I wouldn't say it changed my life, but there are some minor benefits -- slightly improved digestion and maybe sleep, and generally a more 'steady' mood with fewer ups and downs. The best way to quit is to start mixing your regular with decaf and gradually reduce the proportion. That way you don't have to break the psychological addiction and the physical one at the same time.

Quitting honestly wasn't that hard once I decided to do it. The problem was more the discipline of keeping it up, especially when I took on a demanding internship. Once you decide to have "just one cup" it's pretty much over.

― Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 25 April 2005 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

the thing that helped me get through it was water with lemon and lots of aspirin.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 02:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Weirdly, I've just gone off caffiene without trying. I used to have to have a coffee every morning - now I can't face it, I'd rather have tea (its more thirst quenching).

I'm also finding I've developed a sensitivity to guarana as well - it sometimes gives me this really bad attack of what feels like hypoglycemia, I get all weak, shaky, and faint.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 02:19 (twenty-one years ago)

To be fair, there were a couple of painful days, but really nothing unbearable.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 02:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm just not right. I can drink an XL starbucks coffee and still be sleepy.

― Kim (Kim), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 02:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Give me back my peanut.

― Eyeball Kix, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 03:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I think thats just because its Starbucks coffee, Kim ;) ;)

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 03:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I quit about a month ago, and I feel much better.

― You Work For Irene (dymaxia), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 11:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Coffee is the Man's drug, the only drug supplied to the workforce free by EVERY EMPLOYER.

Supplied FREE? It certainly isn't free where I work - it's 20p a cup from the vending machine, or bring your own in.

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 18:05 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah wasn't free when I was teaching either.

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

the thing that helped me get through it was water with lemon and lots of aspirin.

a lot of painkillers have caffeine in them! (dunno if you were using 'asprin' as a general term for 'painkiller' or what but thought it would be worth mentioning.)

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

anyway I'm off it now too, I only had a cup in the morning anyway so it wasn't like I was mainlining it. I kept some cold coffee in the fridge for a week or two and put a shot in my milk every morning, and then I stopped doing that. I think I've had a half-cup of tea maybe twice since, I'm not too concerned about it.

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I have a 20 oz. cup in the morning when I get into work - I don't know if I'm numb to it, but it doesn't really do much for me (except warm my tum-tum). And that's my coffee intake for the day. On weekends, I don't have any (except on rare occasions, after a meal, w/ desert). And I have the occasional jumbo-sized sody pop. And a soda @ work. I probably get most of my caffeine thru soda.

I just had a 20 oz. Mountain Dew, and it felt like I had gone swimming in it after I finished. Very strange. I think fountain sodas are kinder to me than bottled sodas (possibly a carbonation issue).

I USED to have wicked shakes after drinking caffeine, tho. And occasional headaches. I only get headaches now after drinking Gatorade, which I don't do anymore, because of the headaches.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Coffee is the Man's drug, the only drug supplied to the workforce free by EVERY EMPLOYER.

I knew the printing company I worked for was in trouble when the coffee well ran dry. (Five months later, Chapter 7; one year later, Chapter 13.)

Remember in Leaving Las Vegas how Cage's character had to drink a certain amount to keep from getting the shakes? That's me and coffee. I should probably quit, but I love it so much, especially since my wife bought me a grind-and-brew coffee maker and I can go straight from beans to brew.

― Curious George (1/6 Scale Model) (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 18:20 (twenty-one years ago)

huh - well, me personally I've never worked anywhere, office, retail, or otherwise, that didn't have a coffee pot in the breakroom or something. Sure the coffee might've been low quality, but it was still there to drink for all who wanted it.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 18:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I always had as well until I became a teacher. Fifty cents for a small styrofoam cup from the cafeteria. Just an example of what a shitty work environment schools are. . .

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 18:31 (twenty-one years ago)

It was more upsetting that the free coffee was gone than the fact that we couldn't afford scotch tape or pens anymore.

― Curious George (1/6 Scale Model) (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 18:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I had to buy my own staples, paper clips, copy paper, pencils for the kids to use on state standarized tests. GAH! I must stop that depressing past is behind me. . .

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I have recently rediscovered that coffee in large amounts (I mean like 6-8 cups successively) will grant me temporary reprieve from a depressed mood. But now I've used this trick twice in the last four days and I'm almost to the point where if I don't stop this now I won't have the power in the future because I'll be scared of the comedown and ensuing depression.

Strung the fuck out, on coffee!

― Aaron A., Monday, 2 May 2005 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

a lot of painkillers have caffeine in them! (dunno if you were using 'asprin' as a general term for 'painkiller' or what but thought it would be worth mentioning.)

yes, it was a general term for painkiller.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 2 May 2005 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I quit too - about a month ago. It was so bad for my nerves. I really do feel much, much better.

― you work for kay (dymaxia), Monday, 2 May 2005 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

If I have coffee for two days and no coffee the next day, that night I'm edgy.

Last week this happened and I thought something specific was pissing me off but didn't know what it was. Turned out to be nothing, just the vague edginess caused by caffeine withdrawal.

― Autumn Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I quit nearly a year ago now and feel great for it. Plus I save a load of money (and calories) not getting large Pret lattes every morning. the downside is that I always forget to take fruit teabags with me when I go round friends' houses or out of London - trying to find a café with chamomile or peppermint tea in the deepest countryside can sometimes be problematic...

― Mog, Tuesday, 3 May 2005 11:41 (twenty-one years ago)

For the last couple years I've been subsisting on one cup in the AM and otherwise no caffeine in any form (tea coke medicine etc). Doctor's orders and no joke, I get a BAD reaction if I go one sip over the limit. Suppose I feel better physically now, but I miss it like a long lost love. Even with the one cup allowance I experienced withdrawl headaches for awhile. Guess it really is a drug!

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 12:03 (twenty-one years ago)

My sister quit coffee after having been a serious caffeine addict for many many years. She then discovered that the slightly nervous hysterical personality trait she'd always had, well, disappeared. Haha.

― Hanna (Hanna), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 12:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I have this gigantic coffee cup, that holds like 3 coffee cups. I drink two of these every morning. I can't see myself without caffeine right now. In fact, I don't think I could see at all.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 13:03 (twenty-one years ago)

i am on my third cup right now. i'll be dead by 40, but at least i'll be alert when the end comes.

― strng hlkngtn, Tuesday, 3 May 2005 13:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I quit drinking coffee for a few months a couple of years back (I only have 1 or 2 cups a day anyway) and honestly didn't notice any difference in well-being. I never get any of these positive effects. Like when you quit smoking you're supposed to suddenly taste everything better and feel amazing all the time. I quit smoking and everything was exactly the same as before, except I coughed slightly less often.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 13:13 (twenty-one years ago)

i was actually supposed to give it up (along with spicy food, cigarettes, beer, a reason for living, all joy, general sanity) three years ago when my lining of my throat was damaged after a particularly awful illness. fat chance, doc.

― strng hlkngtn, Tuesday, 3 May 2005 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Essentially you were being asked to give up fun? Sucks.

Too much (i.e. more than two cups a day) coffee makes me jittery, grumpy and shouty. Tea is just safer, given that I'm a witch at the best of times.

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

She then discovered that the slightly nervous hysterical personality trait she'd always had, well, disappeared. Haha.

This is now my concern. After saying several times, on this forum and elsewhere, that I would rather go blind than give up coffee, I am starting to become concerned about the possible psychological side effects. I have a reasonably large coffee intake (5 or 6 cups a day), and lately I have not been able to so much as lose my credit card without going into a mild hysterical fit. I also have a lot of trouble concentrating. I've started to wonder just how things would be without coffee. Will there be changes? How is it done?

― Yakuza Ghost Six (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Smoke some weed, it'll help. If not, wel, it's fun anyway.

― nathalie's baby (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 18:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I did! On Saturday! It was great!

― Yakuza Ghost Six (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 7 June 2005 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

ohhhhhhh my god, the headaches.

― Yakuza Ghost Six (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 20:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Can anyone recommend a decent hot drink substitute, something low calorie and tasty (and NOT tea)?

― Yakuza Ghost Six (nordicskilla), Thursday, 9 June 2005 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

(still going, obviously)

― Yakuza Ghost Six (nordicskilla), Thursday, 9 June 2005 17:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Have you tried Japanese tea? (It has traces of caffeine though.)

― nathalie's post modern sleaze fest (stevie nixed), Thursday, 9 June 2005 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

I HAVE TO GIVE UP COFFEE AND ALL FORMS OF CAFFEINE.

Also, my almost daily cocktail of Excederin Migraine needs to stop ASAP (I apparently get rebound headaches).

My doctor told me I could get such a bad headache that it might send me to the EMERGENCY ROOM.

YAY.

I AM NOW BORING (I can't really drink booze either).

― molly mummenschanz, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 23:27 (eighteen years ago)

TIME FOR A NEW BRAIN

― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 23:28 (eighteen years ago)

excedrin migraine has lots of caffeine! i hope he gave you some other headache meds at least.

― bell_labs, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 23:29 (eighteen years ago)

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god i fucking love roiboos

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 13 June 2023 08:31 (three years ago)

stand by for a "quitting roiboos and the ensuing effects" thread

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 13 June 2023 08:31 (three years ago)

🤖

― mark s, Tuesday, 13 June 2023 08:53 (three years ago)

Did the thing of drinking restaurant coffee which revealed that I was in a worse mood than I thought :(

― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 18 June 2023 18:43 (three years ago)

One brand that for whatever reason does not give me that weird erratic takeoff and crash on the runway feeling is Lavazza.

― Holly Godarkbloom (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 22 June 2023 17:45 (two years ago)

Perhaps I spoke too soon

― Johnny Bit Rot (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 23 June 2023 01:31 (two years ago)

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