I just wanted to say it really hit me today. You have some of these days that the coffee hits just right and you are feeling great. But then it wears off, and you feel anxious and crap. Its mainly the feeling you get after the effects of coffee are gone..
Hi all, just had a couple of questions for people who have had more experience with quitting. I've had lower back pain for several years now, at first I thought this was due to long hours of sitting in front of a screen ( I work from home as a game dev,) but after recently quitting coffee over the last couple of weeks, the pain is close to gone. I've read other accounts of people's inflammation going away completely when quitting caffeine, is this fairly normal?
Also curious to know, has anyone here experienced weight loss when quitting caffeine? I exercise and have trained a fair bit but always had trouble dropping visceral body fat and wondered if caffeine could be playing a part, I.e. Elevated cortisol, negatively effecting sleep, does this encourage the body to hold onto fat? Would be great to hear your thoughts and own experiences, thanks in advance
Hey all! I've gone from a three cup per day every morning...for many many years to zero and have had weird palpitations where I can feel my heart beating hard...not fast...just pounding.
I went to the ER and got everything checked I was so scared...but I got the all clear...but it's still pounding...
Anyone had this before? 😫
Where's everyone currently stand with caffeine ? Is it your most addicted drug U use ? Do U hate it ? Are U moderating . Miraculously iv maintained two teaspoon of instant coffee a day for months and zero cocoa. I don't think I can take it anymore .I really hate it , the high is overrated and short lived. I'm setting my quit timer now and I really want to be in the zero ,% caffeine club as I call it . Anyways 🙏
So I stopped any and all caffeine 3 days ago. I used to be having 4-5 coffees and an energy drink most days. For the last three days I've felt very irritable, genuinely depressed, slightly randomly emotional and mood swingy, constantly sleepy, weak and lethargic, and spaced out and mentally very slow.
I'm slightly concerned because this seems like a lot of change. Is this all pretty normal for quitting caffeine completely or is there likely something underlying going on? Also, how long am I going to feel like this?
I originally quit to reduce OCD/anxiety symptoms, and try and live more in the 'real world'. I've been feeling spaced out and derealised for about 3 years now, always feeling like I'm in a dream or watching life on TV and am trying to see if caffeine is why. Will this have any impact on that? And how long will it take?
I was doing fine quiting coffee for a month or two, but ended up back on the bandwagon.
Anyone have any store-brought alternatives to drinking coffee? An easy substitute?
Everyone recommends tea, but I want something more ready-to-drink. I was thinking buying canned seltzer water.
When I go to Dunkin, I substitute my coffees for a Refresher with oatmilk. They still have caffeine but at least help me quit the habit of craving coffee.
Everytime I drink coffee I get angry. I quit for 2 weeks, then each week I started having it once a week. Then once every 5 days. And now once every 4 days. I feel myself slowly going back to possibly drinking it daily. Im in control of it but I feel like I need it for regulation. I get a feeling of happiness when I first drink it, and then I get stressed and angry.
I’ve spent this year stopping all my bad habits. I’m 5 months free of nicotine! That was a battle. When I quit nicotine, i ended up increasing my caffeine intake almost without noticing.
I added it up one day and for a few months i closed in on 2000mg a day of caffeine via coffee or energy drinks.
About 12 days ago i dropped to less than 400mg a day. I have about 200mg in the morning and a maybe get to 200mg more throughout the day.
Am I going crazy or is there serious withdrawal from that level of use? My anxiety spiked, I feel dizzy…
I have tons of supplements. I’m trying and I’ve stayed strong but damn I didn’t expect this to be harder than quitting nicotine.
Any help appreciated amigos.
Hey all,
I've been running off of energy drinks since I was about 14/15yrs old, 27 now. I have a 1.5yr old daughter, work morning shifts (6:30a-3:00p) and wake up somewhat early to hit the gym before work. I'm consuming more caffeine every day now than I ever have, usually hovering between 700-1000mg/day (4-5 cans, usually split between Gorilla Mind, Alani Nu, Celsius and Monster). I can drink a can right before bed and still fall asleep quickly, and I feel that I'm almost always on the verge of sleep. Being on my feet is the only thing that keeps me up, even at work. I'm over feeling tired 24/7, so any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
I relapsed and upped my caffeine amount after tapering it down to 80mg. Ive since stabilized back to about 120mg.
I have realized ive given caffeine too much credit, and my brain was still convinced I was depriving myself of something, that I was giving away strength. But I have to realize that consuming caffeine again will just remedy the poison that caffeine is causing itself.
That's the mindset I have to have anyway.
I am not certain I will cut it out forever. But I need to succeed in this experiment and cut down to 0 caffeine and then give my body and mind time to see what it is like without it.
I really dont want to use it as a crutch anymore. I would prefer better nutrition, and I dont want it to interfere with sleep. Either way I will have control over this. If I gain control over it I may determine it will be of benefit someday to have caffeine but only for certain occasion. Maybe a slight boost to a social gathering or a day when I have to extend myself further. But still it would be good to depend on the natural self as much as possible.
The mental side of caffeine is tough for me. It has been used to override or block certain emotions with the euphoria it brings. This simply means while I taper this time I will have to stay on top of my emotions. Ive also been reducing screen time and I think last time I did both at the same time and caused myself to be thrown off balance a bit too quickly. I will journal and use other emotional regulation techniques to make sure stress and other emotions dont stop me this time.
My first goal will be to make it to 0. Then make it to 0 for a week. And then two weeks. And then 3 weeks. Then a month, and see where I am at. Most likely multiple months and see where I am at. I also have replacement hydration beverages to overcome the problem of missing the good flavors of energy drinks. And I will start eating natural sweets like fruit more.
This time I will succeed, believe it.
caffeine irritates the shit out of my bladder, but i can’t seem to quit. for context: i’m 24 and have been drinking coffee since I was maybe 15/16– at least a cup a day every day since then. two years ago i developed a bladder condition and have found that caffeine is a huge trigger for bladder pain for me. i tried cutting it out briefly and i felt like it helped, but i was so tired without it that i spent almost every day laying around with zero energy or motivation to do anything. i’m also on a high dose of gabapentin for nerve pain, mirtazapine, and valium, all of which make me extremely sleepy to begin with. i’ve found that the only way i can seem to get what i need to get done is by drinking coffee, but it makes urinating so much more painful. i also am drawn to coffee specifically because i have ibs-c and it helps with BMs (constipation or straining to have a BM is bad for my pelvic pain as well— i have pelvic floor disfunction). i don’t really know what to do and am feeling stuck. i really want to be able to keep my energy up so i can stay diligent with my PT exercises and keep my overall activity up but without caffeine i feel like i can’t do it. any advice is appreciated
I have been drinking half caff for years but decided to go full decaf in November of last year. My longest streak is 16 days however I cut back my caffeine consumption by a LOT. *But*…I started getting an increase in migraines and I think it’s because I was going back and forth instead of committing to cold turkey.
Fast forward to today, to prevent migraines I slipped into the worst relapse ever. I’m talking 4 shots of espresso daily…worse than the half caff I had been on for years. My reasoning was the steady intake of caffeine kept the migraines at bay. Honestly, why didn’t I just tell myself that cold turkey would help? I’m back to drinking more than ever and it’s not good. F*%k this. Just venting.
I quit coffee three months ago for my anxiety, but my mornings feel completely empty without a warm drink. Herbal tea feels like hot flavored water, and decaf coffee still triggers my acid reflux if I drink it on an empty stomach.
A coworker suggested swapping acidic drinks for a starchy vegetable base to coat the stomach. I tried mixing a spoonful of ube superfood powder into hot oat milk. Since it's just pure purple yam, the acidity is zero, it's incredibly gentle on my stomach, and it has a rich, nutty vanilla profile. For people who use clean alternatives, what does ube taste like compared to matcha or taro?
recently I moved states and am in a much different time zone, so for 3 days I had an energy drink in the morning to get everything going, but 2 days after I'm having withdrawal symptoms just like when I quit caffeine after drinking it daily for years, just less intense, this shit sucks, that's all
I’m really worried about my finances and wondering if I have to go back to caffeine so that I can work. I work from home in sales with a job I really don’t like so it takes a lot of focus and motivation to get me to work. I’ve already gone through all the withdrawals so I’m scared to start again. Also, the depression has not lifted feeling very low
So I usually do not drink coffee or ingest caffeine in any way. I stopped years ago due to an extremely high sensitivity.
Today, I was at work and I found an old friend that is working near my office, so we arranged to meet at 13PM in a snack bar so we could talk.
I drank a big espresso (somewhat like 80ml).
12 hours later and I still can't fall asleep (it has been like 6 months since the last time I put coffee in my mouth).
This is exactly the same thing that happened to me in the past when I used to take 200mg of caffeine in a pre workout supplement at 5:30AM and I couldn't sleep until like 12AM.
Is this hyper sensitivity actually a real thing or this is pure psychological?
Why Coffee Ruins Manifestation.
Enable your brain to respond to alpha/theta waves, reduce caffeine = reduce beta waves.
I was thinking about making a coffein tracker app. My idea was: A minimalist caffeine tracker app featuring a living coffee cup mascot that fills up throughout the day based on your caffeine intake. The mascot changes mood and energy depending on how much caffeine is in your system. The goal is to stay in the optimal energy zone without overflowing the cup. My main question to you guys is how would you like to track your in take: scan your drinks, talk to an AI bot and tell him what you drank and then it estimates? What is the best? If you guys have any other ideas for the app i would love to hear them.
I stopped caffeine about a month ago but those last few days I had to wake up earlier than usual to study so I drank an espresso here and there. Then it turned into binge drinking caffeine again, I am talking several cup of coffee and tea a day. The adrenaline made my hunger go away, I lost a shit ton of weight, I was not eating anymore or even drinking water so I became highly dehydrated and I was weak. I don't know how to stop myself when I start drinking coffee. Plus it makes me anxious, the tiredness made me think I got cancer or something terrible. That's how bad the fatigue was.
I’m sure this is already common knowledge but just in case, try not to drink a shit ton of caffeine if you suffer from OCD/anxiety. Caffeine did not cause my OCD but it sure did make it worse on the days I drank coffee. Especially avoid espresso, I’m serious. Some people may be able to handle it just fine, but I highly doubt most people with OCD/Anxiety are going to benefit from drinking that much caffeine on a daily basis. Not to mention some of these people take meds for the anxiety/OCD, so I also don’t think it’s a really good idea to mix in caffeine with that either, I feel like that kind of defeats the point of taking those meds. I could be wrong though.