Reformed caffeine addicts - how does it feel?

[Lucy__lou]

Have you kicked a big caffeine addiction? How does the way you feel off it compare to when you were an addict?

 

I probably haven't gone without caffeine for more than a week. Not since I was a kid. So I've forgotten what it feels like to not be either on it, or needing it...

I know it's bad stuff, but I do like the buzz, and I'm reluctant to give it up unless I hear some evidence that living without it feels better. I like to be on the ball mentally, so I'm scared of losing that caffeine edge.

 

Any anecdotes would be of interest to me, if anyone feels like sharing.

 

Cheers.

[uj2004]

I have just gone off caffeine again this week, after doing it a few times in the past 18 months as well.

 

I definitely lacked energy for a few days, but the headaches from not having it only lasted a day. My only reason for giving it up was I found it a pain having to have a Coke Zero by 11am or else suffer the headache. I work in a job where there is no toilet (tradesman), so its a pain in that way too if I drink early.

 

Sleep is an issue, again. It took nearly a month to regain a full nights sleep when I kicked it last time, and this time again I am waking at odd hours.

[lavenderdove]

After being off coffee a while, it doesn't 'feel' anything... it just feels normal. You don't notice it or even think about it.

 

I think the fact that you mention the buzz means you were using caffeine as a drug, and liked the buzz, and are chasing a drug 'reward'. The thing is once you no longer do a particular drug, you can remember the buzz, but you stop craving it. Craving is stimulated by habit and addiction pathways in the brain.

 

I found that after i'd given it up for a couple of years, i can now have one cup of coffee a day and no longer feel those cravings and take it or leave it. That is because they say that the addiction threshold for coffee is about 30 oz. a day (i.e., if you drink less than that, you are not physically addicted and stimulating those pathways in the brain that trigger craving). But everybody's addiction thresholds are different, but most people who drink only one cup a day (and NOT the Venti size, but a normal size cup) do fine and are not physically addicted and craving nor have headaches.

 

So you will be fine, once you're over the habit, and if you recognize you're craving coffee the way someone craves cocaine, and it's an addiction you need to stop and replace with a healthy lifestyle.

 

And there is research that ONE 6 oz. cup of coffee a day is actually good for you metabolically, but high levels are the reverse, just like one glass of wine a day is beneficial, but more than that can be detrimental.

 

Try ramping back to one small cup a day and see how you do. If that doesn't work, then go cold turkey.

[fixyou_]

I've never had a problem with caffeine...

I have soda about three to four times a week, because I love the bubbles. Mmm.

I don't drink coffee much because it makes me have to pee ALL DAY!

But I do get a Starbucks once or twice a month.

[LightbulbSun]

I personally have a big issue with coffee...I can't seem to kick the habit! Soda I can live without, but if I don't have coffee every morning, I don't feel right.

 

Coffee is also supposed to be really good for your health, so I don't feel that it's like soda. Soda makes you put on tons of weight, and is generally unhealthy with all that sugar (that being said, I still indulge in a Coke or Dr. Pepper every now and then.)

[pinkelephant]

Would it help to know that caffeine is carcinogenic once it's built up over a period of time (50 years, if you have 1/day)? So, if you were drinking coffee since you were a little kid, you're looking at cancer within a decade or 2.My prof just told us about it and apparently, you won't find any published papers on it because he was told not to publish it. Coffee is a big industry, afterall.

 

 

 

I'm a major addict too. The carcinogenic part doesn't even phase me. It's either die later or die now, for me. I can't even function without my coffee.

[Lucy__lou]

caffeine is carcinogenic once it's built up over a period of time (50 years, if you have 1/day)?

 

Is that one per day?

 

wow! wow! I think I've already got 50 years worth in my 30 year old body!

 

Thanks for the info. I want to live long. So I'm going to have to take this seriously. Thank you very much!

 

I used to drink dandelion root as a substitute. It's a stimulant. Don't know if it's bad like coffee or not, but maybe I could try to go back to it.

[IndigoEye]

if you give it up you won't get headaches, either. maybe one a year

[ohemgee]

Would it help to know that caffeine is carcinogenic once it's built up over a period of time (50 years, if you have 1/day)?

 

If this were true my grandfather would be the luckiest guy in the world. He has been drinking coffee(multiple cups a day) for 55 years. And has been smoking 2 packs a day for 60 years.

 

Living is carcinogenic.

[greywolf]

I read somewhere that you only need one cup a day to get yourself addicted. Although there is controversy over whether it should be classified as an addiction or something that you can become dependent on. I agree more with the later.

 

As for it being beneficial, I also remember reading that it is beneficial at first, but once your body grows dependent on it, it loses any benefit it once had.

[pinkelephant]

If this were true my grandfather would be the luckiest guy in the world. He has been drinking coffee(multiple cups a day) for 55 years. And has been smoking 2 packs a day for 60 years.

 

Living is carcinogenic.

 

LOL. Ok, genetics 101 time.

Carcinogenic substances don't always result in cancer, but it sure is an increase of likely hood. he is a lucky guy. some of us have a predisposition for things like cancer, diabetes, heart attack, lung cancer, etc. All it takes it is a puff of cigarette and we're on our way to our death bed. Some of us have genes that can be described as immunity against those things (keyword: described as...). Some might also be immune against AIDs (still being researched...) but are you going to risk that?

 

 

But it is your life~

[greywolf]

LOL. Ok, genetics 101 time.

Carcinogenic substances don't always result in cancer, but it sure is an increase of likely hood. he is a lucky guy. some of us have a predisposition for things like cancer, diabetes, heart attack, lung cancer, etc. All it takes it is a puff of cigarette and we're on our way to our death bed. Some of us have genes that can be described as immunity against those things (keyword: described as...). Some might also be immune against AIDs (still being researched...) but are you going to risk that?

 

 

But it is your life~

 

Haven't they already proven that some people are really resistant to HIV?

[pinkelephant]

Haven't they already proven that some people are really resistant to HIV?

 

we're going over that in class right now... and it's kinda.. i don't know up in the air. From what I've learned in this little video (that was made in like the 80s or even the early 90s but my prof said not much progress on HIV research has been made since..), they think that some people have acquired the immunity through the exposure of a weak HIV virus (there are like a ton of them and they mutate all the time). That's what happened with a bunch of monkeys who acquired immunity to the SIV (animal version of HIV..). At the end, they said something about wanting to try this on human, but so far, I don't think they have yet. Apparently, that's the most promising vaccination against HIV. The reason they found out about this in human is because of a blood transfusion. A group of people got the blood transfusion from an AIDs patient, but I think only 1 of them died from it. The rest are still very healthy (while carrying the virus). The original Aids patient died.

[karvala]

I used to drink at least 12 strong cups of coffee every day; I would drink one right before going to sleep and it would have no effect on me, I was that desensitised.. Then I changed job, and it was no longer possible for practical reasons, so I just stopped cold. It didn't seem difficult to be honest. Now I have one or two cups a week, and they're very nice, but I don't feel the need to get another afterwards. In terms of the effect, I'd say it's made me a lot more laidback personality-wise, although age can do that as well so it's hard to separate those out. If you have a coffee addiction, don't worry about it too much; there are worse things to be addicted to. I'm perfectly happy to have gotten rid of mine, but it certainly hasn't made me evangelical on the subject by any means. No big deal.