any high caffeine users quit

[Mirinjawbro]

Hello all

have had a very very bad caffeine habit for 5 years. upwards of 1000mg per day on most days (didn't realise until weighing my coffee portions)

now currently day 42 cold turkey and the tiredness etc is ridiculous.

- no physical energy. 1 set of pressups and i'm done - gardening etc
- 6-7 hours sleep and still need naps everyday.
- cant be bothered to do anything. mainly because of the tiredness i guess
- dry mouth? white tongue although drinking 3 litres a day everyday

anyone else had anything like this?

last few days i've been so tired i think why bother and just go back but try and lower it to 1 or 2 a day max.

[Mars]

I stopped about 4 years ago. I had been drinking between 6 and 10 "starbucks" sized cups a day - always black although not especially strong. I switched to tea - earl grey without milk (the way my Polish inlaws drank it).

Then, after about 2 years I accepted the offer of a coffee - a strong black one - from a Bulgarian friend (they drink strong coffee) after a bike ride. I cycle often and I'm fairly fit. On my way home from his house, I had an episode where my eyes just wouldn't focus and I ended-up in A&E for an afternoon. I can't guarantee it was because of the coffee but that was the only thing I'd done that day that was any different to normal. I had all sorts of monitors stuck all over me - 11 in total. They found nothing wrong with me - good results from all my heart monitors.

Anyway, although I do occasionally fancy a coffee, I just don't now as I can't be sure whether I've developed some sort of reaction to it. As an aside, I don't drink alcohol very often either - maybe the equivalent of 10 pints over the course of a year.

[Mirinjawbro]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

tried that many times. fine at first then i up the morning cup and it continues

[Purosangue]

probably not the thread to say I've upped my coffee habit ...........used to be x6 cups of Nespresso Kazarr or Nappoli daily
to



5 cups ..daily.

sleep about 3 hours a night practically an insomniac for the last 20 years

[BoRED S2upid]

Mirinjawbro said:

Hello all

have had a very very bad caffeine habit for 5 years. upwards of 1000mg per day on most days (didn't realise until weighing my coffee portions)

now currently day 42 cold turkey and the tiredness etc is ridiculous.

- no physical energy. 1 set of pressups and i'm done - gardening etc
- 6-7 hours sleep and still need naps everyday.
- cant be bothered to do anything. mainly because of the tiredness i guess
- dry mouth? white tongue although drinking 3 litres a day everyday

anyone else had anything like this?

last few days i've been so tired i think why bother and just go back but try and lower it to 1 or 2 a day max.

So 8-10 cups of coffee a day sort of dose. Doesn’t seem crazy high.

Coming off any drug is going to be bad but your symptoms seem unusually bad.

[Quattr04.]

Cold turkey is possibly the worst way to do it, just reduce it over a few weeks/ months and your body will get used to it much quicker

It’s one of the most addictive substances there is!

10 cups is mad though, I have 2 and that’s my limit, sometimes even a cup of English breakfast tea in the afternoon keeps me awake

[Red9zero]

I used to drink a lot of coffee, but had to give up due to it not helping my blood pressure among other things. I have the occasional cappuccino nowadays as a treat, but I do notice the effect it has on my system and tend to be buzzing for a while afterwards. Coincidentally I drank some full fat Coca Cola this morning for the first time in a very long while (bought for a friend who didn't turn up and I thought I would use it up) and it tasted disgusting. The rest of the bottle ended up going down the sink where it probably did a good job of cleaning the pipes out.

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

Could you use pro plus to deliver some caffeine and taper it off?

Going cold turkey does seem the hardest way to do it - limiting yourself to two cups has to be easier?!

Good luck.

[Wills2]

I used to drink it through the day but stopped I now have 2 cups of fresh coffee in the morning but nothing after 9am, for me that's a good balance between waking up and being able to sleep.

[Olivera]

Wills2 said:

I used to drink it through the day but stopped I now have 2 cups of fresh coffee in the morning but nothing after 9am, for me that's a good balance between waking up and being able to sleep.

I suspect having a cup at 10am or even 2pm will have a negligible impact on sleep.

[Wills2]

Olivera said:

Wills2 said:

I used to drink it through the day but stopped I now have 2 cups of fresh coffee in the morning but nothing after 9am, for me that's a good balance between waking up and being able to sleep.

I suspect having a cup at 10am or even 2pm will have a negligible impact on sleep.

You have to draw a line and we're all different, you do you.

[Peanut Gallery]

Olivera said:

Wills2 said:

I used to drink it through the day but stopped I now have 2 cups of fresh coffee in the morning but nothing after 9am, for me that's a good balance between waking up and being able to sleep.

I suspect having a cup at 10am or even 2pm will have a negligible impact on sleep.

Re - the sleep - If I have any coffee after 12, I can get to sleep 10 hours later, but then wake up at 3 am wide awake and really struggle to get back down. - I have repeated this many times.

I do sleep better overall when I have had a few days without coffee.

[Silvanus]

I quite recently stopped a coffee habit of similar quantities (for various reasons), I found a mushroom coffee that didn't also contain ground coffee and started having that with a spoonful of decaf. I did get a bit of withdrawal, fuzziness and headaches, but they stopped after a couple of weeks.

I now make up my own blend of mushroom/herbal coffee which I have in the morning. I find it's a great morning kick start. I then have decaf in the day and treat myself to a decent proper every now and then.

I'd definitely give the mushroom coffee a go, look for one without real coffee, I started with Soulbrew.

[swanseaboydan]

I have a caffitiere at home and each morning I make a pot of decaf coffee and add one small spoon of caffeinated coffee to the blend. That way I enjoy my morning coffee without getting the jitters - which I used to get .
My brain gets a very small caffeine kick.
Costa Starbucks etc are just too strong for me these days .

[The jiffle king]

About 25 years ago I was on 6 cups of coffee a day but not sleeping well.
I went cold turkey and the first 3 weeks I had a headache which was awful...... but then my foggy head cleared and I started sleeping an extra hour a night which was good for someone who only got 4 hours and my energy levels increased over a few weeks.

It was horrible but I've not had tea, coffee, coke etc since and I doubt I'll ever go back to it. I love the smell and taste but I sleep better and thats good enough for me

[Jermy Claxon]

Don't go back. If nothing else, you're not muddying the waters for diagnosing any other issue that you were masking with coffee.

I haven't quit coffee, but I have quit other things, and 42 days wasn't enough. Give it 60-90. After 90 you should absolutely be feeling like a new you.

If not, go get some bloods done. It could be anaemia or something as simple as that. Or not. PH != GP, go look after yourself properly.

Good luck.

[anonymous-user]

Peanut Gallery said:

Olivera said:

Wills2 said:

I used to drink it through the day but stopped I now have 2 cups of fresh coffee in the morning but nothing after 9am, for me that's a good balance between waking up and being able to sleep.

I suspect having a cup at 10am or even 2pm will have a negligible impact on sleep.

Re - the sleep - If I have any coffee after 12, I can get to sleep 10 hours later, but then wake up at 3 am wide awake and really struggle to get back down. - I have repeated this many times.

I do sleep better overall when I have had a few days without coffee.

I have a cup of coffee before bed. Sleep fine.

[JoshSm]

Mirinjawbro said:

have had a very very bad caffeine habit for 5 years. upwards of 1000mg per day on most days (didn't realise until weighing my coffee portions)

A bad caffeine habit would have been my one where I'd have a nice daily Italian cafe breakfast with 6+ doppio espressos as the only time I'd touch coffee. Did slightly horrify the Italians!

Maybe the difference was I had it all in one go (which definitely had obvious effects in the morning, but not long term) instead of having a constant dosing through the day.

I guess it's not just the quantity but if you're building a tolerance where you've had a constant high caffeine level through the day and now that's missing you're feeling the dependency withdrawl.

Still shouldn't take too long to get over it unless something else is going on.

[lizardbrain]

43 days? I'd be surprised if it has anything to do with coffee

[AB]

I make a proper coffee when I wake up, maybe another before I leave, and one mid morning say 11am. I used to continue drinking it throughout the day but now I won't touch it post midday, drinking cordial or water instead. I definitely sleep better but I also had headaches in the late afternoon for a couple of weeks when I stopped.

My parents drink Nescafe Gold as pretty much their only drinks all day, got to be 10+ and even in the evenings before bed. I don't get it, it'd stop me sleeping for sure and I'm pretty sure they'd have some side effects if they knocked it on the head now.

A proper coffee just tastes so nice though.