giving up caffeine?

[jonathan_matos5]

i have recently noticed i have a prominent caffeine dependency, and feel it would be good for me to quit. i know it isn't as bad as other stimulants but i get a major headache if i miss my morning jolt of my favorite caffeinated beverage.

do you people have any tips for helping me get the "monkey off my back"?


any help would be greatly appreciated.

[selfblessed]

I suggest lot of water and a have a handful of ibuprofen handy.

[selfblessed]

I quit caffeine for a stimulus as well. Now its a nice treat to have a coke. Not a nightmare when I don't have one. Kinda cool. Quit smoking too. Drinking...Another round please.

[msquared]

I've had severe caffeine addictions three times now. To the point where I feel like I have the flu if I don't get coffee before noon. It's a pain in the ass and I always dread getting off of it, but it has to happen.

I've found that drinking a lot of water is really helpful, so +1 to selfblessed's comment.

I have found that the most important thing is to not need it to stay awake in the first place. This means getting an adequate amount of sleep no matter what. If you're like me and you get out of bed at 8am, get off of the computer by 10pm and read until 11 or so, so that the stimulation from the TV or computer screen isn't keeping you up. Do what you need to in order to be asleep by midnight. Get up at the same time on weekends. Once you can pull the "enough sleep" thing off, it's a lot easier to wean yourself off of it.

[Johnny Crab]

in my case.

I got hooked on coffee in the early 70's when I had a day job, a band(playing 2 ~ 3 times per week), and a twice-a-week-at-night job(unloading a truckload of papers at a storage building!). After drinking the stuff non-stop for decades, a few years ago I started cutting back...sometimes accidentally(got to busy to go get coffee!) or dang...I forgot to setup the coffee pot the night before & no time now! Those combined with the inability to get to sleep sometimes led me to cut back.

First, cut back after work(no coffee) or in your case at night.
Next, cut back in the afternoons.
Finally, cut the mornings and/or replace it with something useful that does almost the same thing and it's better for you...juicing(apples, carrots, and ginger root). <<< That got me past the "withdrawal" part plus gives one a HEALTHY boost.

Now I can take it or leave it and mostly use coffee when I've had a gig on a weeknight(i.e. 4 or 5 hours of sleep!) and MUST function on shorted sleep. Today I had no coffee. Wednesday I will drink a LOT until about 4 pm(we have a Tuesday night gig).

Good luck.

[MJ5150]

Figure out how much of it is mental and how much of it is physical. I am not a doctor, but I believe the types of addictions are treated differently.

-Mike

[jonathan_matos5]

Originally Posted by msquared

I've had severe caffeine addictions three times now. To the point where I feel like I have the flu if I don't get coffee before noon. It's a pain in the ass and I always dread getting off of it, but it has to happen.

I've found that drinking a lot of water is really helpful, so +1 to selfblessed's comment.

I have found that the most important thing is to not need it to stay awake in the first place. This means getting an adequate amount of sleep no matter what. If you're like me and you get out of bed at 8am, get off of the computer by 10pm and read until 11 or so, so that the stimulation from the TV or computer screen isn't keeping you up. Do what you need to in order to be asleep by midnight. Get up at the same time on weekends. Once you can pull the "enough sleep" thing off, it's a lot easier to wean yourself off of it.

more sleep is not really an option. i have a busy schedule of classes and gigs. 10 pm is about the average time i make it home then i do homework,and my first class is at 10am.

2am is about as early as i can fall asleep.

[GeneralElectric]

Smoke meth instead

[René_Julien]

Tea...

It worked for me... for a while.
I still enjoy one cup of tea a day, to relax.

I went back to coffee for all the wonderful things it does.

[dvh]

Originally Posted by selfblessed

I quit caffeine for a stimulus as well. Now its a nice treat to have a coke. Not a nightmare when I don't have one. Kinda cool. Quit smoking too. Drinking...Another round please.

I'm on the same path. Occasional drink, coffee or Coke once in a while.

I feel TONS better.

[fishtx]

I completely quit drinking coffee and soda almost 2 years ago...and had a horrible headache for about a month...Drink a lot of water, and keep some ibuprophen or asprin handy...what worked best for me was extra-strength Excedrin (the best asprin on the market IMO)...

[hover]

I had a quite bad physical addiction to caffeine a few years back, as I was working 2 jobs and just kept pounding Cokes or coffees to stay awake...and after a while the caffeine did nothing as a stimulus, and wreaked savage headaches on me if not for the constant intake.

I also blew up in the waist size and felt generally unwell.

I substituted better varieties of green and white teas more and more often, also more icewater and yes, padded the "withdrawl" with headache medicine (edit: like above, I used Excedrine Migraine, which of course contains caffeine), and it took some time but feel I've kept the "need" at bay.

It had been my only real vice...and now, tho a treat, I find Coke to be incredibly overly sweet. Almost sickenningly so.

You'll be the better for it though. Wean yourself off it, good luck.

[davetakis]

i tried to give up coffee. quit cold turkey. 5 days into it my dad handed me a cup of coffee and said if i didnt drink it, he would shoot me..

evidently i was a tich cranky for those 5 days

never did anything that stupid again. coffee is my friend. it wont quit me and i wont quit it. a pot a day and i'm good.

[crimson_basser]

my dad had to stop drinking coffee (medical reasons) and he was pretty shaken up by it, he wasnt a HUGE coffee drinker from what i could tell, but every morning he had a nice BIG mug of coffee. So when he had to stop he started drinking decafeinated coffee, and from i can tell keeps some of the taste and could fool you into thinking youre getting caffeine.

I could be dead wrong on the taste thing, thats just a guess and a suggestion

But, water is a good substitute as many have said. I wouldnt suggest going overboard with the headache meds though, that could easily become another addiction.

I dont drink coffee and rarely drink coke or anything like that so i wouldnt know what its like. And this is the exact reason i dont, no addiction and i save a lot more money than my friends who buy coffees constantly throughout the day at tim hortons or starbucks or whatever.

Lots of extra money to blow on uneeded (but very much desired) bass gear.

[FunkyLemz]

try yerba mate - available both hot and cold

[Kgoodrich]

I did it.

let me just say that these

will become your new best friend.

[ryco]

I used to drink coffee all day long and into the night. I don't remember when, but at some point I cut down to two cups of coffee first thing in the morning. I didn't feel any effect - no better, no worse. Probably when I quit smoking (after 45+ years!) - the two just seem to go hand in hand.

I was in a bandhouse next door to an espresso shop for about 4 years. Used to drink black 16 oz's with a shot all day long. Got totally burnt out on espresso -- now I drink Wal*Mart crystals. I know - I'm a total tard

[jonathan_matos5]

Originally Posted by Kgoodrich

I did it.

let me just say that these

will become your new best friend.

excedrin has caffeine in it

im on day one the headache hit me at about noon

[MakiSupaStar]

I've just rolled over an accepted my caffeine addiction. I'm a lot happier because of it.

[brothernewt]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

I've just rolled over an accepted my caffeine addiction. I'm a lot happier because of it.

+1... and then some.