I can't believe I'm addicted

The last few days I've been having headaches and all sorts - and normal pain relief tablets just haven't been cutting it, unfortunately. Today I looked up the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal and I see a mirror of myself!

Sure, I drank a fair few pepsi maxs' a day (about 5 or 6) but I didn't think I'd be a caffeine junky to the state where I'd get physical withdrawal symptoms when I stopped...which I did - I cut out completely and just drank water.

Not a good idea - and I'm cutting down gradually but drinking tea rather than coffee/max. Within half an hour of having a tea, the headache had gone and I felt fine again.

I wonder how many people here would have the same symptoms if they stopped their cola/coffee intake...

Wish me luck in weening myself off the evil liquid

Sheepo

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Originally posted by Sheepish
The last few days I've been having headaches and all sorts - and normal pain relief tablets just haven't been cutting it, unfortunately. Today I looked up the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal and I see a mirror of myself!

Sure, I drank a fair few pepsi maxs' a day (about 5 or 6) but I didn't think I'd be a caffeine junky to the state where I'd get physical withdrawal symptoms when I stopped...which I did - I cut out completely and just drank water.

Not a good idea - and I'm cutting down gradually but drinking tea rather than coffee/max. Within half an hour of having a tea, the headache had gone and I felt fine again.

I wonder how many people here would have the same symptoms if they stopped their cola/coffee intake...

Wish me luck in weening myself off the evil liquid

Sheepo

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Sheepish!!!!

Best of luck with it! I've tried several times to kick nicotine and caffiene and have had the worst of it each time.

Most people don't realize the withdrawal from caffiene is as intense as it really is. Just yesterday I tried to limit the amount of coffee I drank and like clock work the headaches came a couple of hours later. Thankfully I was at my parent's house and mom served coffee after dinner... I felt great just after that.

(Put's on Holistic Practioner hat) Just be careful you don't replace one caffeine addictive liquid for another. Many people think the caffiene levels in teas (like Tetley's, Liptons, etc) are lighter than coffee - not true. It's actually higher. But the change of taste does help most people ween themselves away from caffeine drinks altogether.

Also, you may want to slip in some decaf coffee or herbal tea into your menu. Just to help you ween...

Good luck with this! Keep us posted... and if you need anything let me know ;)

My best,
Gary-Alan

Good luck, Sheepish.

I drink herbal iced tea like they are going out of style. You can buy Celestial Seasonings' great selection of teas at most grocery stores. Their Zinger teas have no caffeine, and they are great iced. [Red Zinger, Wild Berry Zinger]

Drink them all the time. Soft drinks - regular or diet - are not very healthy. :P

Oh man, I know about those headaches! I was bitchin like hell in the hospital after my surgery when they wouldn't give me any coffee! (No, I don't make a good patient, LOL)

But I have limited my caffeine intake ... it's a matter of routine and letting the body know it's going to get x amount. I have coffee when I get up, but by my "noon" time I'm usually off the coffee and onto non caffeine beverages and ice waters. Although with summer here, I am drinking a lot of the Green Tea and Honey Ice teas.

Like Gary suggested, you can try mixing in some of the decaf coffee or tea, and as a gradual way to ease into it, get some of the light brands that are like 1/2 the caffeine amount.

At the moment, I'm just trying to ween myself off - I was just having stupid amounts of diet cola which wasn't helpful...

I just went over the top in cutting out straight away and when I first got the headaches, just thought I had been spending too much time in front the machine. But in the past it didn't last for days...which is why I look for the symptoms.

Thanks for the advice - it's appreciated.

M the Sheep

And speaking as someone who managed to kick quite a few monkeys from my back, i'll tell you that although other drugs are more addictive, there was nothing more painful than dropping from three pots of coffee a day to nothing.

It kind of feels like your head is about to implode, and there's absolutely no pain relievers that will do anything.

I even tried to drink a cup of coffee.. a small one.. to get just enough caffine to stop it... didn't work... your body is now punishing you for an other week or so anyway.. you may as well just cope with it until it's done.

I'm now limited to one cup of espresso in the morning, and then decaf coffee or decaf green tea all day. mmmm...coffee.

This thread makes me feel really lucky that I don't like coffee or soda. My bf drinks coffee and Dr Pepper all the friggin time, it drives me nuts. He also gets major headaches if he dosn't have any caffeine.
I looked it up and people who drink coffee/soda generally have a MUCH harder time quitting cigarettes. I've been trying to get him to quit smoking with me for 2 years, so now I know I should start with the coffee.
Almost everyone I know around here (who dosn't have a beer in their hand all the time) has a ONE LITER of Dr Pepper or Mt Dew constantly. I think carrying around that much soda looks trashy, makes people look glutonous and indifferent to their health/diabetes. I even know some people who carry around 2 liters like they are a single serving. Pretty disgusting.
If you are trying to quit, the best way is to make your own coffee, and mix it half and half with decaf until you get used to it and go from there. The same can be done with soda as long as you drink it in a glass with ice (get caffiene free, not diet yuck). And drink a LOT of water, not only does it flush out the caffiene, it will drasticly reduce withdrawal headaches.

mine too
he's addicted to coke
at one point he didn't even drink water only diet coke.
after his gall bladder surgery he swore he'll never drink lots of coke, now he's doing it again.

oth - im on decafenated (sp?) ice tea and bottled water and maybe apple juice.
im hyper as it is, caffeine is just goin to make me worse :)

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Originally posted by jIgG
oth - im on decafenated (sp?) ice tea and bottled water and maybe apple juice.

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Thats pretty much all i drink too.

Every now and again ill drink strawberry milkshake but for the most part, iced tea and water does what i need it to lol

I just recently started to drink tangerine juice too because thats not as acidic as regular orange juice.. thats the reason i do iced tea and water btw, i cant drink stuff that has high acidic content such as sodas etc.

Regards,

Lee

Same here Lee -- as I've gotten older, you rarely see me with soda... it just tears up the stomach too much anymore and really doesn't take care of the thirst anyways. I'll occasionally get a craving for a Pepsi and even then I usually grab the decaf version. If on the road and not finding something cold in the cooler (like the greentea and honey) my other soda of choice would be a Vernors.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Lee
Thats pretty much all i drink too.



Regards,

Lee

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hmm... i don't think i every saw you with water or juice at the Phoenix Forum... unless the juice was in the form of a daiquiri...
;)

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Originally posted by RainGurl
hmm... i don't think i every saw you with water or juice at the Phoenix Forum... unless the juice was in the form of a daiquiri...
;)

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Pfft... :boom:

You were watching me at the wrong times hon LOL

I had plenty of water.. ice + scotch, ice + jack daniels, ice + run etc etc..

See ;)

Regards,

Lee

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Originally posted by Lee
Pfft... :boom:

You were watching me at the wrong times hon LOL

I had plenty of water.. ice + scotch, ice + jack daniels, ice + run etc etc..

See ;)

Regards,

Lee

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ohhhh Lee....
at Internext - Florida
you'll have to buy me one of those ice + run drinks...
sounds *interesting*


:) ~Bell

Yeah Bell it is... it's a specialty mix he has when I find out he's had too much to drink.

LMAOPIP

The other day I was sellin' my body behind an alley dumpster in exchange for a hit off someone's crack pipe and a moldy old slice of pizza when I thought to myself... "Holy shit... I'm addicted!"

So I feel your pain.

I tend to drink a fair bit of coffee but when I don't drink coffee, feel no side effects. Usually every weekday I'll make a cup in the morning and then sip it on the drive to work. I'll get to the office, polish off that big cup, then pour another one or two by noon. After that, it's all about water. Then a soda or lemonade in the afternoon/early evening.

But on weekends or days when I just don't bother making coffee... I don't notice a thing. Don't feel any different. Don't suffer. Feel fine!

So I'm guessin' I do fine on the caffeine addiction front. :)

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Originally posted by BDBionic
But on weekends or days when I just don't bother making coffee... I don't notice a thing. Don't feel any different. Don't suffer. Feel fine!

So I'm guessin' I do fine on the caffeine addiction front. :)

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For me, it didn't hit until about 3 or 4 days after - I suppose the caffeine was still in my system and took time to work out. Pity I'm not into S&M - I might have enjoyed it more :leather:

I'm a coffee drinker... i don't drink a lot, just one cup every morning. But having this habit of drinking coffee every morning since i was little little, made me completely dependent of it.

A few months ago, i decided to stop drinking coffee. And headaches started to appear and i was in a bitchy mood. I didn't put everything together... I was laughing at people before when they would say you can be addicted to caffeine...

But yep, i got big headaches and could not work and concentrate on anything because i didn't get my coffee first... So i started to drink again and headaches are gone.

The thing is i can't stand coffee anymore... After a few minutes, i got the taste of the coffee in my mouth that repulses me andi have to suck on a mint or something. That's when i can say "i'm totally addicted" and i know if i stop, headaches will come back.

I MUST have my sodas, but I discovered that I don't have them for the caffeine, I just want the delightful sweet soda taste. I can switch from caffeine free to fully caffeinated and back again with no ill effects.

So, I drink Diet Rite. No caffeine, no sugar, no sodium, still a cola!!!! w00t!!

Now, in the early morning, someone better be giving me my coffee. I have ONE cup of coffee first thing in the morning, with fat-free, sugar-free creamer and splenda. After that, I'm good for the day.

Now, I'm addicted to the soda flavor and sweetness. I drink Diet Rite all day, every day. Rarely do I drink just plain water, and then I have to be really thirsty. Crystal Light in the water makes it better, and I've been known to drink that like crazy. I get the sugar-free kind.

(Can we tell that I'm trying to cut down on my sugar intake?)

holy shit...they still make Diet Rite?

in any case...i don't really care if i'm addicted to caffine or not. we go through so many pots of coffee at those aa meetings i don't think anyone cares. but if it's a problem and you want to quit....i suggest you ride it out like jasun said. it's a hell of a lot better than the w/d that comes from quitting other drugs (like alcohol)...sometimes you can't quit cold turkey without medical supervision.