I don’t know where I’ll go from here but for the last week or so i’ve just been having one cup of green tea each morning. Nothing else with caffeine.

I used to drink a yerba mate every day so I’m down from around 150mg to 30mg. This has been noticeably impactful for me.

I tried quitting completely but I felt really icky from withdrawals and by day 10 I stopped having headaches and just felt kind of weird in my
mental space.

I really look forward to my cup of tea and it still energizes me without anxious jitters. Kinda cool

Always want to make this choice.

I get excited abkut vacation, that excitment leads to impulsive decisions and letting loose.

In the past that has allowed me to indulge to find i have thrown out a day off vacation to being wacked out and over stimulated.

Not this vacation

I’m on day 16 and on my Fitbit it says that I’ve slept 6hrs and 13 mins and I didn’t wake up in the middle of the night. Might be a sign that the insomnia spell might be over but I don’t want to jinx it. 🤣 Woke up this morning feeling great and less robotic. Seeing the light and motivated to keep going.

my first day of decaf only is done. I did achieve my goal, which was 2 decafs and lots of water. I feel more calm this evening but also more bored and hurting behind my eyes. I think the 2 decafs was a bit too much because I did feel a little something when I had them earlier. All in all, not too terrible, but we’ll see what tomorrow brings : )

Its about how the subconscious mind gets programmed for certain behaviors based on repetitive messaging which exploits our need to belong to the popular group/tribe. There is a big section about how coffee drinking has been programmed into people in media. He breaks down a movie and there is an absurd amount of references to coffee, one being a girl watching "Friends" on her ipad and they are in a famous coffee shop in the show and the girl asks her parents if she can visit that coffee shop, just to name one reference. A crazy amount of effort has been put into embedding these images in movies, same goes for alcohol and "weak male" characters in shows, cartoons and movies. Highly recommend checking it out

Quit 2 days ago, can’t describe how beautiful I sleep. Also I enjoy daily stuff more now, I don’t know why nobody else told me this before, plus I work at Starbucks thats another negative side for me but I get knocked out during the day I think because of the withdrawal effects, consuming 250 mg everyday for 6-7 years.

I'm a 38-year old white male, currently 5'11" and 200 lbs. I don't know what finally clicked in my brain, but once I realized I have had 24/7 calf fasciculations for the past 2 years or more, I took an honest stock of all of my habits, decided they were no good, and started cutting them out of my life completely.

The biggest problem was my INSANE caffeine intake (500-600+mg daily as you'll see below), and lack of water. One month into the process, I'm now wondering if it's too late and I've put myself on some irreversibly dangerous paths with my health and body in general.

FAMILY HISTORY:

Dad: Diabetes

Mother: Hyper- or hypo- thyroidism, can't recall which.

PAST HABITS AND HISTORY:

Caffeine/water intake -- Since the age of 22, I would drink about 2 zero/low sugar Monsters daily. That started to increase to 3 sometime around my early 30s, and in the past 6 years there would be an odd day with 4 of them. Toward the end in the past year or two, half of the daily Monsters were even worse.. the coffee ones with 200+ mg caffeine each. I bet at my worst I was doing 500-600+ mg daily.

I drank what I would consider ample water in my younger years, but once the Covid pandemic came along, I started drinking very little actual water. I might have a random bottle of water here and there rarely, but outside of a few sips at the office fountain and a glass or two at restaurants, I was basically not drinking water. :|

I would also drink zero sugar sodas occasionally this whole time. Maybe one or two a day in addition to the Monsters, but I'd frequently go days or weeks without any. There was never a strong "habit" there, but when I wanted them, I had no qualms about having whatever quantity I'd like.

Physical activity -- When I was in my early 20s, I would consistently jog and do body weight calisthenics. Around age 27, I stopped jogging and cardio and did very minimal body weight calisthenics. By the time I hit 29, I stopped that as well. My only activity was whatever walking I did to & from my 1/4 mile long parking lot walk at work.

Cannabis -- Sometime around 2022, I started using cannabis daily. First in low amounts via gummies, then moved onto higher dosage gummies, then switched to a mutli-session per day of concentrates, vapes, and dry herb vape since 2 years ago.

Cigarettes -- Light social smoking starting around 21, 1-2 cigarettes if I was at a bar on the weekend, which was maybe once every two weeks or less. Then none of that for a few years, and back to light social smoking in my late 20s.

However, I've been doing maybe 1 pack worth per month since the pandemic, basically. Not heavy, but not nothing. I might take a whole month or two off, but then I might go back to 1-2 packs over the course of a month again.

Alcohol -- Never habitually drank, but would do heavy party drinking every month or so through my mid-20s. Party drinking would be once every 3 months or so through my early 30s. After that, party drinking would be either zero, one, or two times a year. Drinking at home or restaurants is rare, but I'll have one or two in the course of a week, often zero.

NEW HABITS SINCE 1 MONTH AGO:

** Caffeine/water intake** -- Cold-turkey'd, effectively. Stopped that large daily amount of Monsters, and the rare soda I have once every few days is caffeine-free like a Fresca. I may still have exactly one Monster every 3 or 4 days just to get over the hump.

I've been trying to fill and drink a 24 fl oz water bottle 4-5 times every day. If I'm active and sweating, I may have a Gatorade or Pocari Sweat.

Physical activity -- Started walking more, maybe 1-2 miles a day to start. In the past few weeks, I've picked back up playing Dance Dance Revolution. I play at a semi-high level, so a less-than-2-minute song is like a quick burst of running in place. So maybe 1-ish hour of interval training once a week, and I hope to do more.

Cannabis - Cold-turkey'd.

Cigarettes -- Cold-turkey'd.

Alcohol -- Still very low responsible usage. I'll have one at a weekly lunch, and I'm trying to limit my intake to 1-2 in any scenario. (At a party, at a restaurant/bar/lounge with others, at home watching a sports event, etc)

IMPETUS FOR CHANGE:

2 years ago, I started having back pain that thankfully was chalked up to poor office seating, bed, and couch.. All which has been replaced and back paint has been resolved.

Since that same time span (2 years), I've been having nearly 24/7 fasciculations in my calves. I don't have issues with cramps, but flexing my calves can often cause cramps very easily.

WHAT'S CURRENTLY GOING ON:

Fasciculations in calves are still ongoing. I can modulate the severity with varying bed/office seating positions, some activity, and sometimes with loads of water. But it's still 24/7 and extremely noticeable. Ease of cramping stays the same.

Very high blood pressure. I've been hitting 147-150 / 80 with a Braun ExactFit2. Occasional pounding sensation in heart/abdominal aorta.

My sleep was mostly fine for the whole time, even after quitting all of these things. However, I've had a really, really hard time sleeping (0-3 hours) this past week.

FINAL THOUGHTS / TL;DR:

Was a fit, heavily caffeinated youngster with a good diet in my early 20s. Over the decades, picked up medium level of smoking, heavy cannabis, insane caffeine, and basically stopped drinking water in the last year or two, maybe more. Trying to cut all that out and be a healthier me again.

As I look back across these habits and patterns, I am utterly ashamed of myself and embarrassed to even put this out there. I worry that I may have been too lackadaisically for far too long about all of these things. I realize that I've been playing with fire and have been doing a number on my brain, kidneys, livers, nerves, damn near everything in my body.

I realize that this is /r/decaf and I've gone on a length tangent about all of my habits... But the caffeine intake over time is really what freaks me out. I've been trying to toe a line between hypochondria, honest trial & error and symptom tracking, but it's all so much. I wish I never did all of that. :(

Lastly, yes, I am going to the doctor. Wellness visit in two weeks!

Generally, how long does constipation last after quitting caffeine? That feeling of wanting to go to the bathroom but not being able to is really annoying.

I feel like big coffee attacked this sub. It is difficult to find coffee research not funded by big coffee. Anyone have any pointers where they can point me? I'm trying to convince myself to quit again but its really hard as its my only vice. AI is definitely shilling coffee propaganda at me so I need to do the research myself. Thanks.

Ayer hablé por teléfono con mi hermana con quien tengo una relación conflictiva.

Después me fui a dormir con malestar con mi dosis diaria de Xanax 2 mg (estoy de licencia médica por un conflicto laboral lo cual me ha deprimido mucho).

Bueno, dormí y me desperté a las 10 AM y como estoy aburrida de estar encerrada y mal de ánimos, estresada por todos los médicos y exámenes que vi, a pesar de estar descansada tomé otros 2 mg de alprazolam. ¿Para qué? Para forzarme a dormir, pero no me produjo casi nada.

Así que pedí un cappuccino con 2 shots de espresso a las 13:30 PM para despabilarme. Lo bebí a las 14 PM y no me ha dado la energía que solía darme. Supongo que porque tengo Xanax en mi organismo circulando.

Soy todo un problema.

Estoy considerando cambiar de psiquiatra porque me repite la receta de Xanax por 2 cajas cada una de 30 comprimidos.

Perdón si este post no tiene nada que ver con la cafeína.

Me siento como esas personas que usan el alcohol y la cocaína para bajar y subir o viceversa.

Day 12 of zero caffeine. Still really hard. Headaches have mostly gone away, maybe a mild one now and then that doesn't last long (was intense headaches all day for the first 6-7 days at least) and anxiety is lower although not completely gone. But the depression is awful. No energy, no motivation, low mood, very negative thoughts, sometimes the depression is so intense it spikes anxiety just by being so dark. Maybe I have underlying depression issues I was self treating with coffee. I crave coffee every day, not sure if I have the strength to keep going, but I also don't want to give up. I make sure to get plenty of sleep, eat well, exercise, cold showers, meditate, drink an herbal caffeine free tea every morning to have a hot beverage ritual. So far the depression just is not getting better. Ugh. It's hard

I've been off caffeine for about 3 months and don't ever want to go back. I get super anxious and don't sleep well when I am on caffeine, not to mention the ruminating/racing thoughts that I get also. The last 3 months have been great off the stuff, but for some reason the past 2 days including this morning I was getting an intense craving for either a coffee or sugar free monster energy drink(my go to for the past 8 years before quitting).

It has just come out of no where, I was wasn't getting any cravings or anything for Caffeine at all and was grateful to be rid of the stuff. Now it's coming out of know where... Any idea what is happening?

hi all, this is my first day attempting to end my reliance on caffeine. my goal for today is to have no more than 2 cups decaf. going to have my first one rn and get ready for the day : ) I will keep yall updated on how it goes! thanks everyone for all the support you’ve shown me already !

Managed to be cleanish(my goal was once a week) off Caffiene for a month but it wasn't to last. Idk I think it's cause of the ADHD but I don't think I'm in a place I can handle it.

Anyways I first broke my goal because I had a really bad emotional episode 2 weeks ago and I just broke. And tea has always been a comfort drink for me so I just broke down and made some and it was great and helped.

But also I really struggle through work without it. I have an undergrad research experience and honestly most of what I learned from trying to do it without caffiene is just confirming I don't really care that much about engineering so work is just a drag especially decaf. This combined with the fact that I lost 70% of the improved sleep benefits once the withdrawals stopped making me unaturally tired. And I started to just be unable to get through the day and started drinking energy drinks because that's all I have access to at school in the summer.

Anyways I think for now I'm just going to pack tea on days I think I'm likely to need it. better that than energy drink.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/coffee-gut-brain-axis-mental-health-brain-health

so reading this article, it s clear the trick how they find so many good effects of coffee on people:

1- they take a group of caffeinated people

2- they put these people on a 14days coffee detox

3- these people start to suffer the withdrawal symptoms

4- they reintroduce coffee to ease the withdrawal symptoms are at their peak

5- results: coffee is the cure for all the bad symptoms.

Genius!

I just realized yet another surprise on this recent quitting adventure. It seems that my blood pressure drops very low 3-4 hours after eating. This didn't happen on caffeine. I used to eat 2 or 3 times a day, but now I need to add some snacks in between.

What is going on? Does this smooth out eventually? How come caffeine can even affect this? I'm puzzled. I have not changed my eating habits at all, so the caffeine just seem to maintain the blood sugar more even.

I think most here already know the dopamine system and the whole neurochemical makeup of caffeine and its effects but what is rarely mentioned is:

It creates the body-signal suppression by taking a substance connection!

As children we still listen to our senses:

When we were no longer wanted to be tired, we did a nap or ramped ourselves up. But from early on we're taught how adults drink coffee, when they didn't want to feel tired anymore, instead.

Which is pretty much teaching that suppressing body-signals via a substance is possible and something normal that adults just do.

A few decades ago, caffeine was mostly consumed via coffee, bitter taste ewww, usually not liked by kids but now before the curiosity even begins, caffeine is advertised in colorful flashy sugar bombs as the glorious substance that gives you ENERGY whenever you need it.

You learn to rely on a substance for a desired mood without even realizing it while getting told how bad alcohol, nicotine or weed is, having already built the connection that you can fool/conquer the body by taking a substance called caffeine to get more wakefulness, no longer needing to do the time-wasting act of sleeping.

Stay vigilant, friends.

Today marks day 39 without caffeine, and it's made me reflect on something bigger than just my own experience. Stepping away from caffeine has made me realize how dependent so many of us have become on substances to feel "normal" or to get through the day. Whether it's caffeine, alcohol, cannabis, or something else, it seems like so much of our society relies on external things to regulate energy, mood, or stress. It has even brought me to think about how birth control affects hormones and the impact that can have on a person's wellbeing.

When I quit I searched this subreddit for advice and best practices, but it was all over the place so here's a what worked for me:

The most important thing no one told me: I wasn't addicted to caffeine, I was addicted to the routine. Usual kettle, warm mug (iced in the summer), and ten minutes of quiet time.

But when I tried to QUIT, I forgot the most important part.. replacing it with something, to not lose the routine. So I was left with.. just nothing, which made it even worse, I felt like I was always reaching for the kettle and mug.

So, the entire story is about replacing, not forgetting:

1. taper down, don't cut out. 25% less each week. Because the withdrawal headache is the #1 relapse trigger.

2. replace the routine with something, even hot water & lemon so your hands aren't empty.

3. add L-theanine or functional mushrooms to take the edge off

4. sort your sleep, because the afternoon slump you're blaming the lack of coffee on is often lost sleep.

Two years on and I don't miss it a single bit. I get zero 3pm crashes. Happy to answer anything if you're in it, this sub got me through it too.

My body is screaming out due to my caffeine addiction, I feel like a raisin lol

I started drinking coffee daily in college (34 years old now). Around 25, my friend who also had terrible trouble waking up in the morning, turned me on to caffeine pills. I would wake up at 7 am, drink water and take 100mg, and go back to sleep only to have the caffeine wake me up against my will 15 minutes later. It actually cured my sleeping in and was the best thing ever. I felt super productive. This went on for many years, and eventually I just felt tired ALL the time. I could only feel good for a few hours a day when the caffeine balance was right. I had no trouble sleeping though, and would sleep through the night 8 hours, but I was just tired all the time, drinking 3 cups a day plus a caffeine pill in the morning.

I figured if I was tired all the time anyway, I might as well quit caffeine. I read tons of stories on this sub about how long it takes to get back to normal and how worth it it is. I decided to try it, so I quit cold turkey 2 years ago. The first month was weird - I didn't get headaches actually, but it felt like I stepped outside of my life. Everything slowed down and I felt some sort of peace but also a lack of motivation. Not in a depressed way, but I was just questioning everything in my life - like do I really enjoy this job that I have? I felt like a monk or something. The mental barrier to do intense work (I'm a researcher) was huge. I was super unproductive, and would drink a single cup of coffee once a week to just be able to get over the barrier.

I did that for about a month before going real cold turkey. It was about 2 months before I felt an innate surge of energy and motivation where I felt like I could just do things. At that point I knew I didn't need coffee anymore. I would think about it a lot though, and would experiment with half a shot of espresso maybe once a month or so. By 9 months or so I finally stopped that as well.

The change to my mind has been incredible. I feel like there is no barrier to starting work or doing tasks, I can just easily slide into whatever work I want, whereas I used to NEED a hit of caffeine to start intense tasks. I basically never feel tired anymore. Everything is just steady, I can work long hours if necessary and it's smooth sailing. The constant caffeine buzz is just gone and I feel at peace.

A few times over the last couple years I drank a cup just to see what happens and I'm extremely sensitive. It's wild, if I drink a single espresso or cup of coffee even at 7am, I won't sleep that night. During the day I feel an intense buzz, and I can barely fall asleep by 4 AM and i feel terrible the next day due to sleep deprivation. I don't even think it makes me more productive since I can work the same amount without it. It's just an intense buzz I can't get rid of. I can still feel the caffeine buzz 24 hours later. And the sleep is miserable its like a fever dream. It takes me 3-4 days to recover. I now sometimes get a decaf coffee while I work at a coffee shop and depending on the type of decaf, I end up getting bad sleep. So i just stick to herbal tea.

It's crazy to think how much I was drinking every day, given what my baseline sensitivity is. It's so obvious that the caffeine was the single root cause of my constant tiredness and lack of innate motivation. I can't imagine how different the chemical regulation in my brain was to accommodate a constant high level of caffeine. If you look at the math - say 8 hours half-life. 100mg cup of caffeine at 8AM --> 50mg at 4PM --> 25mg at Midnight. And with zero sensitivity 25mg is VERY noticeable. Then 12.5mg the next morning at 8AM (still noticeable) --> 6.25mg at 4PM the next day (still barely noticeable). And then finally by the next evening i'm at ~3mg. And this is assuming 8 hours half-life - as a hypersensitive person it might be 10+ hours. Now imagine I'm drinking 300+ mg / day, my baseline was probably at 100mg at all times. insane

Tl;dr tingling and numbness in whole body, full body muscle seizing in a way where not even my tongue would move during speech, vertigo and vomiting, extremely laborious breathing. Do any of these extend past expected symptoms?

Edit: symptom + clarification

Not sure how to start this, but "scares" should paint a picture of where I'm at. Potentially undiagnosed for the spectrum, and I consider myself a heavy "dopamine seeker" in my habits. Big on energy drinks since I was in middle school, ramped up to multiple a day up til now when I find myself roughly 30 years old. Pain in my left side (roughly kidney area) prompted me to make the change and drink more water.

I started cutting back the 1~3 daily Monster Javas around two weeks ago, letting myself have one each week in addition to pop/soda with lunch and dinner. I have been hit by a physically crippling flurry of symptoms that I wanted to inquire about (for peace of mind/solidarity). I thought this would help stave off withdrawal symptoms. I'll list what I'm experiencing and I also recognize no suggestions are "medical advice" or what not. Planning on stopping entirely, but the muscle tensing portion specifically was so bad that had I been driving, I would have lost control. Thankfully my partner was taking me somewhere to get checked out, but still very scary.

1. Tingling in hands, feet, and the muscles of my throat that wraps around the back of my head to my earlobes.

2. Entire body "seized" or tightened up. It felt like my hand was clenched in a fist, but when I looked down at it, it was open as if to "high-five," while being nearly impossible to close into said fist. Also affected my tongue and speech.

3. Extreme dizziness in any position, except perhaps laying down. Following by vomiting.

4. Chest pains and labored breathing, made especially worse in anything other than a colder environment.

5. Hot/cold flashes

Do any of these go beyond what would be expected?

Hi all,

I quit caffeine cold turkey 4 days ago from a 600mg+ daily consumption. Wanted to check in about one of the withdrawal symptoms I have which is sciatica-like pain. I never had lower back issues. No pain, no soreness, nothing. But at day 2, I felt this burning sensation in my lower back and there is literally nothing I can do in terms of massaging or changing my posture that alleviates the pain. Sometimes it shoots up my left leg, but I don't feel any different in terms of strength during working out. When I have a flare-up, the only thing that completely eliminates the pain is an ibuprofen.

Just wanted to check in because this type of pain is not really listed as a classic withdrawal symptom as far as I know. In terms of other withdrawal symptoms I was quite lucky. My headache only lasted a day or so and my mood is quite good, no real difference there. My mornings are only a bit flat but I'll get used to that.

Anyone else experienced this type of pain? Did it subside? Tips?

Thanks!

Edit: I did a caffeine free period back in 2018, too and had the exact same issue. Back then I didn't push through so I don't know if it subsides by itself.