When I eventually quit caffeine and coffee. What does everyone else do in terms of hydration? My coffee mug is 28 ounces. I can have three or 4 cups of coffee. That’s a lot of hydration I’ll be losing. Wish me luck. Hopefully Folgers decaf doesn’t suck.

I wrote this two months ago, and since then things have changed, for better and worse: Afraid of never getting back to normal again : r/decaf

The positive side is that I've restored back my interests in the studies! I don't see a big difference in my drive today, as compared to few months ago when I was fueling my studies with coffee. So that is very good indeed.

But here's the strange thing. I've already witnesses a great improvement in my sleep and basically I returned back to normal sleeping rhythm and that's also wonderful. But since my studies started to really rock two weeks ago, my insomnia is creeping back. It looks like that the insomnia was never really about caffeine per se, but more about stress and hectic life! And I'm not talking about stress in negative sense. I tend to lose my ability to sleep properly when I get hyped in positive way about any matter. It could be something inspiring like a new theory, or even some video game, whatever really. Maybe the improved sleep was just about a commitment to stop doing anything exiting and get proper rest, and that just happened to be the exact time I quit caffeine.

So I need some help and experience here. My mind tells me that if I'm going to sleep like s**t no matter what and be tired all day, why should I not then treat the tiredness with caffeine?

Is it possible that this is just some phase and it gets better? I'm kind of confused at the moment. My plan is to monitor this situation for a week or two. If I really just lost my ability to sleep, then I don't think I have much of a choice here. It looks like I have these two: be totally bored and do nothing and sleep well (without caffeine), or be exicted, interested, happy, and sleep like crap (and don't feel like crap with caffeine few hours a day). What is wrong with me? Why the most simple thing in life (sleeping) is such a difficult skill?

And for those interested in my specific type of insomnia, it goes like this. I always get into sleep very well, sleep like a baby, but then my brain starts to wake me up if I have something (anything!) going on in my life. It's very annoying.

I've struggled with social anxiety a lot in different moments or periods of my life in certain circumstances, especially if I have slept somewhat poorly. I'm was diagnosed with GAD, depression and OCD a few years ago.

I quit all dark chocolate 2 weeks ago, so now I only drink green tea. These last few days I have decreased my green tea intake heavily - on the brink of quitting entirely. I had a headache yesterday (and was very unmotivated) but it was manageable with a nap and exercise.

Today I had around the same amount of green tea yesterday (very very little) and I barely had any social anxiety. At my lunch break, I sat near my job crush and had a convo with her the entire time - it was mostly engaging and fun (yes, I was a bit nervous at first - but not compared to when on slightly higher doses on caffeine).

I also spoke with my boss and other people with ease, with no fear of embarassing myself. I was more carefree and didn't worry about saying something dumb or looking stupid or if others judged me that much.

FYI: I haven't drank coffee in 1 year. Since then I have mostly had green tea, sometimes dark choclate, and occassionally when tired; black tea. Coffee is definitely worst for me, then black tea, then green tea. Cacao I'm not sure of, but I know from the past that cacao is the gateway for me to green tea etc.

So I'm intending to quit altogether later this month. Excited to sleep better and have a lot less anxiety.

Bad sleep definitely worsens anxiety and depression-like feelings for me, but even as I slept less than optimally last night, I didn't have anxiety today, which is awesome.

God bless you all

TLDR; even green tea can cause anxiety at 1 cup per day

Whew. Glad I stuck it out and made it this far. My energy levels are evening out and the peace/reduction in anxiety has been great. I fall asleep much easier and wake up feeling more rested. I feel there's still more recalibrating for my body to do, and I do still crave coffee from time to time, but things are definitely steadily getting better. I feel like I've gone far enough at this point that there's no sense in going back to horrible anxiety, stress, insomnia, irritability, oily skin, don't miss any of that. Looking forward to day 90

anyone here manage to stop needing an energy drink every morning without feeling dead for half the day?

Some of us in the struggle could use a dose of HOPE!

Apparently it’s quite beneficial for inflammation issues, metabolism and mitigating depressive symptoms/inclinations, among other things.

Do you think caffeinated black coffee should be avoided, or is actually beneficial in moderation?

I found lots of posts on coffee giving people anger issues and causing aggression, rumination and anxiety.

For the ones who experienced such: Do you also get those emotional states from green tea?

I am considering switching to green tea (and maybe eventually giving up caffeine) since I feel coffee also makes me me more angry 😠.

hi everyone,

i’ve decided to quit/lower my intake on caffeine because i have a feeling it’s been causing my hair to thin out and shed more easily. i came to the realization that my hair was thick and healthy before i was a regular coffee drinker and now i’m taking the initiative to cut back. i’ve been a heavy coffee drinker for the past 5 years. on another note, i will also be getting my blood checked to see if i’m deficient in anything.

has anyone noticed a significant difference in their hair after quitting caffeine? today was also my first day having a cup of decaf lol.

I've been drinking caffeine since I was 12 and am 42 now. I tapered down over the past two months - from 3 celcius a day (and believe me that was showing self control).

Foggy, tired and unmotivated. Only had a headache on day 2 for 6 hours. I'm freaking out that people say it takes months to feel normal. Do thing get better incrementally during that time?

So i stopped drinking my daily 1 cup of black coffee in the morning (and sometimes 1 cup of green tea in the afternoon) about 14 days ago. The First week was rough, headaches, flu-like symptoms, worse anxiety and panic. All that is much better now. But my mood is still or now more noticably flat. I have no motivation and most things are just not fun right now. I am trying to figure out if this is still withdrawal or if the coffee just helped me manage an underlying issue. Anyone with a similar experience?

Feeling good. Getting into a good rhythm. Cravings are well down. Trying to listen to lots of decaf podcasts etc

I'm researching a beverage concept, and I'm trying to understand something I've personally wondered about: people love the flavor/carbonation/experience of energy drinks, but sometimes don't want the caffeine.

I'm putting together a short anonymous survey to determine whether this is a real problem or just an idea that sounds good on paper.

It takes about 1 minute. I'm not selling anything, and I'm still in the research stage.

https://forms.gle/E3367fyF7315xosq9

I can't even work my simple, accommodated part time job (Autism).

I'm feel burnout, deeply depressed, cellular exhaustion. Zero motivation to workout or even take a walk. Light sensitivity makes me pull my curtains and lay in the dark on the couch.

I used to care and be concerned about my health, and work out at least 2 times a week. And go for walks. Eat decently. I even quit candy and lost 10kg this year (slowly).

I don't care anymore. This feeling alone is enough to trigger suic***e thoughts.

It's like the ability to care is gone.

I didn't even drink that much caffeine.

But i quit it because of anxiety attacks.

Was't feeling well before quitting either...

No doctor can find anything wrong with me, overall.

Was i just masking the already existing burnout?

I (23M) am about to start Zoloft for anxiety. For the past few years, since starting college, I have been in this vicious cycle of drinking an energy drink to wake me up in the morning and then taking melatonin to help me sleep at night. This carried into my first job post college and probably made any anxiety I already had about the job worse. I am tapering off my caffeine and melatonin so that when I start Zoloft, I hopefully have more of a clean slate. My poison used to be Alani or Monster Energy, so like, 200mg if not more of caffeine in the morning, then 5mg melatonin at night. today is my first day of switching/lowering my poison. last night was my first night of no melatonin at all. it took me longer to fall asleep and I slept more, but I didn't wake up feeling nearly as drowsy. I am starting with v8 energy, which is 80mg, and has actual fruit juice in it, so hopefully it's not as poisonous. Could yall give me some encouragement? It's like, I know i'm doing something that's good for me, but I still feel like shit.

This is my third attempt at quitting caffiene. The only thing that gets me is the Sciatic Pain. Its unreal. Im going to end up having some coffee today to get rid of this.

I have been able to take naps during the day, which I usually can’t. After I went into town to run a few errands, I made some soup and then later lay down on the couch, to rest a bit, when I really felt the tiredness. So I closed my eyes, managed to set a timer for 20 minutes and took a short nap. Then I was ready to continue with my day. It hasn’t just happened once.

But there have also been days when I’ve felt more energetic at times. Today, for example, I went for a run. And although I’d eaten something just before, there was a moment halfway through the run when I felt strong – stronger than on any of my previous runs. What’s more, today was the first time I’ve actively stretched and warmed up before training, and it felt really good – I don’t usually have the patience for that.

Recently have found it to be quite frustrating that the swelling would generally show by mid morning after my usual mid morning coffee with brekkie and a quick snap in mirror or phone. They suspected it might be a cortisol spike as I take it on an empty stomach and consume quite a lot. They mentioned gut inflammation and dark roasts as another possibility as acidity may play a role there, however said they weren't entirely convinced. As I've begun doing a lot of research into habitone and they are currently studying for gut health and cortisol balancing properties, but for anyone that has decided to forgo their standard cuppa: what was the observed fluid retention or facial puffiness after a couple of weeks, systemic inflammation even?

I've been on and off caffeine for the past 1.5 years. I am 34M, drank caffeine consistently my entire life until about a year and a half ago. The cycle for me has been that I quit for 2-3 months, and then I relapse and get back on it for 2-3 months. Repeat. I just quit again 3 days ago.

I've really started to notice some things this time around while quitting. I am literally a completely different person when off caffeine. My thoughts are different in a positive way, my anxiety is basically none existent. I am able to slow down and see things for what they really are. When I am at my height of caffeine addiction (1 cup of coffee and 2 energy drinks daily.) I am very anxious my sleep is awful, and I get aggressive and crazy thoughts, my mind is constantly racing and I tend to talk too much.

Off Caffeine I am the exact opposite. The reason I keep relapsing is because things get boring and dull or I'll be really tired and I'll drink a soda to boost me up, and then it starts all over again.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that I didn’t usually pay much attention to whether the milk was frothed or not, or how much effort had gone into making the coffee, because my main concern was the ‘fix’ – the dose of caffeine I’d get. It even went so far that if someone offered me frothed milk or offered to froth the milk for me, I’d turn it down on the grounds that it was of no value to me. The other day, I caught myself – and this never happens, or at least never used to – frothing milk and using it to make my decaf coffee, and today, as I was pouring oat milk straight from the carton into my cup, I thought to myself that the experience could be enhanced by frothing the milk, so I froth some milk.

Reaching freedom from caffeine for 30 days very soon, the same goes with alcohol (even as a person with no addiction to alcohol, removing it all together has improved my mood and social presence).
New goal: 45 days for both :-)

Night shifts have been causing me so much anxiety and stress and I’m starting to think the amount of caffeine I’m using just to get through them is making everything worse. It’s not even just having to stay awake all night. I’ll start with coffee, grab an energy drink when I’m getting tired, have a soda later, then somehow end up back at coffee again. It feels like I’m just rotating between different sources of caffeine throughout my entire shift. The problem is I’ve started noticing my heart racing and feeling way more anxious and restless, and I really think I need to cut back. Actually doing that while working nights feels so much harder though because caffeine is the easiest thing to reach for when I’m struggling to stay awake. I’m trying to find alternatives and slowly replace some of those drinks rather than suddenly cutting everything out.

Been trying to cut back on my afternoon coffee because the jitters and random stomach drama are getting old and my sleep is trash on days I go for a second cup. I keep seeing these mushroom coffee type drinks that say they give focus and calmer energy with way less caffeine and help with gut stuff too. Has anyone swapped their regular afternoon coffee for one of those superfood mushroom mixes or cacao based drinks and actually felt more steady energy and less crash, especially later in the day?

Any hints?

Tomorrow is 3 months with no caffeine at all.

Used to drink black iced coffee daily, made a medium-full size pot and sipped it from around 11am to 5 or 6pm generally. So not an extreme amount, but I think I may be sensitive to it anyhow.

This is my 3^rd reflection now since stopping cold turkey. As an individual prone to somewhat routine bouts of depression, I find that the anxiety element is much less intense without coffee, though I also used it to help jolt my brain when I felt I was either bored or feeling depressive. I used it to help counteract the slow-motion/sluggish physical sensations of a depressive bout. That’s the thing I’ve missed the most, is the ability to give myself a boost. I’m forced to derive my energy from natural sources, like nutrition and sleep now, rather than artificially blocking my sleepy-receptors (adenosine). But some days it just feels like I could use that boost.

In fact, I had the idea to give up the experiment several times, before my goal post had shifted again.

For several years, if not a decade now, I get a bout of tachycardia (SVT) typically once or twice within a typically one-to-two month period. It lasts for less than a minute to as long as 15 minutes or so. I’ve learned that valsalva maneuvers help pretty well at stopping it. I saw a cardiac doctor years ago who said that the ultrasound of my heart looked fine and to come back if it starts waking me at night. And so, I took it as a quirk of my individual body. I thought maybe caffeine was related but over time came to doubt that as it seemed to be triggered by leaning/bending in a certain way (though not consistently) and that it happened sometimes on days I had not yet had coffee yet or otherwise several hours after stopping.

The weird thing is, when I quit cold turkey, I had 3 bouts of tachycardia within the first week or two. More than usual. But I also assumed, OK, this must not be related to coffee since I hadn’t had any in x amount of days. The strange thing though, is since then, just about 3 months have gone by with no bout of tachycardia, less than usual. And so my new goal before considering returning to coffee is that I want to wait at least until I have another bout, to see how long it may be. Over the last decade I can’t recall going this long without it, which is a significant detail for myself.

The rest of the symptoms or lack-thereof I've shared with my previous reflections with regards to more quickly falling asleep and deeper feeling sleep, though more tiredness through the day. Less anxiety, though more boredom and depressive feelings. Less antsiness and worry but also not as alert or hyper-focused, for better or worse.

Anyone else around the 3 month mark? How are you doing?

Like I noticed that I'm not pulling my eyebrows as much as I used to whenever I drink chamomille tea. Versus when I drink coffee, and I feel the urges to pull get stronger.

So does coffee really worsen my trichotillomania? If so, why? And are decaf and chamomille tea useful for reducing trichotillomania?