Caffeination

[JungianZoe]

It's been 11 days now since I last had a caffeinated drink.  In fact, with the exception of a lemonade on Tuesday, it's been 11 days since I drank anything but water.  Body and mind are still trying to adjust, I think, since I've been exhausted much of the time.  Not only physically, but mentally.  It's like I have this nasty case of writer's block and I can't string two coherent thoughts together.  But I also know that this is a hurdle that I have to get over so that I can be healthier.

Why couldn't caffeine be as easy to give up as meat was?

And I know this addiction is probably nothing compared to what some of you go through, but this is something I'm proud of given the level of my addiction.  Back when I was writing my thesis, in one day I drank 14 24-ounce bottles of Diet Mountain Dew and took six caffeine pills.  Granted, that was the last day of a 92-hour marathon writing session, but I averaged 120 ounces of caffeinated drinks per day even when I got plenty of sleep.  No coffee though because of a tannin allergy (and no tea because of the same).  So 11 days and counting.

I'm exhausted right now and have already had three naps this afternoon, but I'm fiercely resisting the two Mountain Dews in my mom's pantry fridge.  Think I might go to the store and go home before I'm too tempted to open one of those bottles.

[Devlyn]

Congratulations! If it feels like a milestone, it is a milestone! Hugs, Tracey

[JPurcell]

Congrats! I am trying (again) to stop drinking it, mainly because I drink no water at all if I have pop. I've been feelin very dehydrated so this morning I said no more! And kudos on giving up meat! I wish I could!

[JPurcell]

Oh, I just remembered. If you're craving caffeine but don't wanna drink pop just take a low dose caffeine pill. It's  the same besides the MD goodness haha.

[JungianZoe]

Oh, soda is like a double whammy!  Not just with the caffeine, but getting addicted to the sugariness and the feeling of carbonation.  Started drinking water with my morning Powerbar, and it doesn't have the kick it had when I washed down oatmeal raisin with a big yummy gulp of fizzy cold Mountain Dew.

This is torture!!   But I must persevere!  There's no going back now.  I'm living without caffeine and without headaches, so no getting addicted again.

[Joelene9]

  Me, no stronger than a Dr Pepper.  I have that with the take-outs and I take a six-pack to the campouts.  Lately, it is iced tea.  Working out at the cabin and in the garden, I drink more due to the effects of the Spiro.  I sweat a lot more than I used to.  The tea helps get the water down.  Me and my grandmother don't drink much water.  Unhealthy?  My grandmother had this condition all of her life.  She was 96. 
  Joelene

[justmeinoz]

Soft drink for breakfast?  The modern American diet is just so wrong on so many levels. I'd be looking at changing to an old fashioned diet like bacon and eggs and, if you can't have tannin, a large glass of milk.

Karen, the happy carnivore.

[Joelene9]

  The Mountain Dew addicts do have it for breakfast.  I don't do soft drinks until after lunch.  Hot tea once in a while on winter mornings with the hot oatmeal.  A 25 count box of teabags will last me all winter. 
  Joelene

[Janet_Girl]

Caffeine is hard to kick.  And it is in everything.  But you are doing it right.  I hate water, but I am told that a twist of lemon or lime helps to make it palatable.

[regan]

I once heard it takes three weeks to make or break an addiction - so you're over half way there.  Yay! 

I accept my caffene addiction, I work in a field that's known for addiction of some sort; so considering all that I could be addicted to caffene isn't the worst thing out there.

[Amazon D]

I have to have black coffee for breakfast made from freshly ground beans (french roast), about a 12 ounce cup a day. I don't drink sodas except once in a blue moon. What i hear about caffiene is its not bad. I drink lots of water when working outside by the garden and hose which comes from a very clean creek. I also will drink right from my well hose. The hose is probably not healthy but hey people in my family never seem to get cancer etc. I will never drink diet soads as they seem to block the bodies ability to pass fats through the body. All the people i know who drink diet soads seem to get fatter from them. Some people also get lupus from the fake sugar.

[Ann Onymous]

When I started trying to lose some weight a few months ago, one of the changes I made was scaling back on soda (I have a massive consumption history with DrPepper).  Given that I was going through close to a 12-pack every two days in the office plus a few more cans a night at the house and had been doing so for MANY years, I was worried given that so many people report withdrawal symptoms related to the caffeine. 

I was very surprised that I never had the headaches that some reported.  But then again I also never had the caffeine jitters from just drinking soda (even in my days of a Jolt Cola habit).  I miss the carbonation from my soft drinks though, and find that many mornings, bottled water just does not cut it for me.  Was it a habit?  Absolutely.  Do I believe it was an addiction?  Not really.  And while I do have the occasional DP, it isn't something that sends me in search of the nearest store running a special on 12-packs... 

[Devlyn]

Ahhhh......Jolt Cola! I forgot about that stuff.

[Princess Rachel]

I've switched to decaf coffee at home, but at work there's only caffinated coffee and colas to drink so I haven't cut it out of my intake altogether but since I do drink a lot of coffee at home it's probably a 75% decrease overall

[Padma]

I wish I still had the New Scientist article to give you on caffeine addiction - one of the reasons why it's harder to give up is that the withdrawal symptoms are severe, but they're very easily eased by a small dose of caffeine (which takes away the motivation to get completely clear of it). The best way to stop is to avoid it completely for a few weeks and put up with the internal readjustment while the body cleans itself up, and the liver goes off overdrive . This means avoiding the fizzy drinks, the pills, the headache tablets with caffeine in, and chocolate. And decaf, of course, which is just lesscaf. Good luck, and it's really bloody worth it - I knew a maths genius who messed his brain up with coffee and ended up falling a sleep a lot even standing up on trains until he managed to kick the habit.

[JungianZoe]

SO hard to stay off the caffeine today!  But my resolve is firm because today marks exactly two weeks clean.

Had a nuclear meltdown this morning that's left me exhausted and full of headaches, and I'm at my mom's house where the last two bottles of Diet Mountain Dew reside.  Would love more than anything to take a nap, but I don't have my bite guard here.  The only three times I've fallen asleep without my bite guard in the last 15 years, I've broken fillings or chipped teeth because I clench my jaw so tightly.  I tried taking a quick nap last week with my tongue between my teeth, and woke up with my tongue so numb that it still doesn't feel right five days later.

But I will NOT drink that caffeine!!

[mimpi]

Used to drink lots of coffee back in Italy but here in the UK hardly ever as I've never liked coffee made at home. Don't drink milk so it has to be a properly made espresso and that's very hard to find outside of Italy, in UK either they make it too "long" or they adjust the grinder so the dosage/grammatura is insufficient and it comes out watery.

Diet Coke is my weakness, wish I could stop drinking it.

[Shanan]

You can do it Zoe! Caffeines a lightweight, and you have way more charisma

[annette]

Coffee is my wake up call, I like it.
Maybe I am totally wrong but I use coffee, meat and all the other things that I like.
I'm living my life like it's the last day and I'm pleasantly surprised when there is another day left to enjoy.
I do laugh a lot, I think that's what keeps a human healthy.(and happy)

[JungianZoe]

Well, I made it to 28 days before breaking down and having caffeine.  Then I did it again the next day because there was one bottle of Mountain Dew left at mom's house that expired on September 6th.  I couldn't let them expire.   After that, I waited a week and had a can of Pepsi.  That was Thursday.

At this point, I figure that as long as I don't get addicted again, it's okay to have little bits every once in a while as needed.  I realized from the three times I've had caffeine in the last six weeks that it REALLY calms my brain down.  Last night I couldn't sleep--even after spending nearly five hours in bed--because I couldn't get my mind to stop racing to every nasty thought it was capable of drudging up from the depths.  It was scary and deeply upsetting.  Caffeine gives me an amazing calmness of mind to the point that I can actually be productive and put my brain onto tasks at hand.

My doctor put me on Ritalin last month, and maybe it's the tiny dosage I'm on, but it's not putting a dent in my racing thoughts and inability to concentrate long enough to accomplish a single thing.  Literally, it's so bad for me right now that I sometimes get distracted from going to the bathroom.  We could raise my dosage on the pills, but I don't have insurance and even the generic Ritalin is too expensive for me to afford right now... so I'm going to have to go off it completely.  Caffeine shuts the door on those racing thoughts though.  It calms me down SO much, even after my body broke the physical addiction.