Quitting coffee

[steveindenmark]

I have been cutting down on the coffee for a few days now.

I find during the mid morning a headache comes on. I have half a cup of weak coffee and the headache clears away. I will carry on like this next week and hopefully the headaches will stop.

 

[Katherine]

I have decided I drink far too much coffee. Not only do I have it at breaks, I also have a thermos mug of it on my desk at all times. I took the decision to cut coffe out and stopped drinking it altogether yesterday morning.

It is not as easy as I thought it would be.

I woke up this morning with a headache and felt pretty crap. I swapped the coffee for hot water with a spoon of sugar and a piece of ginger. Its nice but I think I have got coffee withdrawl symptoms.

I had half a cup of coffee at the break and feel a lot better now.

I think I will drastically reduce the coffee intake. But not cut it out altogether to start with.

Has anyone else tried this before?

Yes, I've tried. I had to to reduce the amounts I drank to stop me me being too reliant and I suppose jittery is a good description. I have cut down drastically though which make the remaining 3 cups a day very important. I have found that I would rather drink less cups than make it weaker. First thing in the morning is the most critical one and I save some of it to wash down my breakfast instead of having a second cup, without it I am slow, grouchy and make mistakes. The second one mid morning, is also pretty crucial to getting through the day and the one after school helps to pick me up and get going again.
If I am going out for the day, I often take a flask.

 

[stephec]

I usually have two or three large espressos a day, but every now and then I have to work away.

We go to the same place in Germany where the hotel doesn't do decent coffee, and the place we're working at is even worse.

Even when I'm there for a week I've never had any kind of withdrawal symptoms, unless it's the beer that's masking them.

 

[DanZac]

I' m not a coffee drinker (can' t stand the stuff) but can confirm through personal research that there is enough caffine in tea to give the same withdrawal effects. I probably have 4 mugs of tea a day, but if i miss out for 24 hours its headache central.
I guess it must just be the leves of caffine l that your body is used to that causes the problrm.
Not sure if it matters how you get it, for instance could a can of coke ( which i belive has caffine in it) replace a coffee to avoid the withdrawal symptoms?

 

[Electric_Andy]

I gave up caffeine 4 months ago. I went cold turkey, wasn't too bad after the headaches went. I'm now free of another drug that was ruling my mornings! I also cut out sugar and milk. Now i drink Rooibos tea all the time, they do original flavour, earl Gray and green tea, all naturally caffeine free.

 

[Randomnerd]

Found the best way to reduce coffee intake was to buy a manual grinder and beans. Slows down the process; makes the process a ritual; the time involved means you don't drink so much. And the superior taste leaves you only wanting the stuff you make, and you eschew all other inferior coffees. Looking forward to my early breakfast coffee, and maybe one when I get home.

 

[vickster]

I' m not a coffee drinker (can' t stand the stuff) but can confirm through personal research that there is enough caffine in tea to give the same withdrawal effects. I probably have 4 mugs of tea a day, but if i miss out for 24 hours its headache central.
I guess it must just be the leves of caffine l that your body is used to that causes the problrm.
Not sure if it matters how you get it, for instance could a can of coke ( which i belive has caffine in it) replace a coffee to avoid the withdrawal symptoms?

Are you replacing those 4 mugs of tea with water? If not dehydration, could be the issue not the caffeine. As much as caffeine is a diuretic, if you take out the liquid consumption from the tea / coffee, a headache could follow as most are caused by dehydration

 

[mjr]

We go to the same place in Germany where the hotel doesn't do decent coffee, and the place we're working at is even worse.

Even when I'm there for a week I've never had any kind of withdrawal symptoms, unless it's the beer that's masking them.

Maybe that's a test for coffee addiction? Do you think bad coffee is better than no coffee?

[QUOTE 4690536, member: 9609"]...given up caffine completely ... bought a jar of proper coffee. first break I brewed up and had a couple of cups, I thought I was going to have a heart attack, ...[/QUOTE]
Sorry but you owe me a keyboard! Great description of what happens if you suddenly restart heavily!

 

[Jody]

I am inclined to suffer headaches so have pretty much cut it out now. Wouldn't advise going cold turkey though or you will get withdrawals.

I have a cup of tea in the morning first thing, then I have started drinking Barleycup for the rest of the day. Tastes like a mild, creamy coffee and I find it quite pleasant. No caffeine, and gluten free also for those bothered with that.

I'm the same as you. Developed caffine sensitivty which I put down to excess of energy drinks some years ago but cut them out now. You don't realise how many you drink in a night when hammering it with copious amounts of vodka.

Anyway, got to a point where a two or three cups of strong tea a day would leave me with blinding headaches. Didn't initially think it would be the tea. Cut it out totally and the headaches dissapeared. I tend to only have the odd cup now on an add hoc basis if I feel like it and drink water the rest of the time. Feel much better for it aswell.

Keep at it @steveindenmark Its not easy to knock caffine on the head