Caffeine, you are my nemesis!

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Dave

Staff member
So a few days ago I got busy doing something (what it was is immaterial to the story). That night I realized that I'd only had 1 soda that entire day. The next day I consciously decided to drink juice/Sprite/root beer. Yesterday I again went without caffeine. Today is the third full day without it and really the fourth as the single soda I had was a Mr. Pibb (which has 40.8 mg of caffeine).

This morning the headaches began. My brain is inside my skull attempting to tunnel out & run for it. Stupid thing should just ooze out of my ears but instead is trying to go right out the front right above my eyes. I would take some pain medication, but all I have is Excedrin. Active ingredient? Caffeine.
 
Yeah, I tried doing that once and by day 2 my head was pounding so hard I thought my brain had a hammer. Because I have terrible will power, I gave in and had a soda. I did switch to diet sodas and that helped me lose weight at least.
 
I'm down to 2 cans of Dr. Pepper a day, but when I worked at the factory it was more like 3 20 oz bottles.Still, going without those two cans is a bitch, and if I am out of soda before the next shopping day I'll drink a ton of chai tea to compensate.

I'm with ya Dave, those caffeine headaches suck balls.
 
J

Jiarn

I've stopped drinking my Monster drinks and have cut back to just diet soda. Mostly Coke Zero and Diet Dr.Pepper. Going to be weening off that using "Energy" water packets (zero sugar).
 

Cajungal

Staff member
I go through cycles of ingesting less caffeine. When I want to cut back for a while, I make myself a small pot of weak coffee and drink about 3-4 ounces in the middle of the day. It's not enough caffeine to affect me, but it pacifies me somehow. It's probably mostly the flavor of the coffee.
 
I run a coffee shop. I drink a hell of a lot of coffee. And no one can stop me! :aaah:

But seriously Dave, have you thought about switching to black tea? Much lower dose of caffeine. Might help your body accept you easing off caffeine.
 

Dave

Staff member
I really put no planning into this. I just realized that I'd had almost 0 caffeine and felt okay, so I thought I'd take it a step further. I am starting to doubt my decision.
 
How hard was it and what was your reason? I'm curious.


I had several reasons for doing it but the main reason was for my health. I didn't drink coffee but I did drink soda and energy drinks all the time. Now I am not a huge fan of real sweet stuff and eventually the question arose of "why am I doing this?".

I knew I needed to lose some weight and I was concerned about my blood pressure/heart rate since high blood pressure runs in the family. So I decided to knock out sodas and most sweets except for on rare occasions. I went into it rather slowly. At first I cut back on the sodas I drank and after awhile I moved onto drinking club soda cause despite not liking how sweet the sodas are I really did enjoy the carbonation. I would mix in some lemon juice or some other flavoring to the club soda at first and eventually I stopped adding any additives.


I still drink club soda cause as I mentioned earlier I enjoy the carbonation but I don't miss soda/energy drinks at all. As far as side effects I didn't really notice to much. I remember being really tired and I had some mild headaches but nothing to major. After awhile I just felt normal but it did take a little bit. I will say that I do miss the caffeine every now and than just cause sometimes I wake up after only 3 hours of sleep and realize I have the whole day in front of me but overall I don't regret my decision.
 
W

Wasabi Poptart

"I can't live - if livin' is without you." I love you, coffee! I don't need soda or energy drinks. Just you and your creamy, yet bold, deliciousness. I have tried giving you up, but my life was incomplete. I'll never leave you, baby, I promise.

 
I probably ingest just under the minimum lethal dose of caffeine in a day, moreso if it's a night shift. I don't even want to think about the withdrawal pains I would go through quitting it.
 
I was put on a mixture of Coke and water when I was an infant because I was allergic to all forms of milk (including my mum) and the doctor wanted to get calories into me. Remember, this was back in the dark ages when we were still using leeches.

So I've been drinking the shite since I was 6 months old. I'm not about to stop now. I think my head would implode.
 
I used to drink a lot of soda in high school, then my best friend had neck surgery and had to stop drinking soda, so I stopped too to make things easier. After everything was better, I just never started drinking much soda again. I still enjoy a can of soda here and there (still best from a can!!) but sometimes I get through half a can and forget about it.

I do, however, drink A LOT of coffee. Didn't drink much of it until probably 2 years ago... now it is just <3. Doesn't really give me a kick start in the morning or keep me awake longer if I drink it late. I just love the taste of it and it just makes my day that much better.
I'll drink before bed and sleep right after, actually. Some days I enjoy a whole pot of coffee to myself and then share another pot of coffee with Mike. But then there are some days I don't drink any coffee and I'm a-okay. But if I go without coffee for 3-4 days I may get a small headache and wonder where the hell it came from and sleep it off.

Anyway, this post was not helpful. :p
 
W

Wasabi Poptart

I've been drinking coffee since I was 10.
Me too. I used to drink it black with a teaspoon of sugar. Now I drink one cup in the morning with half & half, no sugar and one in the afternoon, black.
 
Need that cup of coffee to start the day and I'll usually have a soda at some point, otherwise my skull detonates. Feed the addicttion Dave! Wash that excedrin down with a coke and a shot of espresso and you should start to feel better. Black coffee Wasabi? You're drinking that stuff for taste?
 

Dave

Staff member
Well, it's now nearly 4 pm (my time) and the headache is gone and I actually feel fine. I'm still dragging ass a bit (insert old droopy guy joke here) but maybe I'm over the metaphoric hump...
 
Never drank coffee and had caffeine free diet coke forced on us as children. Also my favourite soft drink is Root beer...no caffeine.

The side effect of this is that if I drink anything with caffeine after 5PM, I'm wired all night long.
 
Hahaha! I ran an HPLC lab with my students today. They had to ID and quantify... caffeine! I love that little molecule! My old LC/MS system used a caffeine peak to calibrate the instrument.

Here's to you, Caffeine!
Added at: 18:24
Never drank coffee and had caffeine free diet coke forced on us as children. Also my favourite soft drink is Root beer...no caffeine.

The side effect of this is that if I drink anything with caffeine after 5PM, I'm wired all night long.

Same. I barely drink any coffee ever. And I usually do root beer, or like a can of diet Coke. If I have one cup of coffee in the morning, I'm wired that whole day and night.
 
Same. I barely drink any coffee ever. And I usually do root beer, or like a can of diet Coke. If I have one cup of coffee in the morning, I'm wired that whole day and night.
I will say I did Vodka and Red Bull pretty constantly while I was in Vegas the second time last year. Sometimes you want to be awake at 4AM!
 

Dave

Staff member
Well, I lapsed. I am currently drinking a Mr. Pibb (Pibb Xtra) while eating burgers at home. It was this or water and I HATE drinking water with my meal. So I'm not cold turkey.
 
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