Best Way To Beat A Caffeine Addiction?

ethanms writes "I'm pretty sure that I'm addicted to caffeine... I get nasty headaches if I skip coffee and soda for a day. If I go even longer, then the headaches get worse and I start to become (even more of) a pain in the ass to those around me. Within five or ten minutes of a cup of joe or can of Mountain Dew the headache is gone and I feel fine... There's plenty of advice out there for dealing with addiction, but I'm really interested in how other /. users have managed and controlled their own caffeine intake, especially considering how heavily it is pushed by many development / engineering communities. 'Just drink more' isn't really the answer I'm after either."

Easy

Start smoking.

Re:cut your dosage

You've never been addicted to caffine have you?

I would get headaches, irratablity, muscle spasms, and stomach cramps. I would also feel just plane drained and I felt like I had not energy what so ever. This was if I didn't drink any caffine for the day. A can of pop would clear them up in about 5 minutes or so.

The way I got off it was just go cold turkey. Be sure to drink lots of water, and juice also helps. In about a week your body should have all the caffine flushed out of it and any withdrawls should be completely gone.

An interesting side effect I had way that after about 6 months of no caffine just drinking a can of Pepsi gave me a major buzz. I'm not currently living caffine free but my intake is down to one 20oz a day with lunch, any maybe a glass or two with dinner when I go out to eat once or twice a week.

Re:cut your dosage

If your main source of caffeine is soda, then you really haven't dealt with serious caffeine withdrawal unless you were drinking a few litres a day. I was up to almost a gram a day at my worst last year... just for reference, soda is generally 35-45 mg per serving (55 for mt. dew). So that's maybe 20 servings of soda, assuming a good mix of mt. dew and coke products.

I of course used much more potent forms of caffeine... coffee, tea in large quantities, and of course candies, gums, mints (TONS of penguin mints... I bought them by the case every month or so), and I even showered with caffeinated soap from thinkgeek...

Re:cut your dosage

Tea is actually a really good way to wean yourself from caffeine if cold turkey isn't working for you. Tea comes in MANY varieties, and has different amounts of caffeine for each (do a little research). You can find some that are nearly as high in caffeine per cup as coffee, and others as low as 1mg per cup.

Find some types that you really *enjoy* the flavor of, and then order them from highest caffeine to lowest. Figure out a schedule and work your way down accordingly.

Not only did this work for me, but there are a lot of other benefits to drinking tea or green tea.

Re:cut your dosage

I had a bit of a wise word from an old work colleague concerning addiction to caffeine, among other things.

He said that if you get really sick, you can quit almost anything you're addicted to.

So, follow the advice above by tapering off to a point that you are confortable with. Then, the next time you get really sick, decide to go cold turkey and not pick up the habit again.

I got kidney stones, partly from drinking 6-8 Cokes a day (full of caffeine, carbonated water, and sugar -- lots of diuretics), and partly from not drinking enough water. I spent three days in the hospital for that one. After that, I really dropped off the Cokes and increased my water intake.

The only other time I got a kidney stone was just before I finally decided to really cut back on caffeine. Fortunately, I didn't have to go to the ER with this one....

I'll tell you that caffeine withdrawal doesn't begin to compare with kidney stones!!!

So, scale back now, and quit the next time you get really sick....

I now drink Coke ONCE a month.... (I never liked coffee or tea, though.) I may drink a hot chocolate once or twice a month during the fall/winter months. I occasionally eat chocolate. I drink lots of water, instead.

I don't get kidney stones any more, either....

Actually this is a good idea!

Here's a paper [nih.gov] describing the positive effects of nicotine. Since cancer generally takes 20-30 years from the time you start smoking, if you're around 50 or 60 years old, the positive effects of starting to smoke outweigh the negative effects, although the studies aren't complete [umd.edu] yet.

Some doctors have considered prescribing nicotine [washingtonpost.com] as a cure for a variety of ailments, including schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, attention deficit disorder and colitis.

I'm thinking about it!

Re:Actually this is a good idea!

That's not nicotine, it's one of the B vitamins. I don't recall the exact name anymore (haven't lived in Japan for over a year) but it's not nicotine. This has been discussed on /. before, some time ago. At any rate, the name of that particular B vitamin does begin with "nicotin."

To address the original poster's question, I'm semi-addicted to caffeine, but not to the point that I get headaches if I stop, and I often go without any caffeinated drinks from Friday afternoon until Monday morning.

If you're really heavily stuck on caffeine, though, a slow tapering off is the best way to do it. Since part of the thing with caffeine is the act of drinking coffee (just as with cigarettes, it's not just the nicotine addiction, but the physical act of smoking), so one approach (I haven't tried it, but it seems logical) is to start cutting the caffeine level in your coffee by mixing it with decaf. Start with mostly regular and a little decaf, and gradually increase until it's eventually all decaf.

If that's too much work, get some caffeine pills and figure out how many equal one cup of coffee. Start with a full load, then start backing down by one pill, and then another, until there's only one left. Then maybe to half a pill, or maybe just go cold turkey at that point.

Or, take two weeks of vacation and have yourself locked in a room with no access to coffee, just an Internet connection and a toilet, and have your meals passed through the door :-)

Re:Actually this is a good idea!

Nonsense!

The article starts like this:

"

For the smoker, nicotine has a positive effect on attention, cognition and mood."

So in other words the positive effects are there only for the already addicted smoker who is suffering the effects of withdrawal symptoms.

This is probably similar to the effect coffee drinkers perceive when they have their first cup of the day. It's as if a mist clears in your head and you can think clearly again. This mist however is something that only coffee drinkers experience and is a coffee withdrawal symptom. People who do not drink coffee do not have a mist in their heads to clear up.

So be smart just don't smoke!

Re:Water & Exercise

Best way to quit is to substitute coffee with something like sparkling water and starting an exercise regime.

you sound like someone who's never had a cup of coffee in his life.

if yr a caffeine addict (as i am) you know that during withdrawal you are too debilitated to type let alone exerise.

now, i've quit coffee twice successfully in my life (and returned voluntarily and deliberately) and have developed a "formula":

• take a week off work - and everything else.
• take a lot b-complex vitamins. four b50's a day shoud do it
• make liberal use of vasoconstrictor spray. something with xylo in it like otrivin.
• ibuprofen combined with the xylo will releive most of the sinus headaches.
• if you can get melatonin, get it. this will get you over the withdrawal insomnia.
• drink lots of water. sparkling's okay - i'd suggest s'pelgrino or grolschteiner (sp?)
• if this fails try again with a mild antidepressant. st. john's wort for instance or if you want something stronger you can get wellburtin from your doctor for "quitting smoking". be careful with antidepressants though! and remember they take a couple of weeks to "pack".

good luck!

Re:Water & Exercise

When I worked in NY in film and later on Wall St, we drank lots and lots of coffees. And to make us happy, clients and people who needed us would bring us espresso. Life was good.

Then I worked from home one day and was out of both sugar and milk (yes, I'm a wuss). Meant to go out. 1.5 blocks to my coffee shop, back when they were manned by cool people with good music who made a decent wage. Never got there.

Spent from 4:30 on in bed with the shades drawn and a headache and "extreme stomach discomfort". (this is a family site.) Decided enough was enough. Got some mountain dew to at least ween off it. (I was drinking 4-5 espresso's/day).

I now generally stop drinkiing it in July. I get righteous and mock my friends who need coffee. But then, Aug 1, I make a tripple dose latte and enjoy that rush that's been missing for a year. Woo Hoo! That's the payoff

So:
Reduce intake - duh. Unlike cigarettes, you don't have CRAVINGS for coffee. You have a headache and feel like crap - for a day.
Drink water (not soda, not beer, just plain water). it's good for you in general. I keep a nalgene bottle by my desk. It hydrates you.
Caffeine opens blood vessels. Drink water, pop a couple asprins.

When you really cut off, do it on a wasted saturday (rainy, useless, no thinking needs).
A Week!? I suppose if you drink 8-10 cups a day. On the other hand, cut back first. My boss switched to decaf in the afternoon. Then started cutting his post-10 AM coffees with half decaf. Ended up with 2 cups of caffeinated per day.

A day is quite reasonable cause you'll be fuzzy and might feel like crap. And suck it up, this ain't morphine or nicotine. It's freaking coffee. If you're addiction is soda, then it's about sugar.

Oh, if you're in Europe (france, italy), the above applies less. My french friends mock american coffee. They make me coffee and pass me a glass of water to dilute it to "american strength". (I just dump 2-3 sugars in instead).

I swear french coffee is:

• Make 2 espressos.
• change the grounds
• dump the 2 espresso's back into the machine through the fresh grounds.

No needle? Use a cup to injest it.

Drink less of it

Drink more water.

Repeat until no caf.

Re:Water & Exercise

Ahh.. yes.. Back when I first got into caffeine overdosing. lol...

I would drink coffee for much the same reasons that people would drink alcohol - when depressed, down, sad, etc go out and drink.

When my girlfriend at the time dumped me, I headed straight to the coffee shop. Ordered "Walk the Plank". This is 24oz of concentrated espresso, as the sign on the coffee shop wall calls it. And then the added bonus to this, was throwing some ice in it, to cool it down to a palatable temperature. 15 minutes later, and 24 oz of espresso less, in my glass.. order another one. This one made it about half an hour on my table. Then I got up to drive home. Had to stop at a friend's house halfway between the coffee shop and my home, and explain that I was so wasted on caffeine that I couldn't drive. I fell asleep, almost immediatly when my head hit the pillow on the couch. I woke up, about 5 hours later, SO WIRED I COULDN'T FREAKING BELIEVE it, and was then awake for the next 52 hours continuously.

I try to keep my caffeine intake down to a bottle of Mt. Dew or so a day now.

Sleep through caffeine withdrawal

Summary: I kicked the caffeine addiction. The lack of caffeine had me sleeping incredible amounts of time during the withdrawal. Tylenol kept me functional for the months of headaches. I substituted other drinks with varying degrees of success until water became my main drink.

---
I was a major caffeine addict. I sometimes drank a few pots of coffee at night, but my major addiction was to Pepsi. I drank at least a gallon of Pepsi each day for 8 years, and sometimes finished 4 2-liter bottles in one day. Sometimes I drank Jolt instead, but still in large quantities. I usually slept about 2 hours per day, with a crash for 12 hours of sleep once a fortnight.

Pepsi destroyed my stomach. I did not have an ulcer, but I did have constant acid reflux. This may also have become a problem because before the support job, I rarely had to speak much. As phone support, I was talking for 10 hours per day. The new pattern of my mouth constantly moving may have caused my stomach to believe that food was coming, and I rarely ate while doing support. (Anybody doing phone support should have some kind of snack to keep the stomach happy. If you are over-weight, make the snack something like Pirate's Booty that has no value except to give your stomach something to work on.)

I was transferring from support to administration. My first day as an administrator would not be for 2 months, but I definitely had the job, so I was not worried about my performance in support. It seemed the perfect opportunity to kick the addiction.

I first switched from Pepsi to Mountain Dew, thinking that the lemon-lime drinks had less caffeine. (You can laugh now.) After reading the label and realizing my mistake, I switched to Gatorade. No caffeine, but tons of sugar to match the Pepsi.

I slept 10 hours every day during withdrawal, and woke up still tired. I had headaches for the first time in my life. I learned the joys of Tylenol, which was necessary so I could think while learning my new job.

Withdrawal lasted almost 3 months. After the first 2 months, the sleep I required started to reduce until by 6 months I was sleeping 4 hours a day, which is what I needed before the addiction.

After about a year, I switched from Gatorade to Sprite. That lasted another year, then I switched to water. I actually overdosed on water. The lack of sugar meant that my tastebuds did not recognize that I was drinking, so I was constantly thirsty. After pouring about 4 gallons of water through my system in 5 hours, my throat was stripped (and I was sick of running to the bathroom every 20 minutes.) I had to alternate Sprite and water for a week. Then I managed to stay with water with an occasional Sprite until this April, when Tropical Sprite (sold under the silly name "Sprite Remix") was released. I really like it, and it became my primary non-alcoholic drink for the Summer, after which I switched back to water.

---
After-effects:
If I have any caffeine, I feel it immediately. About half an hour afterwards, I crash; it becomes almost impossible to stay awake. I will not drive a car for the hour after I have caffeine. (This happens because many restaurants have awful-tasting water and do not serve alcohol or Sprite, so I try the root beer. Waitresses usually insist it is not caffeinated, but they are often wrong.)

---
The parent post's advice seems good. I wish I had read it before my attempt. One week was not enough for my withdrawal, but YMMV.

Re:Water & Exercise

Let me add an additional incentive: caffeine, as with many stimulants can do unpleasant things to your heart.

From http://www.cdc-cdh.edu/hospital/cardio/art44.html [cdc-cdh.edu]:

Does caffeine cause dangerous heart irregularity?:

Yes, even in persons who are "otherwise healthy." In patients with coronary artery heart disease, with or without angina (chest pains), and/or hypertension (high blood pressure), drinking coffee or cola drinks, or drinking or eating chocolates, can precipitate a heart irregularity called PVCs (Premature Ventricular Contractions) or even palpitation (rapid heart pounding).

Now before folks call me alarmist, this is not true of everybody. I happen to be someone with a very high sensitivity to caffeine, and one of my brothers has this too, though interestingly neither of my parents do. I discovered how sensitive I was to caffeine after it put me in the cardiac wing of a hospital for a day and a half with an atrial fibrillation, even though I am fit and don't smoke.

That experience has left me thinking that people are awfully blasee about using what can be a very strong stimulant for people with certain biochemistry. So let me add that to all the other excellent advice about getting used to drinking water.

One other thought:
If you don't have hypertension, you might try snacking on sunflower seeds periodically. The salt gives you a wicked urge to drink water, and the seeds take enough work to crack that you don't really go through that many calories.

Re:Actually this is a good idea!

I also hear that feeding your children lead-based paint chips can make for a tasty afternoon snack that is low in calories and fat. What more could a parent ask for?

Re:Actually this is a good idea!

Nicotine is something your body needs, and actually produces itself.

I call bullshit. Nicotine is an alkaloid and a poison, and while there are drugs (hallucinogens even) that occur in the body, nicotine is not one of them. There is nicotinic acid (niacin or vitamin B-3) but that's a precursor [calpoly.edu] to nicotine in tobacco plants. In humans it's a precursor for molecules like NADH. Nicotine acts at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, but not at muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. Acetylcholine and nicotine have little else in common.

Re:Lots of things your body uses are poison

Acetone is naturally produced in the body when acetoacetate spontaneously decarboxylates to form it (instead of being enzymatically reduced by NADH to beta-hydroxybutyrate). When people go on that Atkins diet, the ketogenesis overflow pathway is very active and you can smell acetone on their breath. Plus it is present in dietary sources. So the body can handle its presence and you can ingest a tablespoon of acetone with no ill effect. But the OP wasn't talking about acetone. It was talking about nicotine, and claiming it is legitimately found in the body. It is not.

Whether or not it's called a "poison", if you're going to claim that nicotine is produced naturally in the body, the onus is on you to say where.

Re:Actually this is a good idea!

All things considered, the positive effects of cocaine outweigh nicotine by a mile

Let me guess -- you haven't actually been around a lot of hard core cocaine users have you? Still at that honeymoon phase perhaps?

and it wouldn't be all that much more expensive

Yup, definitely still at that honeymoon phase -- snorting a quarter gram a week or so isnt that expensive. Lets just hope you get bored before you freebase all the equity in your house as a number of my friends have. Then we'll see how expensive you think it is...

Re:Actually this is a good idea!

Houses are cheap.

They are if you live Buttfuck, Nebraska or in your mom's basement. They aren't if you live in London or New York and have ten years worth of mortgage payments in equity.

Freebasing is a long forgotten art.

By the time you've developed a taste for it, you'll find that whipping up a few rocks with bicarb in the microwave achieves exactly the same effects. And there's nothing at all artful about spending a weekend picking your face, pulling your hair out or crawling around the carpet looking for that last tiny piece of rock that you swore you'd dropped.

Re:Easy

Cold turkey is easiest if you wean yourself away from the psychological triggers first.

Change your coffee drinking habits before you stop drinking it altogether.

With smoking, I stopped doing it indoors, whether I was at home or in a public place where it wasn't allowed anyway, it was helpful to get in a habit where I couldn't do it in my comfort zones.

Figure out what routines you have that are typically accompanied by a cup of java and do something to modify them. Even if it means putting off reading the paper till 2 minutes before you have to leave for work and you only have time for a quick sip before you run out the door.

Break the habits and surviving the first 72 hours will be MUCH easier.

And if quitting doesn't work the first time, rest a week or two, and then try again. Don't give up trying and promise yourself you'll try again next year. Push yourself a bit farther each time instead.

Re:Easy

Start smoking.

Getting pregnant worked for me.

Most slashdotters will have to go with the smoking thing, though.

Mental discipline

How about just stop taking caffeine, nicotine, or whatever it is you are addicted to (if you wish to stop that is).

Re:Mental discipline

How about just stop taking caffeine, nicotine, or whatever it is you are addicted to (if you wish to stop that is).

I suppose that would work, but have you ever had a caffeine-withdrawl headache? Maybe spending an indefinite amount of time with piercing pain in your head sounds okay to you, but I'd imagine ethanms would rather find a less painful alternative.

Re:Mental discipline

I suppose that would work, but have you ever had a caffeine-withdrawl headache?

I stopped getting them (the caffeine-based ones at least, see below) after about a month when I quit.

I'd tried reducing my caffeine intake, but I just kept going back to it (especially when I had early morning meetings), so I figured cold turkey was the only way it was going to happen.

I'd been drinking caffeinated beverages of one kind or another for about fifteen years (since I was ten or so), and at the end of it I was taking No-Doze in the morning and drinking a thermos full of coffee or black tea every day.

It's been about six months, and I have only two minor complaints:

- I can't drink the tea at my favourite Chinese restaurant [bamboogarden.net] anymore.

- *Not* drinking caffeine (a painkiller) means that now I feel the migraines I've apparently been getting for a few years (according to my doctor). They're pretty infrequent, though, so I just keep a bottle of aspirin around.

It took about three months before I wasn't really tired in the mornings. After that I was able to sleep normally and my hands don't shake anymore. Maybe I can finally use a soldering iron properly =).

Re:Mental discipline

Migraines tend to be a problem where the blood vessels in your head expand, causing extra pressure in your head. This is why many migraine sufferers have 'aura' or weird visual effects. The expanded blood vessels put pressure on the optic nerve.

Caffeine is a vaso-constrictor, meaning it makes your blood vessels contract. It's a common cure for mild migraines. I suppose you can consider it a painkiller in the sense that it works a bit like a mild anti-inflammatory. Other things that may help are ice on the side of the head that feels warmest (which is also fairly common with migraine - a feeling that one side of your head is extra warm.)

Anti-inflammatories are commonly prescribed to fight migraine. Ibuprophen works on mild ones, you'll see Celebrex and other more powerful ones prescribed as well. Asprin is also a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory that works for some people.

There are a lot of other migraine drugs out there, including a bunch of migraine abortives that work well, even on severe (ie. the kind that cause vomiting and extreme pain) migraines.

I'm not a doctor, but my SO has had migraines for years. As a result, I know a lot about symptoms and (temporary) cures.

Lastly, despite the fact that the tea has caffiene in it, does it really mean that you can't drink it anymore? I've cut all caffiene from my life, but I still enjoy the tea at the restaurant with no ill effect.

Actually, no.

Disclaimer: I'm an ER doc, and I treat several migraine patients a day.

The origin of migraines is incompletely understood, and the vascular theory is only one of the hypotheses that are used to explain the origin of migraines. In addition to the vascular theory, some evidence points to serotonin and dopamine receptor involvement... the truth of the matter is that nobody knows.

However, that said, read this thread and you'll understand why an entire industry has grown up around migraine treatment... everyone's are different. There are entire clinics and centers that do nothing but treat migraines... do an internet search and you'll find some. There are neurologists out there who make a good living treating nothing but migraines.

If you read the list of medications that are used to treat migraines, it reads like a pharmacy inventory... everything from cardiac medications to anti-seizure medications, sedatives, steroids, anesthetics, narcotics, anti-psychotics, and everything inbetween. If a person has migraines long enough, they eventually find out something that works for them, primarily through trial and error... once you go through the common drugs with no relief, there's almost no other way to find a treatment for refractory migraines.

For my own part, I've found one thing that almost universally relieves migraines: sleep. Sometimes the treatment of a particularly severe migraine involves nothing short of knocking a person out with drugs so that they can go home and sleep it off.

Back on topic, however... caffeine is an effective treatment for migraines, particularly in the early phase of the headache. Keep in mind, however, that one man's meat is invariably another man's poison: caffeine relieves migraines in most people, but causes them in others.

All I can say is know your triggers, avoid them, and treat EARLY.

Re:Mental discipline

It took about three months before I wasn't really tired in the mornings.

I had to stop, like that, because of a medical diagnosis. Well, I could have continued but the consequences were unspeakable.

The same diagnosis turned around pretty much everything, health-related, in my life. I changed my diet and started going to the gym every morning.

The gym was really the secret for me. I've been a sworn night person for my entire life. After a month or two at the gym, my body got convinced it was supposed to fire up at 6:30am every day and started taking care of itself.

It's convinced me that there are morning and night people, just not in the permanent, unalterable way most people think of it. Your metabolism shifts very slowly to suit what you do with your body. If, like most coders, you do next to no exercise during the day but regularly push your body to perform coding jags late at night, your metabolism will have shifted to suit that time of day. If you cut out the late nights and start pushing your body to the gym every morning, it will convert over.

The only problem is, it takes a good month or two of serious commitment. I always swore people who said what I just said were full of it - but then I would try it for a couple of weeks, or go to the gym two mornings a week while sneaking in several late nights. Once I had to completely switch over, it happened relatively quickly.

So, caffine is one way to get going in the mornings. Alternatively, get to the gym, every morning, without fail, and cut out the late nights, for two months. If, like me, you lose 10% of your body weight in the process, the attention from women'll more than make the effort worthwhile.

Just one request: Leave it a couple of months. Those of us who go regularly already have to put up with the New Year's Resolution crowd for the next six weeks. ;)

One quitter's story

I suppose that would work, but have you ever had a caffeine-withdrawl headache?

Yup. After pretty much living on Pepsi and then Coke for my high school and college years (though I was never a coffee drinker), I stopped cold turkey in January 1992. I had a headache -- constant, low-level, not piercing -- until that April. Then my head was fine.

What amazed me most was that my digestion improved dramatically. After about a month, I realized with great surprise that my whole food tube worked smoother than ever; my colon had been virtually tied in a knot for years. This may seem excessively prosaic, but believe me, well-working innards are an unfathomable blessing.

A couple of years ago, in my usual post-prandial sleepyheadedness, I decided to try a Frappuccino. BAM! I was awake! I was mentally productive! I was ON! And, very shortly, my abdomen was vaguely crampy and bound-up. I tried it again the next day: The mental effect was far less pronounced, but the digestive malaise was back in full force. That was the last experiment I needed.

After quitting, I did have a more pronounced fuzz in my head in the morning, much harder to shake off. But I've found that an all-night decongestant removes that and lets me bounce easily out of bed in the morning -- it seems to be breathing-related, not a matter of caffeination (though the two may be linked somehow; IANAMD).

It's hell for a while, but if you stick with it, you may find that quitting caffeine (and paying separate attention to your other problems) makes you a lot healthier in the long run. Did for me.

Re:Mental discipline

That's not always a viable solution.

I get migranes, and for them I take Excedrin Migrane pills. Usually I take 2, which in total contain 130 mg of caffiene (~3 cans of coke, ~9 Penguin Mints), and this makes the headache go away pretty quickly. For about a month straight during my senior year of high school, I got a migrane at almost the same time each day (give or take 20 minutes) so I would take the Excedrin and the headache would go away in about an hour. I was somewhat suspicious about this, as it happened daily, and I started to wonder if I was addicted to caffiene, so I experemented a bit. Some days I would bring something caffienated with me (like a Code Red Mountain Dew) and drink that before classes started. And wouldn't you know it, I didn't get headaches those days.

When I did get a headache, however, I would have trouble paying attention to the class (paying more attention to the feeling that my brain was getting too large for my skull). So to go without caffiene completely wasn't a very good idea, so I started working myself off of it slowly. I got some caffienated mints, and would just eat a few of those before I knew I'd get a headache, and maybe a few more around the time I'd get a headache if I felt one coming on. And thats pretty much how I dealt with it, but I had to take it pretty slowly to ween myself from the caffiene.

Re:Mental discipline

Nah, he's right, although not very descriptive.

Yes, he(the poster) can do it. Best to ease off of it though, gradually. Drink lots of water and pop a few ibuprofen to get through the headaches.

Pay attention to your .sig and notice that we do have control of our own destiny, despite what the TV may have brainwashed you into believing. If someone can't do it alone then they need to get help, which he is starting to do here, it is nothing to be ashamed of.

First decide you want to be free of caffeine, find how to get there (a road map), and excecute. Sounds like mental discipline to me. Stop being a pussy. =)

Re:Mental discipline

Hey, that's what worked for me. I got headaches if I didn't have 5-6 diet Cokes (as in regular cans) a day, and I also couldn't sleep at night (I know, you expect the opposite effect -- but a biologist explained it to me once and I forgot). Other side effects included congestion -- and I mean congestion that would begin after a few hours of no diet Cokes and would clear up within 15 minutes after drinking one.

I saw what was happening and stopped, cold turkey, when I had 4 days off work in a row. I felt like crap for 2-3 days, then not too bad, and after a month, I felt better. I also felt better in the mornings, since I didn't need anything to get me going.

(Oh, and I was lucky -- Cokes don't have nearly the strength of coffee, which I never could stand.)

Caffiene free for 3 years, this month!

Just bear through it.

Just stick it through and soon enough you'll be free. Learn to drink water instead.

Re:Just bear through it.

Actually, I found that Orange juice seems to be a much better alternative.

Plain water is much better than any of the sugared waters available. I just did a quick web search...most mentioned that people should drink 2.5 liters of water a day. If it is hot, you need to drink more. When I was on fire crew, they demanded we drink 4 liters or water a day. Drinking that much orange juice will make you rotund. I would have maybe a glass of OJ in the morning and 9 glasses of water throughout the day.

Re:Just bear through it.

The problem with "quick web searches" is that you wind up googling up a lot of misinformation.

In fact, there is no strong medical evidence that people under normal circumstances need to drink large quantities of water.

See here. [nutritionnewsfocus.com]

and here. [ndmnutrition.com]

Re:Just bear through it.

Your links are suspect:

1. The both reference the same article.

2. One is a subscription service, I prefer info to be open.

3. From your nutritionnewsfocus.com link "Caffeine and alcohol are diuretics, that is they increase urine production, but much of the water in beverages that contain them does get used by the body." The definition is a diuretic is a substance that increases the production of urea, so to return urea to normal levels additional fluid is needed. Liquid used in them is used by the body, and more is needed too.

4. From "ndmnutrition.com" link "Valtin thinks the notion may have started... er... so he doesn't have any justification other than quoting one line of a report which didn't advocate what he suggested it did.

5. ...there is some evidence that the risk of certain diseases can be lowered by high water intake, the quantities needed for this beneficial effect may be less than 8 x 8.... Well by high he only means 2 litres, make of that as you will. So he accepts the risk of disease can be reduced, he back-tracks by saying only those people susceptable, but do you know ehat diseases youe are susceptable to? Diabetes only affects those susceptable to it, do you know if you are? Better safe than sorry?

6. ...thirst begins when the concentration of blood (an accurate indicator of our state of hydration) has risen by less than two percent, whereas most experts would define dehydration as beginning when that concentration has risen by at least five percent. Those that are seriously dehydrated lose their thirst.

7. In the end this is the belief of one lone doctor, vs the entire medical world. A bit like SCO claiming UNIX rights, no? Well, SCO have a much better founded case.

8. What are the problems with drink water he mentions? 1. ...possible exposure to pollutants, especially if sustained over many years like breathing air, try to drink clean water like you breath clean air. 2. frequent urination, which can be both inconvenient and embarrassing assuming 2/3 of what is drunk is urinated, that makes about 1.5 litres, which is what... 4-5 trips to the loo? 3. expense, for those who satisfy the 8 x 8 requirements with bottled water then drink from the tap, or refil a plastic bottle from the tap if a bottle must be used 4. feelings of guilt for not achieving 8 x 8 if you believe his diatribe there will be a feeling of guily from drinking water. Why feel guilty if not achieving 8*8, just sit down for a minute and drink a few glasses, only procrastination causes guilt/stress.

This doctor is a loony, you, sir, are even more of a loony for not being able to criticise and see flaws in their arguments.

Re:Just bear through it.

(mod parent up, someone - he made some good points)

Well, that's at least a cogent counterargument. But let me make myself clear. I am not saying I agree or disagree that we need 8 glasses of water a day. I'm saying that I'm a skeptic. I agree with Valtin's argument that proof we need such a large amount of drinking water for everyday activity is suspiciously lacking. It seems to be ubiquitously 'common knowledge' and 'doctor recommended' but for something which is so strongly preached by "the entire medical world," as you state with some accuracy, shouldn't there be volumes of studies? Where are they? At the very least, I'd expect to see something demonstrating that healthy octogenarians drank more water during their lives then their sick and deceased cohorts. As it is, the best pro-water study I could come up with turned out to be sponsored by Brita [brita.co.uk]. That's not very reassuring.

It could very well be that Valtin's a crackpot. But is he wrong?

(BTW, I do drink plenty of water myself. Pascal's Wager [infidels.org], and all that.)

Re:Just bear through it.

Most of the common addictions (nicoteine, alcohol, caffiene) have a short withdrawl period, usually just a couple of days.

Obviously, you have not been a smoker, a drinker, or soda drinker.
I have quite smoking twice. The first time, It was somewhat difficult, but not bad. I did not smoke for 6 months. Then I thought just one while at a bar. By the night I had smoked a packed and was back at it for about 4 years. When I quit the 2'nd time, it was a bitch. For the first week, I basically stade away from everyone; I was on a 1 week vacation and just kinda of slept through it. After that, I get rid of all my old smoking habits. To this day (3 years later), I still crave cigs when in old habits (such as eating and studying).

In years past, I have drank large amounts (as well as did other things) and would be considered an alchoholic by some definations. Yet, I found it trivial to go with out for months on end. Each of us have their own addictions.

So what is the point? If the poster is having a difficult time withdrawing and really wishes to, then I suggest taking about 1 week off from work, avoid old habits, and sleep it off. Once you get past it, then avoid all caffeine. Over time, you may be able to go back to a little bit, but based the posting, I doubt it.

Re:Just bear through it.

I quit smoking too, and I did it cold turkey a few years ago. I didn't smoke for two years, but then I picked it up again (at burning man of all places in the world).

Second time around, I was really pissed off at myself. I decided enough is enough, and I stopped, and haven't smoked for a while now. I've been weak at the pub a few times since I quit the second time, but I've managed to recover pretty nicely. Next morning when I woke up after having a cigarette in the pub, I decided it was only a minor setback, and I went on track straight away. Now it's been a few months since I had the last cigerette, and I feel really good.

It may have been easier for me to quit smoking than a lot of people, because I didn't actually like smoking. I hated what it did to my throat. I'd wake up with a bad throat, and that annoyed me.

BTW: I was smoking for around 7 years in total.

I know that you are trying to break a caffeine addiction, but quitting smoking is very similiar. You just have to do it cold turkey. If it gets really bad, just remember why it is that way. Instead of thinking that a cup of coffie will fix the problem, remember that it is the source of the problem. You've come as far as asking for help, that means you really wanna quit... just do it!!

In the end, only YOU can do it. Remeber that.

Re:Just bear through it.

Ordinary headache remedies will reduce the severity of the headache during caffeine withdrawl. However, some of them include caffeine. Check the label.

Also, dehydration isn't going to help anything. Make specific plans for what you are going to drink. Caffeine-free sodas work okay if that's what you're looking for. Water and juice are fine. I switched to seltzer. I lost the caffeine and the caleries at the same time. And it tastes better than the tap water.

Get the flu

I finally broke a caffeine addiction that I have had since University a decade ago. Just get sick so bad you are near death. You won't want to eat for days. Don't worry about the craving beacuse you will be only semi-conscious anyways and the kitchen, Bridgehead, Starbucks, etc will all be too far away. Even the smell of food, will make you run for the loo. When you get mobile, you will be dehydrated. You will probably prefer to drink water as it hydrates you, I mean it is its job. By the time you are feeling better, eating, moving, breathing, your body will have forgotten about coffee. Drink another one at your own peril and don't get a flu shot.

Re:Just bear through it.

Water ... "Ah, foul stuff that is."

If you don't like the 'taste' of water, then you probably never had good clean water.

Get a five stage Reverse Osmosis water filter [wattspremier.com]. They are truly amazing. They are so good they're in a whole different leage than those regular water/icemaker filters. The water from the reverse osmosis filter tastes better than bottled water. No foulness, no bitterness, no aftertastes, no lighheadedness, no smells, no nothing, just absolutely pure and clean water. Everything you make with it tastes better, even coffee or tea itself. About $150 at Samsclub, will last for years.

The problem with water filters

The problem with water filters is that, while they do filter out anything which might taste a bit odd to you, they actually remove a number of helpful things from the water, which are added by your local water department (e.g. vitamin B, and fluorine, the dental benefits of which are substantial and documented), and some things which aren't (the amount of iron accumulated in processing and pipes is well within the range of useful to your body). Other sediment picked up along the way isn't particularly harmful either, although it does nothing for you.

So really, if you drank nothing but fresh and clean, pure water from day one, you'd have awful and horrible teeth. Ask your local dentist about the benefits of fluoridized water if you don't believe me.

suggestion

get yourself addicted to crack or heroin, or CmdrTaco's dirty underwear.

Re:i met a heroin addict that kicked it ...

Not to be mean or anything, but I don't know that taking advice from someone who drinks 12 diet cokes a day on how to quit caffeine is wise. Since you keep going back to it, it's clear you've never managed to figure out how to really get over your addiction. Sure, you know how to get rid of the physical addiction, but the mental addiction still kicks your ass. Of course, in your case, you're probably not just addicted to caffeine, but also aspartame, which is well known to be highly addictive.

I quit smoking 3 years ago. I broke the physical addiction 3 or 4 times when I tried to quit in the past, but the mental addiction always caught up to me. It took a good year or two before I stopped getting "cravings," usually situational, but they did get much less severe after the first 5 or 6 months.

It's really all about willpower, and it is very very hard, especially if you have are naturally predisposed to addictions, but it can be done. For most people, it takes a major addiction-related occurrence, like cancer or diabetes, to give them the willpower. Luckily, that wasn't the case for me...my major motivation was cigarettes going past 2 bucks a pack.

multiple withdrawals

The last time I quit caffeine (it only stuck for a few months), I killed it good by ALSO giving up cigarettes, sugar, and drinking at the same time It creates a situation where you feel so fucking miserable that really, you stop worrying about caffeine or really anything else, for that matter Anyways, caffeine exits your system after about three days. I suggest giving it up when you next have the flu, next have a really, REALLY bad bender, or next time you have a fever. The other feelings will be so painful, additional misery shouldn't bother you (much)

Re:multiple withdrawals

Juice. Real 100% fruit juice. Not the sugar water that a lot of what is sold next to juice is. I find Nantucket Nectars brand is worth the extra cast because the are not from concentrate. (but hard to find) McDonald's used to have Apple Juice that was very good too (not from concentrate), but I haven't been there in years so I don't know.

Water is also good. I have a RO filter in my house, and find that water is most of what I drink. (I know a few people who live where tap water is good, but what I get from my taps isn't) It takes getting used to, but you can.

Gotta watch resteraunts. You are expected to order soda, coffee, or alchahol. Don't fall for it. Some have excellent Lemonade, but others just have a lemon flavored soda. Unfortunatly to get my free Sub at Subway I have to order a soda, no matter what I really want. (No surprize, to a resteraunt the ice is the most expensive part of a glass of pop)

Unfortunatly once you quit the easy addictions like sugar water and caffine your tastes improve. I've become a food snob. I read the labels looking for sugar, caffine, and find I'm more concerned with 100% natural ingreatiants... I buy Greek Olives from the Deli and love them. (other olives are not touchable) I've expirimented with Organic foods, and in many cases find that they are btter (though not all, and I don't blindly belive in organic like some). I make my own pizza and bread from scratch (sourdough). I'm not a good cook, but everyone thinks I am because my worst meals are still homemade and have flavor (compared to what they buy).

That isn't to say I don't sometimes have junk food, but I try to control it.

Re:multiple withdrawals

The explanation i got from a biochemist when i tried to quit was that the signal-molecules that are there when you are tired compete with the caffeine molecules for the cells receptors (cafeeine is a competitive inhibitor).

The body compensates by overexpressing the receptors, so after a while everything works like you before you started drinking coffee, but if you try to quit you become tired very quickly (because of the extra receptors).

The receptors have a turnover time of a little more than a week, so if you that long you should be ok again... but it's not really a question of the caffeine leaving the body, as much as a question of protein-turnover in your brain.

The advantage over cafeeine addiction over cigarette addiction is that when the physical addiction is gone, then you are ok.
With smoking, the physical addiction is just a tiny part of your addiction.

(note: I am NOT a biochemist)

Re:multiple withdrawals

Well, interestingly...caffeine is a noncomeptitive antagonist - i.e. it doesn't compete at the same cell-surface binding site for it's adrenergic (i.e. adrenaline and noradrenaline) agonists.

Instead, caffeine (and other methylxanthines such as theophylline) act by blocking cyclic-AMP degeneration by intracellular phosphodiesterases. This was kinda what Pfizer were looking for when they stumbled across viagra (sildenafil) - a cardiac specific phosphodiesterase which they could inhibit to increase the affect of circulatory adrenaline on myocardium.

So...what are the take home messages - caffeine in high doses will act like other adrenergic agonists...and will to some extent mimic such 'evil and hated' drugs as cocaine in its actions (note to government: ban immediately!!! panic now - there's no time for rational thought).

I don't deny caffeine addiction exists - I recently treated a young guy admitted with cardiac chest pain whose only vice was 15 cups of coffee a day for the past 5 years. Like any other addiction process, it will take a long time to overcome and each time you see a coka cola it may prove hard to resist.

But there are no drugs that immediately come to mind that would help the immediate withdrawal process....perhaps you could discuss the situation with your doctor and ask for low dose diazepam for particularly bad situations. Most reasonable GPs would give it to you in the UK - I don;t know about the US however.

But, best wishes with the new year ahead, and just be thankful that the only thing you've likely wrecked so far are your teeth. Just stop now before it gets worse.

Best wishes,

-Nano.

Take it one day at a time.

And don't suddenly stop your intake. Reduce it gradually, in transitional stages. This can be difficult, but it's worth the patience.

Free medical advice is worth every cent

Ask your doctor rather than ask Slastdot.

Oh, please...

He is asking what worked for people in /. land that wanted to stop/curtail their caffeine consumption. He is not asking what he should do about a funny-shaped mole that keeps growing and changing color or how to handle bleeding from weird places. This is more like a group of allergy sufferers discussing which over-the-counter medications worked for them.

Nutshell version: Lighten up, Francis. :-)

Q: How can I get modded Insightful?

A: For every "Ask Slashdot", suggest that the question would be better posed to someone else.

For example:
"How do I foo?"
"Ask the foo mailing list, or hire a foo consultant, you moron!"

Worked for me...

The best way I've found is to taper off your caffeine usage to maybe half a cup of coffee per day, then just stop.

Yes, it sucks. Yes, you'll get headaches for four to five days. And yes, you may end up with some weird flu-like symptoms after about a week.

But, after all the feeling-like-crap for a while, you'll be over it. You just have to deal with it.

I started looking through the google links...

...and found some pretty funny stuff:

"Caffeine is the Christian drug of preference. Drink a glass of red wine or light up a cigarette during Sunday Night Fellowship Hour, and you will be thrown out on your ear. But a two-hundred-gallon pot of black adrenal-rush will bring friendly smiles of delight. The meeting would not be the same with the absence of its nutty aroma filling the church basement. Little white Styrofoam cups floating in small clusters of heavenly conversation." link [64.106.220.190]

Otherwise, I found this interesting: Scientists cast doubt on caffeine addiction. [bbc.co.uk]

try dilution

Why not try reducing your caffeine intake slowly. In a manner similar to people trying to quit smoking, change the mode of caffeine intake - instead of drinking coffee or soda, switch to those caffeinated mints and then limit yourself to a specific number of them a day. As the weeks pass, reduce that number.

Alternatively, dilute your fully caffeinated coffee with decaf. Start with a 3caf:1caf mix and then bring that down to 1:1 and then 1:3 and so on.

Good luck.

Medical Marijuana

You could always try medical marijuana. Odds are that'll get rid of the headaches.

Physical activity!

Start running/jogging an hour a day, every day -- this should be enough to get you going when you feel sleepy or tired.

Cold Turkey

Just do it. I had headaches for a week, but I've been free 18 months now.

Some hints for this approach - drink a lot of ice cold water. Use pain relief without caffine (some pills have caffine in them) when you need to feel normal. Eat healthy and exercise.

I'll suck, but it'll end.

Some methods that worked for me...

Drink lots of water.

Take Bayer aspirin (contains a little caffeine) or Aleve to help with the headaches. (Motrin didn't help - YMMV.)

Do not set your alarm - sleep as long as possible on the day you decide to quit. If I slept through the normal caffeine-consumption period (usually morning) I felt better. I don't know why.

Oddly enough, going cold turkey (vice gradually decreasing caffeine intake) worked better for me.

Good luck!

What about caffeine insensitivity?

I'm curious about the other side of the coin. I do about a six-pack of Diet Coke a day, but I don't seem to show any signs of addiction if I don't get my caffeine. No headaches, no jitters, nothing. In addition, it doesn't seem to affect my ability to sleep. The only difference I can tell between the caffeinated and non-caffeinated versions is taste.

Granted that's my major source of caffeine (I don't do coffee or tea) so in any case I don't get a lot. I wondered whether other people have seen similar effects, and how widespread this might be.

Re:What about caffeine insensitivity?

Yea, that's how I was. Never noticed any headaches or anything else... I never had problems sleeping.

Don't be fooled, though. The caffiene is still affecting you. You will get much better sleep if you're not hopped up on caffiene. Caffiene keeps you from reaching the lower frequencies of brainwave activity where your body recovers the best... Quit for a week, and you might notice feeling much more refreshed in the morning. I know I did. That's why I never went back.

Re:What about caffeine insensitivity?

Oddly enough, caffeine's effects on people vary greatly and has a pretty high correlation with how introverted or extroverted a person is... Extroverts respond to coffee, introverts to alcohol, generally. It's not perfect, but a very statistically significant correlation.

Re:What about caffeine insensitivity?

FYI, Moutain Dew in Canada (in Ontario at least) contains no caffeine. IIRC it is illegal to caffeinate non-cola carbonated beverages up here in the frozen north.

Medicine

Ibuprofen, lots of it! :)

Periodically I get hooked on caffiene, it is poor discipline on my part that I feel a need to develop a comfort habit. It takes me about two weeks to get through withdrawl and I am back to normal and I feel much better than when I ever started doing whatever.

My advice is take something that will reduce the symptoms that is not dangerous and only when you really need them. Eventually your body adapts to its new situation just don't create a new addictive situation! :) The question is can you hold out long enough for your body to make the adjustment. Just ask a smoker if he has tried to quit and how many times, it is not necessarially an easy thing to do.

Good Luck

Drink a lot of water

I quit drinking coffee three weeks ago. Drinking lots of water helps cut down on the headaches... and upping your protein intake seemed to help me as well. If going to the coffee house or stand is part of your daily routine, get a steamer (steamed milk) instead of coffee. It's 1/2 to 1/3 of the price of a mocha or a breve.

One unexpected side effect of quitting is that my contact lenses work better. Coffee had the effect of dehydrating me to the point where my contacts would dry by two in the afternoon.

Good luck. The first few days are the worst.

Quitting a heavy coffee addiction

Cut the amount you drink in half every other day. So if you have a normal mug you fill up only drink half that tomorrow. Do that for a couple of days and then cut that in half as well. When it gets ridiculous switch to green tea for a while. After a couple days of mild headaches you should be good to go. Takes a week or two depending on how bad your addiction is. The hardest thing was how tired I felt after quitting. That lasted for a week. Somebody said it was because adrenal function gets screwed up by coffee but I don't know. At least it's easier than cigarettes. I quit smoking 8 years ago and it is still hard to control my impulse to grab a smoke.

Caffeine and Nicotine

I've withdrawn from both fairly recently. My advice to you is, just deal with it for three or four days, then no more problem. That even applies to going cold turkey off cigarettes.

I experienced headaches from the caffeine withdrawal, so I took ibuprofen. Drinking lots of water helps. Like, one to two gallons a day. You'll urinate a lot, but there are worse things that can happen.

Nicotine withdrawal was...interesting. First you have to be serious about wanting to quit. You are going to feel like crap. But, truth be told, having a common cold feels worse. So just be prepared to deal with it. I went cold turkey. I couldn't sleep on the third night, so I felt extra crappy on the fourth day. But by the fifth day there were no more symptoms AT ALL. For this reason, and because every single other person I know who quit smoking did it by going cold turkey, I strongly advize not buying any nicotine gum or patches. Just show the guts it takes to freaking quit, and do it.

I feel that most addiction withdrawal pains are psychological. I still think about lighting up every now and again. But it's not a craving -- it's just a little part of my years-long habit poking its head up out of the hole I buried it in to say "hi" every now and again.

Half Caffeine diet worked for me

I was drinking a pot or more of coffee each morning with a couple of cokes and shots of espresso in the afternoon. I was getting light headed and would get tired randomly throughout the day. I decided it could be the caffeine so I tried to quit cold turkey and had similar problems quiting. The headaches were the worst part for me. My solution turned out to be a new blend of beans.

I'm a Peet's Sumatra fan so I went to my local Peet's and had them blend a 50/50 mix of decaf Sumatra with a regular Sumatra. This alone cut my consumption by half and I didn't even notice the missing caffeine.

I also dropped the espresso in the afternoon and I drink about half the coke that I used to.

I'm thinking about dropping to a 25% caffeine blend of Sumatra and brewing two pots a day. It still will be less caffeine than I used to drink and it gives me something to drink in the afternoon.

Good luck. Be happy you aren't trying to quit crack. My half crack plan doesn't work as well as this.

Masturbate more

Do you think about drinking coffee / dew when you are masturbating? I didn't think so.

Really though, what causes the headaches (my most hated withdrawl symptom) is the capalaries in your head constricting back a bit after the caffine caused dialation and thus the headache (same w/ other headaches, just not caused by caffine).

Sex (and thus masturbation) releases natural chemicals that can reverse some of those effects.

try this

Switch to Yerba Mate.

How my mom did it

My mother was a serious caffeine addict, but didn't know it. She did know she was consuming a lot, and decided to stop. When she stopped, she started getting really bad headaches. It didn't take her long to figure out that caffeine made the headaches go away and not taking caffeine would invite them back. Her solution was remarkable for its simplicity and ingenuity. It was true nerd solution, but not produced by a nerd (I think the nerdiness alleles passed to me by my parents were recessive, but got the chance to shine and show what they could do in me).
Here's what Mom did...
She was buying coffee beans and grinding them herself. She got some decaf beans. She started with almost all non-decaf beans and just a little bit of decaf, ground them together, and made her coffee normally. After that, over the course of a few weeks, she ramped up the decaf percentage (ramping down the caffeine-filled beans at the same time, of course). After those weeks were over, she was drinking almost pure decaf, and then the transition to 100% decaf (or thereabouts-- the decaffeination process is not perfect and is probably worse in whole beans than in grounds due to the relatively low surface area) was easy.
Mom's body apparently reacted to changes in caffeine dosage like the famous frog in a pot of hot water. I've been told (usually in the context of a discussion on eroding civil liberties) about an experiment that showed that if you put a frog into a pot of really hot water, the frog feels the high temperature and just hops out. On the other hand, if you put the frog in a pot of cool water and start gently heating it, the frog does not notice the gradual temperature changes and ends up dying when the water gets hot enough. Similarly, when Mom tried to go from lots of caffeine to zero caffeine, her body freaked out, and she had to suffer through splitting headaches. On the other hand, when she gradually ramped down her caffeine dosage, the body was able to adjust to the small changes, and she was able to go to full decaf without headaches.

BTW, I was forced to quit caffeine toward the end of the Fall quarter of my 2nd year in grad school. At the time, I was drinking multiple 2-liter bottles of Diet Coke at home every day, plus several coffees and Diet Cokes on campus. I had to drink Diet Coke; if I'd consumed the same volume of regular Coke, I would have weighed about 900 pounds. Anyway, I started having serious problems with my stomach. Basically, my entire upper digestive system would convulse like I was vomiting, but nothing would come up. The Doctor asked me if this might be stress-related, and I laughed and told him I didn't know. He understood-- I was never NOT under stress, so I had no control for comparison. Well, he suggested a really bland diet, cutting out a whole bunch of things I consumed regularly. I looked at it and thought "I can either start eating like a very old man at age 23, or I can drop the one thing I know I'm abusing." I quit caffeine cold turkey. At the time, I already had a cold. The next week was a living Hell. I had headaches that made me want to scream, plus the symptoms of the cold, plus the lovely symptoms of the effects of the caffeine on my stomach. Oh yeah... and I had my final problem sets and the preparation for finals. Ugh. But I did get over it. The cold cleared up in the normal time for a cold, and the headaches only lasted a week or so. The symptoms of the damage to my stomach, on the other hand, lingered for years. I can now drink a guarana (Brazilian soft drink made from a berry that naturally contains caffeine) or really strong coffee and not have to heave and retch. But for years, I couldn't. Beware the dangers of caffeine, everyone.

Anyway, for anyone who doesn't HAVE to quit caffeine RIGHT NOW and can take a few weeks to try to do it right, I recommend trying my mother's approach-- ramping down the non-decaffeinated portion of your coffee from 100% to 0% gradually, over the course of a few weeks. It worked for Mom.

My experience

I've found that its much much easier to quit caffeine than nicotine or alcohol, because the withdrawal symptoms are not much more than a headache and they go away relatively soon.

A funny story, a friend of mine had a huge caffeine addiction (drank 20 or so cans of Coke a day) and decided to quit.... he was telling me about how he never has any caffeine any more while drinking his huge iced tea. I asked him about the iced tea, and he had no idea it was caffeinated. "Maybe thats why after I quit drinking Coke, I started drinking a ton of iced tea!"

So be sure to know that caffeine is found in a bunch of stuff, like tea and chocolate.

Addiction to Coca-Cola

I myself had a similar problem. During my college years I was doing about one 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola a day. I never drank water, just downed coke when I was thirsty. If I went for some time without having any it would give me a nasty headache but drinking it wasn't friendly on my stomach either. But, living off a few hours of sleep per night for a few years straight will do that to you.

One day I just made the decision to stop. I went through about a week solid headache but after that the craving was gone, it really wasn't hard to get rid of.

A year later I couldn't find anything to drink but a coke so I tried one and couldn't stand the taste. At this point I don't think I could ever drink Coke again, the taste is just nasty.

Over time I finally moved myself to mostly water. Being a sugar addict also it took a little while to get used to drinking water. Water works well as an appetite suppressant as well as keeping you well hydrated. Your headaches may not be due to lack of caffeine as much as lack of water.

The downfall is that you run to the bathroom more than anybody you know. But to trade that for less headaches, a happier stomach, and overall better health was definitely worth it. You'll find that drinking water instead of anything else will make you feel better. I found that feeling better was a big contributing factor to me being more productive, both at work and at home.

Take a week and make sure you are well hydrated. WELL hydrated. A glass an hour. If your urine is almost clear you're doing well. If you get into too much water it may be good to replenish yourself with a sports beverage once in a while.

That's another issue. When I drank coke all the time I thought Gatorade was too bland and didn't have any flavor. After a few months of dedicating myself to water a glass of gatorade tastes like pure sugar to me. Suddenly I don't crave sweets as much. Cakes, cookies, candy - they all seem a bit overpowering.

All these positive things just from dropping the sugar and drinking water. Everybody was stunned when I first went to a restaurant and ordered water. Even I felt odd. Now it is just the obvious choice, everything else tastes far too sweet.

Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!

This is how I ditched caffeine and excess sugar

Situation:
I was addicted to caffeine and sugar, big-time. Also I ate take-out every day and weighed 270lbs.

Solution:

1. I stopped drinking 3 litres of pop every day. After 36 hours, the migraine went away and I had no more physical need for caffeine.
2. I weaned myself off of sugar over a month by drinking Kool-Aid with gradually less sugar addedd. Once I could handle that, I switched to 2 litres of plain water a day.
3. I learned how to make stirfrys (and a few other quick/easy things) and stopped eating takeout.

Result:
14 months later I've lost 70 pounds, eat healthy vegetables every day, and no longer drink pop or coffee.

Cold Turkey

That's how you beat it.

When my son was first born, my Mountain Dew habit went from a few cans a day to a few 2 liters a day (plus a few cans from the school vending machine, plus a Big Gulp on the way home...). After that, I got a job where one of the perks was a soda fountain - all the Pepsi / Coke products you could guzzle, at no charge! Geek heaven, it was... until I realized that not only was I an unbearable bastard on the weekends as I came down off of my buzz, but I'd put on another ten pounds. (My wife later informed me that she was getting ready to leave me, and take the kid with her, because of my non-caffinated attitude problem.)

So after sitting down and thinking about it one day and figuing out that I could cut over 1000(!) calories a day out of my diet by quitting the Dew, and make myself an easier person to be around on top of it, I quit. No coming down gradually, no easing off, I just stopped. In the middle of the week, at that. I made sure to warn those around me about it, to keep them clear of me, and I also made sure to replace the Dew with water - LOTS of water, since I got 90% of my daily fluids from that yellow nectar.

Holy flurking shnitt, did I have a doozy of a headache! Lasted me two days! But by the weekend, I was in pretty good shape. I made a few mistakes after that... like drinking it again about a week after I'd "quit". I got right back on the train with the very first drink; killer headache the next day. It took a few trips like that before I realized I couldn't touch the stuff AT ALL for a LONG time after I'd quit.

So now, 2+ years later, I can hardly stand the taste of Dew - something I thought I'd never say :) I can have the occasional cola and suffer no ill effects the next day. Moderation is the key once you cut the ties. A little taste isn't going to kill you, but I know that if I put down a 2 liter in one sitting, I'd be back on that train again.

Just quit the stuff cold turkey. Your body, and the people around you, will thank you for it.

The best advice you'll ever get...

I think it was a Saturday Night Live skit with Bob Newhart. Meant to be funny of course (and it was), but at the same time it's the single best piece of serious advice I've ever heard for anyone addicted to anything.

STOP IT.

That's it. Don't gimme all this psychobable, don't gimme all the physiological reasons it's not that simple, because it f'ing is.

JUST STOP IT. STOP, STOP, STOP IT.

If you don't want to drink soda any more...

STOP IT.

It you don't want to touch yourself 10 times a day...

STOP IT.

If your a crack whore...

JUST STOP IT.

Cigarettes shortening your life?...

F'ING STOP IT.

Your a 400 pound fat-ass that's about two porkchops away from a heart attack?...

Say it with me...

STOP IT!

Just stop being a weak-minded fool, deal with the discomfort that will probably result from going cold turkey, and get over it all. JUST F'ING STOP IT. NOW!!

The Patch

Okay, so there isn't a patch, but there should be.

To keep myself from turning into a raving lunatic without my coffee, I make a point of drinking one less cup of coffee a day for a week. Saturday night I take an ibuprofin, and sunday I go without coffee (or other stimulating beverages) completely. No withdrawls.

Besides the fact that I'm incredibly poor and have a tendency to run out of coffee at the worst times, this is a habit I picked up when I was working 80 hour weeks. It had the added benefit of making the effects of my monday morning coffee all that much more stimulating. And of course, mondays were when I needed it the most.

The magic key to success here is to drink lots of water. The best habit I have is to keep a 1 liter bottle of water with me at all times. It helps a lot with caffeine withdrawls, but only if you start drinking the water well before you start getting headaches. (I'm talking days before hand)

find your own level

I had a stage where I was abusing caffeine. I would drink 5 or 6 mugs of strong filter coffee during office hours, and I would also make a coffee or two before bed, especially if I'd had a drink. So I would be wrecked every morning and need more stimulation to get going.

But after some health problems, I cut down. I don't enjoy my day as much with no coffee at all, and 1-2 coffees before mid-day seems to be tolerable, so my natural level is about 2 coffees before noon on average, with special dispensation for Friday and Saturday if I will be able to stay up as late as feels good, and then (and just as importantly) sleep in to make up.

Maybe absolutely zero coffee would be best taking the strict view, but, you know what, we'll still die anyway.

cold turkey

cold turkey worked for me when I was playing around with Atkins a bit - the first few days were pretty hellish, then everything was back to normal - energy levels were up consistently throughout the day.

It stayed like that for several weeks...

Until I took a vacation to Vegas, had a few espresso drinks and got rehooked on it. Oh well. I suspect I'll be in and out of caffeine for the rest of my life. It's just so good. :)

Some Alternatives

Caffeine is one of 3 methylated xanthines, the others being theophylline and theobromine. Taking the others can serve to reduce withdrawal. Caffeine is the most addictive because it's the fastest acting of these, just as crack is the most addictive form of cocaine. You can find these chemicals in:

1. Chocolate. It has 10% of the caffiene of coffee, but contains these other also. It also contains PEA, "an endogenous neuroamine, increases attention and activity in animals" (http://www.chocolate.org/pea.htm). PEA may be the most neglected and useful of the brain amines. Chocolate makes many people just feel better; this may be why.

2. Guarana: An "herbal" (actually the inside bark of a tree) that contains all 3 of the chemicals, caffeine least. However, it can become a substitute addiction, and it costs more than chocolate. There was a soda that had guarana, but only as a flavoring, not a "suppliment". Some "power drinks" have guarana, but can also have ephedrine, which is not a good thing.

3. Foods: Caffeine acts by increasing norepinepherine (NE) levels in the brain. Take it away and NE drops. This is the mechanism of addiction. Any foods high in phenylalanine or tyrosine are good dietary precursors to replace the NE the body isn't getting now that caffeine isn't forcing its production. High phenylalanine or tyrosine foods are typically your high-protein foods, meats and fishes, dairy products, whole oats and wheat. Here's a picture of the metabolic pathway involved (http://www.life-enhancement.com/article_template. asp?ID=356). You'll notice it says "(nor)adrenalin" instead of (nor)epinepherine. Same chemicals, outside or inside the blood/brain barrier. Yeah, caffeine gives you adrenalin.

Caffeine truly is addicting. However, it is one of the weakest addictions. It's easy to break and the withdrawals are not bad. Also, it can typically be used safely by those previously addicted, without necessarily causing re-addiction.

I am not a physician. But then I'm not prescribing anything, and what I offer as suggestions are not controlled substances. I am, however, a professional neuroscientist with a fair amount of experience in psychopharmacology, and prior to getting my doctorate, worked for several years as a licensed substance abuse counselor.

Me, I'd go for the chocolate. Whether I need it or not.

Q: Why is there no twelve step group for caffeine addiction?

A: I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WAIT AROUND FOR THAT.

two Bodums a day of inky black French roast

Drinking that much coffee is not good for the body. I learned the hard way: wore out my adrenal system.

It's not so easy to quit as some people suggest.

First time I quit cold turkey, spent three days in bed with wracking headaches and no appetite for food. The headaches became less severe after three days, but my body was not yet at peace. Suffered unproductively for the better part of two weeks and then started drinking coffee again to get on with my life. But a lot less than before.

Another iteration of quiting and unquiting got me down to about two or three large cups a day.

Then I had a prescription medication that interacted badly with caffeine and I had to quit again. Still had the headaches for several days, but this time my life didn't stall completely. A month later I still couldn't function at full intensity, so I started drinking one cup each morning.

At one cup of moderately strong coffee, I can quit anytime without a headache. At 1.5 cups per day, missing a day is risky. At 2 cups per day, I'm fully addicted. It can vary over a wide range from one person to another.

After many hard fought battles, I figure it takes the best part of three months for the body to fully adjust to a different caffeince consumption level. People forget that coffee has hundreds of other alkaloids, not just caffeine. Decaf coffee affects cognitive structure (not in a good way) without causing the same vascular effects.

Now I stick to about one cup a day, the level where I know I'm not addicted. Can miss a day with only a little blah to deal with.

Tea never worked at all as a caffeine substitute for me, nor do any of the colas. It's not just the caffeine you have to live without.

The best trick I learned was to change my brewing methods.

First, use a high quality dark roast with intense flavour. Dark roast has less caffeine, because some of the caffeine is destroyed in the roaasting process. If the roast is good, I find I'm less tempted to cheat on the ratio.

Don't use a French press. I love the body of a French press, but it comes at the price of extracting in triplicate. I switched to drip, which was (un)depressing at first, but I got used to it.

Grind your own beans. Some roasts can be ground a lot finer without losing flavor or becoming bitter. A fine grind with a quick brew cycle will extract more flavour relative to the amount of caffeine. Don't ask me about the physics, I don't understand it either.

Brew in smaller batches. I used to use brew length as an indicator for the quality of a roast. If the roast can be extracted in a French press for more than four minutes without becoming nasty, the roast is really good. With a French press, the coffee tastes better if you pour from about ten inches above the top of the Bodum in a slow drizzle. I could never figure out why this worked, but then I learned that this is just enough time for the water temp. to drop below 200 degrees. Water right at the boiling point does something nasty to coffee beans. But, oh, I was saying don't use a French press only the memories are too good.

Even with a drip, the extraction cycle is important. The problem is that if the coffee tastes like crap, my first instinct is to fix the problem by tossing twice as many grounds in the filter basket.

Drip coffee makers don't scale: the length of the extraction cycle varies with the amount of water processed. Shorter extraction cycles are better for getting good coffee with less caffeine.

For my small Braun drip, anything over half a pot creates difficulties with balance. I drew a black line at the fill level which produces an optimum exrtraction cycle: it works out to two 10 ounce cups.

Even with the black line, I had a constant battle with an expanding miniscus. Some days I could make that miniscus so large, I could squeeze an entire third mug out of the deal.

The stroke of genius was to throw the caraffe away. Now I brew my coffee

Taper Off

> There's plenty of advice out there for dealing
> with addiction, but I'm really interested in how
> other /. users have managed and controlled their
> own caffeine intake...

I had to give up a 10 cup a day habit last spring for health reasons. I tapered off over three days. I had a few minor headaches, but nothing serious.

This worked for my wife...

I get up first in the morning and make the coffee. She asked me to get her off of caffeine without the headaches, and I did it. It took about three weeks.

I simply mixed decaf beans in with the "leaded" beans gradually over time until they were 100% decaf. Like I said, I did it over about three weeks, maybe 80:20 for 5 days, 60:40 for 5 days, etc. The day I told her she was completely decaffeinated, she was surprised. No headaches, no side effects.

Oh holy Christ...

This is one of those damned interventions I've read about. GET AWAY FROM ME...I can handle it...it's not a problem, I don't want to stop...NOOOOO GIVE IT BACK...GIVE US BACK OUR PRECIOUS SODA...it's ours and ......WE....wants it!!!!!!!

Caffeine addiction mostly psychological

The "fact" of caffeine addiction is debated in the scientific community [bbc.co.uk]. I believe that a psychological dependence is more common than a true chemical dependence [brynmawr.edu].

I recognize that I'm not everyone, but I kicked Coffee last week and only had mild headaches that were easily managed by hydration and NSAIDS (aspirin, acetominophin). I was a fairly heavy coffee drinker, but probably not as bad as many here, consuming 4-6 strong cups a day.

I gave it up because I thought it was contributing to my IBS after reading an article on self-care for IBS [ohiohealth.com]. Stopping the coffee has helped a lot. I still get some caffeine in sodas, but I typically choose non-caffeinated drinks now, and the problems have greatly alleviated.

Look, I know how condescending it can seem to be told that "it's all in your head", but if you admit the possibility that it just might be and apply a positive attitude you might find you'll have an easy time of giving up coffee. Just have some aspirin handy, get plenty of water to drink and try to increase your exercise level and you should do fine.

Do what I did.

QUIT COLD TURKEY. I AM NOT KIDDING.

For years I had migraines which I eventually attributed to caffeine withdrawl. Sure, I could stave them off by taking more, but that would burn me out during the workday, and I would get a migraine every other night anyway.

So last July 4th weekend I decided I wasn't going to take this shit, that I had a life to live. I stopped all caffeine intake Wednesday night, and went through a painful Thursday. Friday was a continuous migraine. Saturday and Sunday were better, the funny thing is I actually got a final relapse migraine Monday night.

But Tuesday I felt great. And I have continued feeling great for 6 months. No more headaches, not a single migraine in these last 6 months.

The best thing about no caffeine is I don't feel burned out anymore, I have energy to work all day. You don't know how much energy you can have without caffeine because you're caught in the cycle.

As for consumption, yes I still consume a little caffeine here and there. Chocolate and the occasional caffinated soda are fine, even decaf coffee. You just have to keep it reasonable to avoid the cycle.

If you want out, all it takes is a little willpower. I would suggest LOTS of water and asprin as well the first week.

You are not just addicted to caffeine!

Cut the sugar first.
Your symptoms indicate that your also addicted to sugar. (Especially that 'pain in the ass' part - know that myself)
From what I understand you get you fix by drinking 'saturated sugar solutions' (Mountain Dew (eeeugh!) etc.) with added caffeine.
I'd suggest you deal with that sugar first. When you can go for a week without sugar, caffein will be the easy part, I'd guess.

And don't drink the crappy coffee. Buy the fair trade stuff that passes the extra money straight to the bean farmers in south america. Three pluses: You get better coffee (the quality differences are substancial), the coffee farmers don't have to live in de-facto slavery and you pay a little more for your fix, so you'll probably cut down on it in the long run anyway.

Drink tea

Okay, the correct answer is "go cold turkey", because switching to tea will still give you some of the withdrawal symptoms -- coffee is really, really nasty stuff, even decaf. But anyhow, tea will provide a good substitute, a good habit-filler, and is apparently not addictive (although anything will become a habit if you do it enough).

You'll ingest a fraction of the caffeine, you'll get less of the other nasty stuff that's in coffee (caffeine isn't the only 'upper' in coffee), and you'll get some positive benefits -- antioxidants, tooth decay slowing, bad breath reduction, and so on.

-Billy

Holiday / other change of scenery

I went on holiday, and the apartment didn't have any coffee. I'd noticed how much coffee I had been drinking a few weeks before going, so decided it would be a good time to just stop.

I was tired and had a headache for a few days, but it didn't matter because I was just lying on the beach all the time :) By the time the holiday was over, I didn't have any craving for caffeine, and I've been on the decaf ever since.

my method was the gradual yet firm dismissal

The symptoms you described are due to your body not being able anymore to deal with the drug. They are the forerunners of more serious problems. The solution is not to increase the consumption, not to stay at same levels, not even to just decrease it, but to quit altogether. I am not a doctor, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I used to drink a lot of coffee some years ago, up to ten cups a day maybe. My hands started to shake, and quite often i would get almost drunk because of caffeine (it's strange but real: past a certain threshold, caffeine makes you "drugged" pretty much like alcohol).
My method of getting rid of the nasty habit was a silent yet firm resolution to gradually push it out of the system. I just started to think (well, actually "feel" not think in the intellectual/logical sense) calmly, even-mindedly but persistently that i must stop it.
I didn't feel guilty or anything when drinking an occasional cup, i just rehashed my resolution. As an aid, or temporary "crutch" of sorts, because i actually like the taste of coffee i started to replace "real" coffee with decaf. Temporarily, i used to drink cola or stuff like that if i really craved for caffeine; after a while, i started to avoid even those things and drink non-caffeinated cola (all major brands offer non-caffeinated versions, at least in USA). The problem with cola is that the sugar can ruin your teeth (yes, i used to drink a lot!) and overall it's not one of the healthiest things to ingest. The "diet" versions (sugar replaced by artificial sweeteners) are even worse. Again, i am not a doctor, these are just my uneducated guesses.

The gradual changes that i described are not something that i planned. The only thing that mattered was the calm yet stubborn resolution. All else emerged from that without me intending it in an organized fashion - they were just things that became obvious by themselves, as time passed by.
I guess i was only more stubborn than the habit. :-) To rehash, the key ingredients were: calm, peace of mind (no guilt, no agitation due to "ohmygod i'm an addict and i'm f***ed"), persistence, reiterating the decision as many times as necessary. Oh, and time. Lots of time and patience.

It took me a year, maybe two, to make it disappear. I can't tell when was the precise date when the habit died, because there was no such date. Rather, it withered out like a plant lacking water.

Nowadays there is no craving at all. I still like the taste of coffee, but i drink the occasional decaf instead. Actually, i developed quite an addiction for... decaf vanilla white mocha! Translation for those unaware of this typical article in american coffee shops: this is something you could pretty much safely feed to a little child (except that you don't want a child getting addicted to the taste of coffee-based drinks at a young age), because it's decaf coffee, cocoa, milk, vanilla, sugar and whipped cream... mmmm... tasty... But that's a harmless addiction, i'd reckon, at least for an underweight like me.
I can even safely drink now "normal" coffee, if i'm extremely tired and bored, i have no energy to summon up my strength by sheer will power, but i have a difficult and important task to deal with which is worth the damage. I also accept a coffee when it's offered to me, and i do that only as a social thing, if i feel that a flat out refusal would not be appropriate for the situation. But i do that perhaps once a year, or maybe not even that often. Anyway there is no tendency of the addiction to get back, it's like it vanished altogether.
And actually, i don't even get the normal jolt from caffeine anymore; if i drink the occasional caffeinated cola, there is only a small perceivable effect on my state of mind, and if i drink a big strong coffee i actually feel uncomfortable and edgy (there must be some pretty strong self-suggestion that i injected into my brain while quitting if even the perception of the physical effects changed).

My personal opinion is that caffeine doesn't a

Re:Caffeine addiction?!? Gimme a break!

I think the problem here is that you're not looking at the right problem. Caffeine is not so much psychologically addictive as it is physiologically addictive.

I also seriously doubt that somebody who only drinks 3-4 cans of soda a day is going to suffer as much as somebody who drinks 6-10 cans a day.

As much as I'd like to give up caffeine, I do like the taste. Fortunately for my pocketbook, Wal*Mart sells their brand cheap, and it's justabout as good as the real thing. I tend to go through about ... oh ... six or seven cases (24-cans per flat) of soda a month. Generally more, if you count all the soda from the fast-food restaurants.

Yes, I'm fat. ;)

The last time I tried going cold turkey I was physically ill for a week. The physical affects went away when I started drinking soda again.

Bah.