Caffeine withdrawal...ugh...it's real!!

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I decided to quit because I drink coffee too much and it makes my heart race and really wires me. I didn't really expect much to happen.

Woke up today with a headache to rival a migraine. I felt nauseous too. None of this is good because I had to go with hub and daughter to a basketball tournament and it would last half the day.

Finally, I took maybe 6 oz. of hub's coffee and the headache and nausea disappeared right away, which shocked me. I guess I'll have to wean off. I know this isn't anything like quitting cigarettes, but I never really think of coffee as the drug that it is.

Thanks for letting me vent :tongue:
 

slsh

member since 1999
MWM, I feel for you. Caffeine withdrawl is far more painful in my experience than nicotine withdrawl. The headaches are a *killer*. With cig withdrawl, I'm just crabbier than all getout and I think it's more of a psychological dependence, but with coffee? Definite physical symptoms.

Maybe weaning down on the amounts of coffee gradually just to keep the headache at bay will work for you. I wish you luck!
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
I had that happen too, accidentally, and it's horrible! I drove to the house of an out of state cousin to spend a few days and didn't realize that what she had was decaf! I came down with what was very similar to one of my very worst sinus headaches ... horrible pain and the back of my neck aching, dizzy and nauseated. It was terrible! I thought it was sinus and it took a while to realize that it was caffeine withdrawal! If you decide to tough it out and get it all out of your system, I wonder how long you have to feel that wretched before you feel better?
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Oh yeah, better go slow baby! It's not something to stop cold turkey, at least for most people. It also probably depends on how much you're used to consuming in a day.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Caffeine is bad. I dont drink coffee but I drink tons of diet coke a day. At one point they thought that my diet coke consumption was a problem with my heart rate so they made me cut it out and drink decaf diet soda...ick! I almost died. Oh yeah...I had already almost died and was so out of it anyway that I didnt give them as much trouble as I normally would have done...lol. I just had one real diet coke a day and the rest were fake until I was drinking all fakes.
 

flutterby

Fly away!
I could never go cold turkey. When I've "had" to go without caffeine I get a headache worse than any migraine I've ever had and my vision gets blurred; can't follow a conversation, etc.

Wean yourself off.

I have no plans to do that at this time. I have so much fatigue and can't take any medications for it because of my heart - and even though I'm not supposed to drink more than 2 caffeinated drinks a day - it's the only thing that keeps me awake.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I may reduce my coffee intake occassionally............but no one would like me if I stopped it completely. lol

Now I've reduced all other forms of caffiene without physical side effects. And I don't drink like tons of coffee either. Just got to have those first 2-3 cups to get me awake in the mornings.

But I do know that some people can really suffer from withdrawl affects. Their bodies are used to those caffiene levels.

Hugs
 

crazymama30

Active Member
If you want to quit drinking coffee/caffeine drinks and get a head ache take excedrin, just the regular kind will do or a generic. One of the ingredients is caffeine. When we get pt's in the hospital who go through this sometimes we can get orders for excedrin and have family members bring it in.

It is real. I have never had problems with that, but I have seen plenty of people who do.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Thanks. I thought i was nuts...lol. I was tired, sick to my stomach, had a MONSTER headache and thought, "Oh, come on. You're such a baby. CAFFIENE???"

Janet, lol, I feel your pain without the caffeine. I love it, but it's causing problems so I want to see what life is like without it. But there is no way I'm going cold turkey. I had one cup today and I'll cut it down a little at a time.

Decaf coffee is terrible. I wonder what I'll drink in it's place. If anyone knows of a decent decaf brand, can you please let me know? I'll even pay a lot for it. I love the coffee taste, but the decaf I tried so far is just not the same! :sick: And tea is kind of flavorless to me...but maybe I'll get used to herbal tea??
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
You might try the 1/2 and 1/2 coffee for a while, or just mix caffeine free with the regular coffee. I get horrible headaches without coffee, too. I just need a cup or so in the morning, but without it, the headaches are awful. If you drink a lot of coffee, you really should start by cutting in half first. I can't go without at least one cup of coffee a day. I have no interest in cutting that back either.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
AT this point, I want to cut back a lot, but I have to go slower as I was gulping down three pots a day. Yes, you read it right. When I started getting a little draggy tonight I had another half cup of coffee. Usually I drink it all day long. I guess I'll start off this way. I don't know if I"ll cut out caffeine 100% but since I'm high strung I want to see what life without caffeine is like :) I know that when you're withdrawing from it, life without caffeine ain't no fun at all! :faint:
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
I seriously do not recommend taking Excedrin for headaches. Excedrin contains Acetaminophin (the active ing in Tyelenol). That is a potent liver toxin (so much so that it is a leading cause of liver failure in the Western World). In fact, it is hardly likely that it would have been approved by today's standards. A lot of other countries have started to require RX for it or limit quantities sold.

Excedrin contains the equivalent to one cup of coffee or one large caffeinated soda.

Keep your liver happy and try taking two Aspirin and a caffeinated beverage, or two ibuprofen and caffeine.

For those living outside the US, acetaminophin is usually sold as "Paracetamol". When I say 'caffeinated beverage' I don't mean energy drinks or any of the 'supercharged' colas or coffees.

A regular can of cola should do the trick if you don't want to just have a regular cup of coffee.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
The headache you get on caffeine withdrawal can be a migraine if you have migraines. If you let it go it can turn into a real monster of a migraine.
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I no longer drink a lot of caffeine (maybe 1 coke a day) but there was a point when I drank a lot more caffeinated soda. I used to get horrible migraines when I went too long without soda. After I joined ww in 1996 I totally gave up caffeine (for about 7 years). It cut down on my migraines immensely. I went from having several a month to only a couple a year.
 
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