How I quit coffee
Tuesday, 12 June, 2007From addiction to freedom.
If you quit ingesting coffee ‘cold turkey’, your brain begins to reduce the number of receptors right away. But the process takes about two weeks, and during that time your body sends out mild ‘distress signals’ in the form of headaches, lethargy, fatigue, muscle pain, nausea, and sometimes even stiffness and flu-like symptoms. As a result most doctors recommend cutting out caffeine gradually.
Well, gradual attempts at quitting coffee did not work for me. Each time I tried – I suffered the horrors described above.
I used to drink 10+ cups a day (no sugar or milk). The more I drank the more I needed to drink. I reached the stage where it would no longer work: more coffee meant more down times. I’d drink a cup, feel the rush for half an hour and I’d hit a mental fog, and need another one. It really was a vicious circle.
I tried to quit. I tried not to drink any coffee but it just would not do. I tried reducing the amount, but it would not do. Like a smoker I tried for years to quit.
In vain I struggled. It would not do.
Until pure chance came to the rescue.
I was traveling in remote areas of Central America, with no access to reliable drinking water. I could not trust bars, I certainly could not trust tap water to boil my own…
The first few days were terrible, the rejection process was really hard.
By the end of the 3 week trip I forgot what coffee was. I never looked back. It’s been over 2 years and I don’t care for coffee. My head works clearly without it. I do not suffer from the afternoon downtime. I do not need the caffeine boost. I’m free.
That’s a lot of coffee! I’m at a relative peak for my coffee intake, and I’m between 4 and 6 cups a day! I’ve found a good way to limit my intake is to give it away after I make it. Very few people will turn down fresh French Pressed coffee.
For years, I used to quit coffee every summer. I’d pick a day, usually a Monday that happened to be a holiday, and plan to spend it sleeping and watching bad movies on TV. Once I made it to around 5PM, I knew I was in the clear. I guess I have it easy, which is weird, since I’ve been drinking the stuff since I was 10.
Absolutely agree about the downtime. It’s amazing how much more energy you have when you don’t spending it all with the coffee-credit-card in the morning. I’m due to quit myself.
I am now AT DAY 5 of Quit-Coffee-Cold-Turkey, and I’d say I’m over the hub as far as withdrawal symptoms are concerned.
Most of the advice I got was this: Never Quit Coffee Cold Turkey : The withdrawal symptoms can be unbearable.
I was not sure of this because I know (from my quit smoking experience many years ago) that if I try cutting down on consumption, it will never work. I would eventually get back to previous levels, if not worse.
So, what can I tell about my last 5 coffee free day?
Day 1 : Bad headache. Lethargic. Sleepy. I just weather it down by drinking tons of water, shower alot and sleep when the body needs it. Went to bed 9.00 pm
Day 2 : The headache got worse. Eyes were watery. But my mind is telling me I can win this battle. Tokk half day off from work and sleep in the sofa much part of the day. By 8.30 pm I was in bed, eventually fell asleep around 9.00
Day 3 : Muscles feel weak and aching. Headache is milder now. Feeling much encouraged to go on. Slept early but at about 10.00pm.
Day 4 : Feeling like I have won a tough battle and now thinking of winning the war. All symptoms are lessen. Did not feel the need for afternoon nap. JUst took a cats wink, to refresh. Went to bed 11.00 pm
Day 5 : It’s now…. and its in the afternoon. And I’m fully alert writting this comment.
If anyone has any advice on how to improve one’s general health after quitting coffee, I’s be thrilled.
dansire, Oct 5, 2007 6.13 pm
JK: Welcome to the club!
Hi every (ONE) YEAH…. one.; jk (thanks for the welcome)
Yea, it seems to me that no one read this page….
Anyway here I am again….
And guess what… I’m now 25 days coffee free. And I can only say one thing about this experience……
The benefits of quitting cafeine is MANY and REAL..
It’s a new freedom I tell ya…
See you around.
—————
Hi Daniel, This particular post gets several hits a day, every day. People read it. That people don’t leave comments? Well, reasons may be plenty, some may not bother just as they don’t bother trying to quit – it won’t make any difference. I tried quitting coffee numerous times, it never worked until I had a helping hand from circumstances.
JK
Hey Daniel…I’m tired of scheduling my life around coffee/caffeine…please do tell the many benefits?
Since I quit coffee (cold turkey), I find that my body system began to function like it should be. The cycles of alertness and tiredness become natural. There is now no need for a caffeine fix to boost energy.
Besides that, I noticed that my bowel system too and changed for the better. I read somewhere that the acid in coffee causes bad poo.
I used to drink coffee as a substitute for water. (Some studies show that drinking coffee in fact increases water loss – diuretic effect). Now I just drink water to keep the body hydrated.
So there you go… many benefits.
P/s… JK It’s encouraging to know that there are people out there reading.
Thanks Daniel…if any additional benefits are realized then please keep us informed…
It’s been 4 days for me without the evil brew.
I’ve been suffering from heart palpitations for almost 10 years now. Lately they’d gotten increasingly worse. They’ve caused me panic attacks in the beginning as I didn’t know what was happening to me. Once I’d learned about palpitations, I just ignored them. Nothing too serious, nothing can be done. But my heart started feeling more and more unhappy and I finally got a little scared again.
So day 1 I cut my crazy coffee consumption down to 1. 5 cups. Didn’t do any harm at all. Next day I only had 1 cup, palpitations decreased slightly, then I switched to black tea, which I am still drinking right now. Palpitations lessened in frequency and severity. I cannot recall having had any palpitations yesterday and none so far today. I feel quite bad that I’ve ignored this more or less for 10 YEARS (!), I’ve been so very mean to my heart and hope she’ll accept my apology.
Hi fellow coffee-quitters! How are all of wefn,z…zzzzzzz.
Whoops, sorry ’bout that. Yeah, it’s day 3 for me. I keep wanting to take a nap.
I want to quit coffee but am scared. every time i have tried to quit cold turkey, i feel horrible – like so horrible, i can’t get up and function which is impossible since i am a single mom and i work full time. plus i just quit smoking 2 1/2 weeks ago and don’t want to shock my body too bad. i’m still suffering horrible insomnia ever since i quit nicotine. any suggestions for the coffee thing?
hey, I really like that their are pages like this. I have been an addict of quite a few things for many many years. I am 25, and I’ve been smoking pot, drinking alcohol, and smoking cigarettes since I was about 14 years old. (among an occasional other thing, such as psychedelic drug, pharmaceutical drug i wasn’t prescribed for….) anyhow, it has occurred to me many times that I was an addict and needed help, but there was very limited help amongst my social circle. in fact, none at all! finally I woke up one morning and decided I wasn’t going to smoke pot anymore (january 7 08) it’s been very hard.. i started drinking far more excessively. i quit smoking tobacco jan 15th, yet again, the intake of alcohol went way UP and made it harder to stay off the other two, although i did not slip up once! just the cravings were intense. on the 26th of jan, I quit taking the others that I mentioned. I noticed many things that were happening to my body.. mostly, I was coughing up all sorts of things, I had a flu for a couple of weeks, my appetite increased immensely(three meals a day! + snacks) and an increase in energy levels. although I don’t feel as good as I was anticipating. I still have insomnia, still have irregularities with bowel movements, and I still do not feel very mentally alert all the time. Then I thought, maybe it’s all the caffeine I drink.. so I started looking up the benefits of quitting caffeine on google, and came across this site. the words you people say help a one in a wretched state as i, i thank you for it. and now i am on day 1 of quitting caffeine. 2 months and a day with no pot! and in 2 weeks I’ll be 2 months sober. maybe i’ll feel a bit better with water added to my diet lol. thanks all
5 days without Tea or coffee and the migraine went gone. That was worst withdrawal symptom for me. Like the person who wrote first blog, I took half day from work because of the headaches. Should never have driven home! Just adding up the number of cups you drink each day is a sobering thought. At least one tea/coffee an hour. A visit to Costa 3 times per week. It’s only when the headaches get bad you begin to realise just how addicted to caffeine you (I) had become. No amount of pain killers (UK rubbish) worked or even took the edge off it.
The amount of drinks out there to substitute for coffee/tea are plentiful. I bought fruit juice and smoothies. Word of warning….take it slow with fruit juice. Those who don’t will understand why you should! Drink plenty of water. I topped 3 litres a day. Now on herbal tea. Fresh boiled water and lemon juice is good but add a spoon of organic honey, makes it a little more palatable.
I can confirm the tiredness, the need for additional sleep but most of all now, 6 days after stopping, waking up in morning feeling great.
Cold turkey is not easy but the incentive is massive. Not even the slightest wish to have a coffee. Not yet anyway. Feel cleaner, breath fresher and more energy (once headache went!).
I have never smoked or taken drugs and never considered myself an addict. Clearly I was. You smokers who give up must go through hell.Well done to you all that manage.
Stick with it, it gets better.
I had been suffering the cycle of taking coffee hits to energize and then feeling tired in the afternoon so I decided to quit cold turkey. Now I am on my 5th day, feeling lethargic and headaches at night but I will persevere.
Does anyone know if decaffeinated coffee is fully safe from addiction?
Cheers,
I’m glad to find this site. I drink about 5 cups of super strong coffee each day…probably the equivalent of 12 “normal” cups. I’ve tried cutting back, but even one cup makes me crave more and more. I think I must do this cold turkey. I feel like crap everyday, so sleepy all day, no energy. Waking up each morning is torture. I hope I can eliminate much of this by throwing away my coffepot and kicking this habit. Its’ gonna be tough though…I’ve been on the bean since I was about 6 years old…..now I’m 45. Wish me luck…
Hello fellow sufferers.
Day 1: 1 cup of coffee in morning. Growing headache and lethargy by mid day and on into the night.
Day 2: No coffee. The headache continues along with the feeling that my energy and blood has slowly drained out of my body. Read the posts above and I’m ready to carry on. It sounds like day three should just about wrap things up.
I’m looking forward to:
- being drug free
- saving money
- having natural energy throughout the day
- avoiding the pernicious advertising and presence of coffee in our society.
Oh yeah!
Hi,
I am on day 9 of quitting caffeine.
The withdrawal symptoms are gone, except for the cravings. I just really want a cup of coffee. How long did this last for other people?
Hi Simon,
Decaf coffee does contain a small amount of caffeine. Let me tell you it is plenty enough to make you feel withdrawl when you quit.
I have struggled with caffeine addiction for years and am now free.
I DO NOT recommend people drink decaf if they are trying to quit.
Matter of fact it is much more acidic than regular coffee.
Good luck. It is well worth the week of pain to quit.
You have your whole life ahead of you and I have come to the conclusion that a caffinated life if not the best life.
Caffeine is simply a drug. It leads to dependence very easily and is sold everywhere. Over the last 5 years coffee shop culture has exploded. Caffeine drinks are sold more than ever.
Symptoms of not taking caffeine extremely unpleasant. Like giving up smoking it is emotionally complex. Smoking makes you irritable, caffeine withdrawal is making me feel insecure and depressed. It is all mind games, based on low metabolic function created by my dependence on the drug for a boost.
I have no problem waking up in the mornings but if I have not had a caffeine hit by 1100 I become really slow witted and hopeless.
Solve the problem by taking caffeine? I’ve had enough, the caffeine drug monkeys with you when you take it and when you don’t, it simply is too chaotic a substance. Maybe one day I will get my La Pavoni machine and Zassenhaus mill back into action. One day that is, and not very soon it will be.
I’m on day one of a cold Turkey, which would be probably around the 4th or 5th time I have quit, which means I never really did I suppose.
I should simply use my stubborn nature to defeat caffeine. I will not let caffeine own me.
Hello, I have read all your guys messages and I thought I should also write u my experience, since I am so proud of it and in the same time amazed. I am 33 yo and I started drinking coffee when I was 18 yo, so 15 years of drinking coffee. Most of the time I used to drink about 1 liter per day.In the last year I started to feel sick: liver pain, stomach burns, blood pressure, all the years having bad toilet which caused me other troubles, I also have irritable bowel syndrome, some kind of rash allergy on my body few times a year, extreme hair loss, etc. So about an year ago I started feel vomit sensation at the smell of coffee, but I still couldn’t live without it so I started drinking instant coffee and added milk to it. Everything seamed to be fine, no more disgust feeling, but my liver pain and my irritable bowel still disturbed me frequently. About 2 weeks ago those symptoms became heavier, i had pain like every day. One last day i had a sever crisis, my liver really hurt me for hours this time, so i got really scared. Also got the skin allergy this month, so i went terribly freaked out, like i was never before. I started read about my health problems, and I found out scary things:) Things, scary enough to determinate me to say stop at once to coffee. So i decided that since i feel so bad with my health, i probably need a body detox diet. So i have googled and found out what i have to do for such a diet. I was very very determined, I tell u, never been so in my life:) So I settled my mind up that night, next day i was going into detox diet and i really wanted it. I woke up next day, prepared my fiancee’s lunch as i normally do in the mornings and when he left to work, instead of making myself coffee i made myself a cup of forest fruits tea:) I am totally amazed, i have no idea how this worked up so well to me. If i would have read all the symptoms of quitting before i actually did it, i suppose i might have gotten scared and probably my conscious would have made me feel them too. But when i did it, i had no idea what the side effects could be. I thought ok, i might be mad, sleepy, so i will probably spend all day in bed till my body gets used to it. But, SURPRISE! Didn’t have a trouble. Had my tea and a cigarette and in about the same time as with coffee, which means about half hour I already felt awaken. In fact, i felt more fresh than ever. Normally when i used to drink the coffee, i would feel tired and sleepy all day long, only felt fresh for the time drinking the coffee and afterwards i would have felt tired again so more coffee coming up
Well now i don’t have this problem anymore, i tell u guys, i am all so full of energy. My detox diet, which i don’t know if it helped me not having any side effects for quitting coffee, is this: much much liquid per day, i drink about 3-4 liters forest fruits tea and seldom green tea, and about other 3-4 liter of water. No sugar, no E’s, no fats, no salt, no chocolate. First 3 days i ate only raw vegs and cereals, then i started add chicken meat, rice and soy sauce. Now after a week i also eat beef sometimes, but mostly sticking with the chicken. Still eating raw vegs and fruits every day. I added yogurt to vegs now. Honey is allowed, but no other sweets. I think maybe the thought of starting to live healthy was what helped me not having any side effects, i really cant explain it, i am just so happy i could do it. It was tenth day now, and since my fiancee went on a work trip i thought i would have a coffee with him in the morning:) But i felt to vomit when i felt its smell, so i threw it away. Later on, because i was terribly tired, i made myself a small portion on very watery instant coffee with milk and that i could drink. But thats also probably the reason why i am now still awake at 3 am lol I am awake reading tips on how to quit smoking. My smoking doesn’t quite fit with my detox diet:) so today i worked up on setting my mind up to quitting smoking as well. I have read a girl said that she stopped smoking 2 weeks ago and now she wanna stop coffee. I am not sure thats a good try if u still feel bad with quitting the smoking. I thought the same myself,and i decided not to do all at once cause i still need some “pleasure”. But now when i see that i don’t have to struggle living without coffee, i think is time i try quit ciggs as well. God, i hope i can do it the same as with coffee. I am really a hard smoker, i doubt it that is going to be easy, but then i thought the same about coffee and here i am bragging about how good i feel. I am sorry for the ones who feel the side effects, i consider myself a lucky. I am curious if anyone else have been as lucky as i was. Oh one bad thing is that now i have hard time with having big toilet:) But thats also because of the raw vegs i am eating. Oh and my liver pains are almost gone, i seldom feel an ache for a minute or so. All my health troubles are gone. Imagine if i stop smoking as well…wow…i am encouraging myself cause i am scared when i think tomorrow i wake up and no more ciggs:) I think, maybe drinking so much liquid it kept me away of having those headaches.Good luck to all of you.
Hi, I quit coffee cold turkey a week ago mainly because I developed a urinary tract infection that would supposedly heal much better if I quit the coffee… I did go through the withdrawal symptoms and all and now am infection free but wondering whether I should quit coffee once and for all. The thing I am finding the hardest is that I am sleepy all the time, I could sleep ten hours a night and still feel sleepy all day long. Is there anything I could eat or drink to make me wake up more during the day? Cuz if I stay this way I am going to go back to coffee for sure.
Hi, I am on day four without coffee and it is very hard. Everyday I drink coffee with my friends. I developed a urinary tract infection, so I decided to quit. My infection is gone, but the craving for cofee is not. I had to hide my coffee pot. It was the first thing I thought of , when I got up in the morning. I am trying to just drink hot tea, but I miss the smell of my coffee in the morning. I am gonna take one day at a time.
I drank 2-3 cups a day for 10 years. Many days started with a double or triple espresso. I couldn’t make it through the afternoon without coffee – sometimes a diet coke would do the trick.
I went cold turkey 9 days ago and I’m feeling pretty good. The first 5 days were hard. I got through it by taking one swig of a diet dr. pepper during the afternoons when I was loosing my shit. The swig of diet dr. pepper is no longer needed. I am off coffee for good.
I take a b vitamin and drink a home-made smoothy in the mornings (frozen berries, yogurt, whey powder, banana, water). This combo seems to work great for giving me some pep in morning. Coffee is evil if you drink it every day and feel like you must have it or die.
I am off coffee and feeling good about it.
I have a question. I had a very strong cup of coffee last weekend, it gave me the shakes and I couldn’t sleep almost all night. Since then I have had no coffee, not even craving it. I’ve switched to PC Lemon Thriller Herbal Tea. Last night I had flu like syntoms and though out today as well. I’m very tired and slept the day away. My question is, is this normal or do I have the flu?
Thanks Cyndie
Hello all,
I am planning on beginning my “coffee withdrawal” on Friday Jan, 2 so I can go through symptoms at home. I’ve never tried to quit before and am scared. Does anyone have any advice for me???
I’ve stopped drinking coffee for four days now. The longest I’ve managed is five days in the last 10 years. The cravings are strong. I know I’m going through some pain now but in the long run it’ll be worth it. The human body doesn’t need coffee or other stimulants. I hope to comeback and write on here how I’ve managed to stay off for a month. Check in with you guys on my progress later
It’s sunday morning…7 am … on thursday morning, 72 hours ago I got up and made my usual pot of strong coffee. That was gone an hour later with only me drinking it and I was getting ready to make my second pot. I very often would drink two full Pots of coffee in the morning in about a two hour period…and then more later. I went on the web and started researching caffeine and realized that those two pots probably contained about 2000 mg of caffeine. The web pages said “normal” dose was about 250 and listed 900mg as extremely high. I would often drink two pots in the morning, then stop at starbucks, more coffee in the afternoon and then another pot at night. I hate to add it up but I was sometimes getting more than 3000mg a day. Anyway thursday morning after my morning pot I decided to quit, since then I’ve had only Decaf(yes I know it contains a small amount of caffeine) and it really hasn’t been two bad. A small headache, some body stiffness, my legs felt bad last night like I needed to get up from sleep and stretch them to get the blood flowing. And (this sounds weird) my brain feels sort of numb. Thank you all for your posts and I’ll check back later after a week or so of no regular coffee
Owwwww, my head.
Monday (yesterday) morning had my coffee then didn’t drink my usual few cups throughout the day becuase I was busy all day. By 5:00 I realized I had not had any… but couldnt be bothered to stop. This morning I just decided to keep going.
10:30am today my head is killing me. It’s been 29 hours, my head and neck are killing me, and my body aches… lol, this better be worth it! haha.
Good luck to anyone else!
I finally quit smoking after 25 years. Been a non-smoker now for over 20. I have quit drinking, been alcohol free for many years. Don’t do meds, have had two aspirin since 1987. But quit coffee? If you know caffeine, you know addiction, that’s all I can tell you. Besides, caffeine is the only good thing about coffee. All the substitutes are like cures that are worse than the illness.
i quit smoking a thousand times and it didn’t work, until I stopped making a lifetime commitment out of it, and said, It’s this cigarette I’m not going to smoke “right now”. Perhaps I’ll have one in a few minutes. In the meantime I’ll drink a glass of water. Know your enemy, and good luck.
Hi,
I’m on day 12 w/o coffee. I was a 8 cup daily coffee drinker for the last 15 years (since college).
Like others here, it took me about 4 days until I started to feel physically ok without coffee.
I feel great in the morning now, and enjoy juice, fresh fruit and I’m trying to drink lots of water.
I am concerned about a “relapse” though. They have free, good coffee where I work, and the smell of it still lures me.
Best luck to all cold turkey coffee quiters.
Steve
I’m going to grab me a tall large hot cup of some freshly brewed coffee, so yummy. Don’t be jealous. LOL
WARNING – Get your blood pressures checked.
If your canadian and like tim hortons.. I ADVISE YOU to watch your blood pressure.. not only does tims have 18% creme… but all their food is LOADED with salt.. goto their site and look at there ingrediants page.. you can click it..but its NOT THERE!.
I used to love timmes.. until I started getting wise on what everything contains. muffins.. contain 1/2 the daily limit of salt!!!!!!!!!! even the tea biskits… 75% of daily recommended salt..
So think of this,… 4 tims coffees..with creme.. is like 20 spoonfulls of margine.. or 7 spoonfuls of butter… then pile in a bagel or muffin… too sloooowwwlyy make your heart pump that colesteral as hard as it can through your viens.
I LOVE timmies.. but healthwise.. I now drive right by. Can you believe mc donalds is 3 times healthier then tim hortons. FACT!.
I’m five days into quitting coffee/caffeine and i’m really happy with the results so far. Cold-turkey was the only way to go although I did halve an Exedrine (30mg caffeine) to help on the first day with a headache.
I made a list to help keep me motivated:
——————————————-
Reasons I’ve quit drinking coffee:
Nervous energy followed by a crash into all-over-the-body anxiety and fear with no energy at all.
packing on visceral fat due to epinephrine surges.
Recent study shows that it inhibits the absorbtion of potassium, weakening the muscles.
Messes with my blood sugar metabolism – i actually FELT it in my legs at night and in the morning (diabetic-like damage feeling)
Burns out adrenals causing aging – Look at what it did to Dave Foley.
My tolerance was getting to the point where I needed more than four cups to keep any energy.
Constipation if I didn’t drink it – feeling bloated.
Reliance on caffiene to evacuate my bowels was basicaly forcing my metabolism. (unnatural). Losing my natural paristaltic rhythm.
The massive shits I was taking felt/looked/smelled like they were from DEEP inside my guts — like I was shitting out stuff that wasn’t through digesting. It seemed like they were more acidic as well. These, combined with caffeine’s smoothing of the GI tract made my asshole inflamed and bleed. Also, this rapid flushing out of my guts probably changed the amount of beneficial bacteria in my GI tract.
I recall reading somewhere (source now eludes me, but “Prevention” seems a good fit) that fatigue caused by excessive coffee drinking is not uncommon, and can be attributed to various vitamin and mineral deficiencies; specifically, coffee is responsible for loss of vitamin B1 (thiamine) – the feel great vitamin…
The article cited the case of a woman with low blood pressure who drank plenty of coffee in order to stay focused during the day. As it was the case with me – after a while coffee no longer worked. So, a doctor did some tests and suggested that the woman drop coffee altogether and take brewers yeast and B vitamins. 2 weeks later the woman was perky again and independent of coffee…
Elsewhere (study from the 1970s) I read that coffee quitters should consider blood tests for vitamin and mineral deficiencies, in particular B1, magnesium, vitamin E and C, and adjust their intake accordingly.
I can add by my own example that by far the best way to rouse my brain is physical exercise, not necessarily strenuous jogging, etc, but anything that gets my body off the chair, such as snow shoveling or raking leaves. In addition a tablespoon of brewers yeast (good source of B1) in a glass of water usually gets me climbing the ceiling…