Caffeine Withdrawal

[membas#1]

So over the last 7 years I've managed to become quite a coffee/tea drinker. Right now I regret that considerably! Over the last few months I've been slowly replacing caffeinated with decaf coffee, staying at 1/2 and 1/2 for a while, moving on down to 1/4 caf 3/4 decaf. Well this week I decided to switch to all decaf/no coffee (some mornings I just opt out of the entire thing, but other mornings I make the decaf). I have had small amounts of green tea (with short steeping times) to try and ward off the massive headaches (only allow myself this once a day), but gosh I've had headaches on and off all week. UGH. I hope that by the end of the weekend I"m feeling a little more like myself. I've been cranky, sleepy, and just overall blah. I am glad I"m tackling this now and not after we TTC, but dang--it's hard! Just had to vent...now I need a nap!

 

[CowtownGirl]

Oooo - you're brave!! I've slowly been cutting down over the last year or so but I was quite a heavy caffeine drinker anyway. I'm still on 1-2 cups of tea/coffee and a fizzy drink each day (still a huge improvement for me) but I dread stopping completely because I know about the headaches, etc. Let us know how long it takes for you to feel normal again!!

 

[Princess_LV]

I went cold turkey, with no withdrawal symptoms must have been lucky! However, I have had to deal with OH whinging about his withdrawal symptoms He's not completely off of the stuff yet, but replacing every other cup at work with a glass of water - he has hardly suffered with headaches. I'm not sure what your general fluid intake is like, but perhaps a little more water in place of some of the coffee would help?

 

[Armywife]

Oooh i remember that! I went cold turkey when i got my BFP with Poppy (didn't have your foresight!) and i felt shocking! Those symptoms mixed with morning sickness made for an awful 16 weeks! I learned from that and never got back into the habit, been on decaf ever since! Good luck sweetie!xxxxx

 

[membas#1]

Yeah, I don't know if I will ever go back to being caffeinated after this week. SO has been after me to cut back on caffeine for a while now--he doesn't ever drink caffeinated beverages. Part of my headaches could be allergies, as with the tiredness, but the lack of caffeine is not helping the allergy matter--the two combined...blah.

Cowtowngirl--I too was a pretty heavy caffeine intake person...my morning coffee alone was over the top (very strong and my "cup" of coffee is a normal 2-3 cup mug), along with tea in the afternoon and sometimes a soda....

Princess--I have definitely increased my water intake and it does help....staying hydrated can help with the headaches. I've also occasionally popped a tylenol to take the edge off...something I rarely do but I have to get through my work day.

The biggest thing I have to watch is when I'm tired I crave sugar....crave a pick me up, so I have to watch replacing caffeine with sugar. I'm not a huge sugar person except with PMS, but I've noticed an increase this week. Today I made a smart decision--needed a pick me up--grabbed a grapefruit...sugar but not 'snickers' sugar ;o)

 

[CowtownGirl]

LOL!! My mugs are really big, too!! Good tip about the sugar, I'm definitely a 'need a pick me up in the afternoon' type, too and have cut out afternoon caffeine at work, so maybe need to get a fruit bowl for my desk!

 

[dragonhawk]

Urgh!!! Fortunately I don't drink tea or coffee at all, but I definitely really miss my diat coke in the morning when I get into the office!!!

I've managed to cut down a lot though, originally having about 4 cans of coke (yes I know, it's a lot!!) and I've replaced the cans of coke with cans of fruit juice. The rest of the time, it's water or squash for me now. I buckled last week though and had 2 cans of coke, one on Monday morning and one on Friday afternoon... It had been a bad week at work.

(Never believe what people may say about civil servants, I've recently been doing 9 hour days because they are laying people off as a cost cutting exercise. What they forget is that it doesn't do a lot for the rest of us!)

 

[membas#1]

Well it's the weekend and I'm hoping I can use the weekend to sleep away the headaches if I need to. I'm sitting here with my decaf coffee--Hoping by Monday all will be better. I was very tired at work yesterday but did manage to come home and run through my exercise program, and then go on a walk with SO--so that's a step in the right direction--most of the week I was so tired when I got home and headache so bad that I didn't do much.

I have tried drinking a strong peppermint (decaf) tea a few times during the bad headaches and it does seem to take the edge off.

I'm so glad I'm doing this now and not down the road...but that doesn't mean it doesn't suck

 

[membas#1]

well, update--yesterday was better. SO and i had a super busy day and ran errands most of the day--I got tired, but didn't get a headache until around 4pm....it never got really bad. i did my exercise and felt better with the headache, drank lots of water etc. i didn't have any green tea yesterday--so all in all day 6 was much better than previous days. when the headache came on, i really wanted something sweet--so i just grabbed a frozen fruit juice bar--not too much sugar. that helped.

 

[dragonhawk]

Ooooo... Had an exhausting day yesterday. Came home wanting diet coke (my caffeine fix) and then wine....

Decided this was NOT going to happen as I don't want to ruin my weight loss (1.5 stone since Christmas) so instead of the bad stuff... White grape and peach jiuce from Sainsbury's half and half with fizzy water. (Christmas prezzie from DH last year, Sodastream!)

Gorgeous!!!

 

[BradysMum]

I miss caffeine so much atm!! I'm breastfeeding so I can't drink it still. I've been drinking redbush tea recently and actually its really hitting the spot. Its naturally caffeine free. When I'm not pregnant/breastfeeding, I'm terrible, usually at least 2 cups of coffee (black) and 2 of tea

 

[membas#1]

It's been a hard week of going off the stuff, I kind of wonder if I'll ever go back. I'll probably think back and convince myself it wasn't that bad of a week and start up again down the road...but I'm going to try not to. I do sleep better without the stuff....yesterday was a pretty good day. I'm getting to the bottom of my coffee bin and I'm pretty sure when I dumped the decaf in there was still some small amount of my previous mix, which was 1/4 caf, 3/4 decaf--so maybe that's why yesterday and today didn't seem so bad--either that, or the worst of it is over. ?

 

[laural11]

membas, good job cutting off the caffeine. I've heard that it takes about 2.5 weeks to completely wipe out a caffeine addiction, so if you've been off it for a week, only about a week or so more until withdrawal symptoms are completely gone.

As for me, I've gradually cut down to half decaf and promised DH, I would cut down to completely decaf on our first ttc cycle, which will probably begin tomorrow. But I don't wanna give up my coffee

 

[membas#1]

Yeah I promised SO that I would be completely off the stuff a month before TTC--so I did. He's prefer I not even drink decaf--he's got a bad opinion of coffee, and even though it's small amounts the caffeine is still present in decaf...so i will likely just stick to naturally decaf teas after this week. I'll miss you coffee! I'll treat myself occasionally to the decaf, but I'm going to break the morning habit. I understand how you feel laural, about not wanting to give up the coffee....it's so delicious!

 

[SazzleR]

I feel your pain Membas! I too am trying to kick the caffeine habit! We're WTT#1 & DH quit smoking last year & he's been on my back about my 'addiction'! Also don't think I could cope with morning sickness & caffeine cold turkey!

I had quite a caffeine habit! Used to have 2/3 mugs of instant coffee at work, then 2 mugs of brewed coffee at home in the evening. Plus I'm addicted to Starbucks too so whenever I'm out shopping I'll have a grande or venti hazelnut latte! I started by buying decaf instant for work & have just switched to decaf beans at home.

I've not really had headaches since the first couple of weeks of the switch but I'm really noticing the tiredness. I'm exhausted some days without the pick-me-up! Especially after a long or hard day at work!

But I want to do everything right for the pregnancy so maybe I'll just have to start napping!

xxx

 

[membas#1]

Yeah, I have felt like nap around 4pm most days since kicking this habit. It seems to be getting better though. I was really cranky around 4pm most of those days too--like really really grouchy but most days that need to nap and crankiness was gone by 6pm or so--just a couple of hours. Not too tired yet today--it's 2pm....we'll see if I have a crash at 4.

 

[membas#1]

No major crash today--and I came home and did my hour and half yoga workout that kicked my butt. Tomorrow I'm not going to have any decaf coffee either--I want to see if there's any caffeinated remains in the coffee bin (I suspect based on how well the last 3 days have gone that it's quite possible). Will check in tomorrow--here's hoping I wont be miserable!