Will I ever feel fine without coffee?

[Javfly33]

I have started tapering down my caffeine intake because of two reasons:

1- I started to really hate waking up and feel absolutely terrible until I managed to do coffee and stop the WD

2- I realized that when I take coffee I am not exactly more productive, just more jittery and fast-paced. My work actually demands me to be patient more than "fast".

However, I am having a hard time regarding knowing when will I ever be free of this damn chemical.

I basically was taking about 2-3 coffees a day and over the weeks I've managed to limit it to 1 COFFEE at morning, + 3 soup spoons of pure Green Tea at the afternoon (which honestly, feels fucking placebo because after 20 minutes of drinking it I again feel tired (the coffee WD comes back).

Last week I was doing 7gr of coffee. Today I did 6gr. I plan to remove 1gr each week. That's how ridiculously slowly I have to go to not feel hard WD symptoms. 

Like I said, Today I did 6gr. Wow, felt really much calmer and peaceful. Doing work today was another whole experience. I was calm to take it slowly and actual get something done instead of trying to "run" through the tasks doing them half-ass .

However, here it is. Now its 4PM, it's been 1 hour after I´ve drink that ridiculous amount of Green Tea with honey, and I´m SOOO SLEEPY. I could sleep for hours now. 

Also my body aches , I crave the coffee.

Why the heck this takes so much time. iTs ridiculous. I thought this was a "harmless" drug.

Edited November 15, 2021 by Javfly33

[Salvijus]

Dude, all addictions are the same and the solution to all of the addictions is the same. Purge your mind and body. But you need proper tools for that, find those tools and just purge yourself. It's that simple. 

?

[Rilles]

Takes about a week to get normal after quitting meaning no headaches or fatique. Then about a month to get your natural energy back. Psychologically its almost impossible to get over, if you been addicted for a few years.

[Javfly33]

1 minute ago, Rilles said:

Takes about a week to get normal after quitting meaning no headaches or fatique. Then about a month to get your natural energy back. Psychologically its almost impossible to get over, if you been addicted for a few years.

 

It's more physical. Like, I just feel bad in my body. (And also, tired).

[Michael569]

It gets better around week 2 you just gotta keep your willpower strong. There is no other way to quit. 

Kudos for trying, it will get better. 

[museumoftrees]

It can take around 3 months or like a 100 days without caffeine for you to feel normal, the way you felt before you ever drank caffeine. The reason is that your neurotransmitters and receptors need time to re-adapt. The only scientific explanation I know is that the caffeine molecule blocks the neuroreceptor for another molecule responsible for sending the signal to your body and mind that you are sleepy called adenosine. To remain effective, your body has to manufacture more adenosine when you are on caffeine for you to still fall asleep and function. Thus when you stop drinking coffee, your levels of adenosine are too high are you are flooded by the chemical.

You just need time to re-adapt. Stick to your patience. The slower you go, the more likely it is that you'll stick with it and not go back on caffeine when your ''purge'' has ended.

Personally, my strategy for quitting caffeine involved drinking black tea for 50 days but reducing the amount of it every 10 days (by 20%) or so until you are not drinking anything caffeinated. It took another 50 days after that for me to feel normal. So it took around 100 days but it was really worth it. I was still working on my nutrition and fitness in the meantime so that helped. 

However, concerning energy, this is only the tip of the iceberg. You'll have to commit to understanding things like nutrition, fitness, sleep, breathing, meditation and also, working on your life purpose. Because the bulk of your mental energy will come from working on big projects that demand your highest self.

 

[SQAAD]

@Javfly33

4 hours ago, Javfly33 said:

However, here it is. Now its 4PM, it's been 1 hour after I´ve drink that ridiculous amount of Green Tea with honey, and I´m SOOO SLEEPY. I could sleep for hours now. 

Also my body aches , I crave the coffee.

Why the heck this takes so much time. iTs ridiculous. I thought this was a "harmless" drug.

I don't think that it exists such thing as a harmless drug. Some things suggest that coffee may also be neurotoxic. Of course the dosage is always important. It is the dose that makes the poison as they say. I have been in a similar situation like you and now over the last months i have managed to significantly improve my relationship with caffeine.

The first thing i did was to to stop coffee cold turkey. Now everyones different. But i didn't react too bad to it.  I didn't feel any massive withdraws to be honest. Only the first 3 days were brutal.

After few days , you realise that you don't even need coffee. You have all the energy you need without it. It becomes redundant and you view it as such.

I was off coffee for like a month, then i began drinking it again but in smaller doses. Now when i wake up, i really don't need that coffee. I don't feel like i need it. I just have it because i am a drug addict and i like the whole ritual (lol). Also every now and then i do 3-5 days where i don't drink any caffeine without getting WD.

The fact that you are so sleepy its probably a sign that you are sleep deprived and abusing coffee....

My tip is to wait at 1 and a half hours if you can before drinking your 1st coffee. Because when you wake up, you have tons of cortisol running in your system. You don't need any more. And cortisol should give you the energy you need. Coffee also raises cortisol so it would be a good idea to drink it after your cortisol has decreased a little bit. There isn't any research on this.

But from my experience it seems a good idea. If i were to drinki coffee in the morning , i feel like i am pushing my body beyond its limits. My body tells me ''you don't need coffee right now, take it a little later''. Its a very intuitive observation of how my body feels in the morning.

You should have tons of energy 1st thing when you wake up. Otherwise you may not be getting enough quality sleep. Don't drink much caffeine because it can reduce your deep sleep by 20% or even more.

I only take 120-130mg of caffeine a day. More than that it scews my sleep, the next day i feel groggy and sh*tty and i need even more coffee...

Edited November 15, 2021 by SQAAD

[SQAAD]

@museumoftrees

2 hours ago, museumoftrees said:

It can take around 3 months or like a 100 days without caffeine for you to feel normal, the way you felt before you ever drank caffeine.

For me all it took was 1 week. I don't think it takes that long for most healthy subjects. Its not that hard of a drug. It doesn't affect dopamine a lot like other drugs.

The adenosine receptors should return to normal fairly fast.

Edited November 15, 2021 by SQAAD

[museumoftrees]

43 minutes ago, SQAAD said:

@museumoftrees

For me all it took was 1 week. I don't think it takes that long for most healthy subjects. Its not that hard of a drug. It doesn't affect dopamine a lot like other drugs.

The adenosine receptors should return to normal fairly fast.

For most people it will not take 1 week. That’s almost impossible. Even a month is fairly and undershoot for the time it will take someone to feel normal again.

[Fearless_Bum]

Maybe it isn't the coffee that's the issue. 

Just to add some perspective: 

For years I thought coffee was an issue, then I fasted for two days. 

I drank coffee for those two days and had amazing energy / clarity and I actually got good sleep. Hugely changed my perspective. 

[SQAAD]

@museumoftrees

11 hours ago, museumoftrees said:

For most people it will not take 1 week. That’s almost impossible. Even a month is fairly and undershoot for the time it will take someone to feel normal again.

I don't really know. I guess it depends how much you have abused this substance and other factors. For me , even when i abuse it, i don't get any WDs. Everyones different. Some people get WDs when they quit weed for example, others don't.

Edited November 16, 2021 by SQAAD

[Javfly33]

@SQAAD @museumoftrees Update guys: Today I felt much much better ? Already reaping the benefits of being more calm and less edgy at work and being more productive.

@Fearless_Bum Fasting definetely gives energy. But I don´t know how your logic makes sense.

It´s like saying, "I thought sleeping 4 hours a day was the issue of being tired, until one day I did some meth and had amazing energy/clarity. Hugely changed my perspetive.".

[Fearless_Bum]

11 minutes ago, Javfly33 said:

@SQAAD @museumoftrees 

@Fearless_Bum Fasting definetely gives energy. But I don´t know how your logic makes sense.

It´s like saying, "I thought sleeping 4 hours a day was the issue of being tired, until one day I did some meth and had amazing energy/clarity. Hugely changed my perspetive.".

@Javfly33 what? That analogy makes zero sense pertaining to what I mentioned lol. 

Like I'm honestly confused as to how to respond to that ?. 

Fasting means eliminating all foods, and in the elimination and only ingesting coffee, I found the coffee wasn't the issue. 

Whyre you bringing up a lack of sleep and meth lol.

[Javfly33]

@Fearless_Bum dude, you basically a variable (fasting) and did anything else.

Actually do another experiment of fasting WITHOUTH coffee.

I mean its fucking obvious lol

See i can be taking coffee for years and having bad sleep (i mean that wasnt my issue particularly But anyway just for the sake of the argument) and one day go jogging for 1 hour and then have amazing sleep.

Does that mean that coffee wasnt an issue? No, It just means that exercise helps a lot with sleep.

Thank God not all scientistics have the amazing lógic you have brother ?? (not want to offend But cmon, cant you see It doesnt make sense to derive that coffee wasnt the issue ?).

Here's another example: "For years i thought doing aderall at 7PM was the issue of not sleeping well, until one day i Popped 5 Xanax, 2 cups of Codeine and a bunch of weed  and i slept just fine. From that experiment i derived that aderall wasnt the issue. Hugely changed my perspective.".

Edited November 16, 2021 by Javfly33

[Fearless_Bum]

@Javfly33 I don't understand. 

[Javfly33]

@Fearless_Bum Ok, so maybe i didnt understood you correctly. Were you drinking coffee when you did the fasting? (I Dont mean that day, i mean the previous ones) 

[Fearless_Bum]

@Javfly33 I was always drinking coffee (for years) and the first time I fasted I only drank coffee and I actually had good sleep and energy levels. 

Even when I'd wake up in the morning before coffee I'd wake up easily with mental clarity. 

This made me realize that for me personally, coffee is more of a background substance, in moderation it really doesn't give me any side effects. 

What's most important for me is just diet and general lifestyle. 

I limit myself to just 2 cups a day at most. 

[Javfly33]

7 hours ago, Fearless_Bum said:

@Javfly33 I was always drinking coffee (for years) and the first time I fasted I only drank coffee and I actually had good sleep and energy levels. 

Even when I'd wake up in the morning before coffee I'd wake up easily with mental clarity. 

This made me realize that for me personally, coffee is more of a background substance, in moderation it really doesn't give me any side effects. 

What's most important for me is just diet and general lifestyle. 

I limit myself to just 2 cups a day at most. 

@Fearless_Bum Ok, got It!

Maybe i can explain myself better knowing now better your experience. 

When you drink coffee and eat normally, you have x energy levels, right? 

Lets say you do fasting, which definetely (in my experience) can increase energy and clarity levels.

Wouldnt you say that the fact that you had energy + clarity was because of the fasting and not because of the coffee?

And to be honest, like, yeah, if coffee doesnt hurt your performance (maybe It doesnt, we all are wired different) by all means, keep drinking It.

Im just saying, that the fact that you had energy+clarity was obviously because of the fasting, not the coffee. 

 

[Fearless_Bum]

@Javfly33 I see what you're saying, what I'm pointing to is that maybe lifestyle/diet choices are more powerful than coffee. 

Like for example when I was eating and drinking coffee I was eating junk food, the food is what caused the lack of sleep, fatigue, etc. Coffee for me personally only gives crazy side effects if I drink a shitload or If I have it too late in the day. 

Consider it, maybe try experimenting and cleaning up your diet + exercising and continue your coffee habit. 

Eventually you can let it go sure but just give it a shot if you'd like. 

[museumoftrees]

Fasting helps with energy because your body isn't busy processing or digesting food. It liberates a lot of energy that way. However drinking coffee, especially black while fasting can hurt your stomach. I'd be careful of doing that.

@Javfly33, try switching to green tea. Way better for you but you'll still get a bit of that mental stimulation you are looking for.