I'm having caffeine withdrawal symptoms

[GL]

At my summer job, we had an account with Coke so they shipped pop, fruitopia, iced tea to us every month. Needless to say, my caffeine intake from May until the beginning of September (when I finished my work term) grew in leaps and bounds.

Now...I've decided to cold turkey (replacing water with all that pop and juice)...and hear are the results:

1) I have caught a cold.
2) I cannot get to sleep - at least tonight.
3) It takes me really long to get over that groggy feeling in the morning.
4) I'm craving a can of Coke really badly right now...

Just thought I'd post this...anybody have any guesses on how long this'll last?

-GL

 

[Windogg]

I tried to give up caffeine once. It must've been the toughest 2 hours of my life.

Windogg

 

[dennilfloss]

"anybody have any guesses on how long this'll last?"

Until you have your morning coffee tomorrow?

Foolish One (The Vareeations)

 

[GL]

Geez that reminds me...my girlfriend works at a coffee shop and I had to go in and help her close up shop tonight...I swear I started having heart palpatations with all that coffee in the air.

-GL

 

[Soybomb]

Bwahah you lightweight, I can drink 4 liters of dew and it wont have teh slightest effect on me

 

[yakko]

GL,

They have caffine enhanced water. You don't have to go cold turkey you can just go cool turkey.

 

[Farbio]

i have yet to have caffiene have a big effect on me.....i can pop a few vivarin, have a couple cups of coffee and coke and still go to sleep if i want to...it does help me stay awake, but if i want to sleep, it doesn't stop me

 

[callspread]

Why go cold turkey? You can just cut down slowly to gradually reduce your physical addiction. Try having a couple of gulps of coke, or half a caffeine tablet in the morning, but avoid it for the rest of the day until you can go without completely.

 

[reitz]

Those symptoms aren't too bad; you should be over them in a day or two. Serious caffeine withdrawal can cause wicked headaches and dizziness for a week. Just be glad you're not experiencing that

 

[hans007]

i try to give up caffeine every couple of months. But i cant get over it, i just am used to being up real late for programming , etc. The easiest way i'd think is to start drinking sprite so at least you get the sugar you are used to and go from there. Going to straight water i think would be very very tough. And also i can drink a 2 liter bottle of coke straight in about 2-3 minutes without giving me any problems.

 

[Batti]

I know all about the headache Reitz is talking about... :disgust:

 

[Frenchie]

I know about that headache too....in HS was popping about 21 vivarin a day (plus coffee and soda). Stopped cold turkey. Not too pretty for a day or two.

 

[BoberFett]

I've found that keeping a glass of water with me at all times has helped me cut back on pop. I used to drink 5-6 cans of Dew or something similar a day, right now I'm down to 2-3 and hope to cut it back to 1 eventually. I don't think I could go cold turkey without killing someone around me. It seems to be as much of a habit thing as it is an addiction to the caffeine, so having an alternate beverage (water in my case) helps. Kind of like people that quit smoking by chewing a toothpick or something.

 

[GL]

I only had headaches for the first couple of days into this cold turkey thing. I'm about 7 days into it and only had one glass of coke and didn't really realize it...I was at a party and my friend just got me a drink and I drank it. Other than my messed up sleeping patterns at this point, I'm not feeling that bad anymore and I woke up without my cold this morning.

I decided to go cold turkey because doing it gradually would give me way too many excuses to consume caffeinated drinks, so I just decided to implement some shock therapy

-GL

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

A week is about right, you should be through the worst of it. You might have actually had a cold, that would make it seem worse.

 

[JellyBaby]

GL, hey congrats! Good to hear you've pretty much kicked caffiene. I used to be a heavy user myself (Pepsi and Mtn. Dew, hate coffee). Now I'm down to about 3 cans of 12 oz. a day including ice tea which also has the drug. Chewing sugar free gum helped a lot -- at least you don't crave something wet all the time. Drinking water is great, too, especially during the evening hours.

 

[Doomguy]

Damn you wimps! I used to to drink 2 bottles of coke a day and one day I just quit drinking it. I started drinking root beer which has no caffine. Easy enough.