Coffee addiction recovery diary

[Trebor]

After reading a qoute by Richard T. Rappolt. Which stated "It's harder to get people of coffee then heroin.", Swim thought he'd give it a try. His plan is to avoid all caffiene containing foods and drinks, which means, no coka cola, no choclate (can people try to tell Swim what other food stuffs to avoid?". For energy, Swim is going to resort to apples and bannanas. He'll continue to pst his experiences through me in this thread.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good idea for a thread! Also much respect for sticking around after a rocky start here - here's to the green ;-p !

[yoghurt]

good luck with it!
how much caffeine per day we're you using until now?

[Crunchyz]

I had heard that about nicotine compared to heroin but I never heard anything about caffeine compared to heroin. All I know is that I love my coffee

I find it hard to believe that caffeine withdrawal could produce the same PHYSICAL symptoms that heroin does. But it may just depend how much caffeine your body wants I suppose.

[funkspiel]

Coffee is good for you, antioxidants and so forth.

[Forthesevenlakes]

Maybe the availability of coffee would make it difficult to quit, but SWIM can say that the physical withdrawals from caffeine are nowhere near as painful as opiates, and they last a lot shorter!

[Paracelsus]

I tried completely quitting caffeine, numerous times. The hardest part is that one is confronted with coffee, cola, and chocolate every day. The withdrawal is not pleasant, but not too bad. I just felt tired in the first three days or so. Sometimes, slight stomach pain. Nothing serious.

The reason why it is so hard to quit caffeine is that many users underestimate the presence of physical addiction, and treat withdrawal-induced tiredness with some more caffeine. And being addicted to coffee is socially accepted and doesn't make the addict a criminal.

Good luck with quitting it, Trebor! Some have reported that coffee produces horrible addiction, esp. cravings.

[Jatelka]

When SWIJ first reduced her caffeine intake from 10 cups of coffee, plus several diet cokes a day, to two cups of coffee a day she experienced HORRID withdrawal symptoms.

Headaches were by far the worst of it. Regular headaches were dealable with but she had 4 disabling migraines in a fortnight, add in insomnia, abdo pain and profound lethargy and it really wasn't fun!

All in all she felt shit for about 3 weeks. Then afterwards realised that she'd actually been feeling wired, jittery and dehydrated for years without really noticing!

Granted, SWIJ did not cut out caffeine entirely: So do let her know how it goes Trebor.

[Trebor]

Ok, so it's been two days so far and Swim hasn't really experienced physical symtoms although he has found that the mental habits remain i.e. The past two mornings he had his coffee maker still timed for when he woke up. This filled his kitchen with the smell that made him want. Also, in doing this experiment, Swim is avoiding all products containg caffiene, choclate, Coca Cola etc. Which again is making it difficult as Swim cannot justify spending nearly 2 euro on bottles of water. Also he fouind that he wasn't as shar as usual in that, when the person next to him on a train asked him what the date was, he thought about it. Swim has never had to think about dates or anniverserys while using coffee. I said before that he had not experienced any pyhsical symptoms but he has informed me that he hasn't been visiting the water closet as often as usual and has had to compensate by eating more fibre containing foods.


Also it was asked how much coffee swim is used to. 3 litres a day in a mixture of espressos, cappuchinos and black.

[Jatelka]

^^^ Tap water and a filter Trebor: SWIJ has never understood how people can justify paying for water!

[Nagognog2]

Bongo was a fiend for caffeine when he was in high school. The school had a large hot-water dispenser set up for the students and everyone brought their favorite instant coffee or tea. There were no silly rules about not having coffee and cigarettes if you were a student. Bongo prefered making his coffee in the school chem-lab in a (clean) beaker on a bunsen-burner. And he was up to 8 cups a day - or more when he worked in the lab overnights. He virtually lived there.

One day he decided to just quit. He was tired of feeling rattled. So he just put it down and walked away. He felt no pangs or withdrawl whatsoever.

Nowadays he usually has a cup or two in the morning. No more being a fiend.

[Trebor]

Alright, so today was Swim's third day. He has started to feel some cramps and found he didn't awake until three pm. He only awoke then becuase his girlfriend started shaking him. Swim still has the habit of reaching for the coffee pot. Which, becuase his girlfriend lives with him is always full. This isn't making it easier for Swim. The mental strains suc as not knowing what date it was have started to lift and he has now returned to his usual mental state. What were very bad stomach pains this morning have also subsided and are now tolerable. He has taken some pain killers and hopes they'll get rid of the pain he's still feeling. Becuase of this he's not going to be going out to a pub so he's stuck at home while his girlfriend has gone out. This may contribute to him feeling wanting of coffee so he'll just have a joint instead.

[Bajeda]

Swim finds that his illicit drug use has greatly helped his frame of mind when looking at legal consumption of various items.

He grew up in a ex-British Colony so tea was a daily thing, and occaisionally (when he has to get up early every morning) he will start up with a cup of coffee but otherwise he doesn't drink soda much and chocolate is a rare thing.

Swim doesn't feel the need for so much caffeination, and really doesn't care for more than occaisional use of soda. In fact the only time he really consumes it is when he is mixing it with alcohol for easy transportation (Rockstar Energy Drink: Mango Juice + Guarana).


So in general though swim goes through periods when he needs coffee to get through the day he finds that when the situation that made him desire the caffeine in the first place is gone he has absolutely no problem stopping consumption whatsoever. If he needs extra focus for studying or taking an early exam adderall is there (or yay if he is really desparate). If he has to get up early he occaisionally will get an energy drink.

Basically its amazing how many people consume huge amounts of coffee at university. Swim thought he had seen alot of caffeine consumption at boarding school where no one ever slept, but here the coffeeshops are numerous and always packed, and some people he never sees in class without a coffee with them.

Thank goodness for having enough drug use in swim's life that he doesn't feel the need to consume caffeine and add to it.

[Trebor]

Today, when Siwm awoke, he found he had blurred vision but was capable of seeing two foot in front of his face (thankfully his home doesn't have stairs). Thankfully there qwas no coffee remaining in the pot so this made him feel more confident about the day. The blurred vision persisted for about 20 minutes after he woke so he was able to read his paper. This is the first Sunday of the recovery diary and the only day of the week he buys a newspaper. He usualy readds this while sipping coffee but today had to drink some form of fruit juice his girlfriend made up for him that supposedly was more potent then caffeine. Not true. Instead he just smoked a joint. He was alright for energy after one p.m. so decided to walk his dog. This was a much needed exercise to keep his mind from his addiction. Yes, Swim is now able to admit to being a coffee addict.

[Trebor]

Alright, Siwm failed! He was in the pub last night and was giving a coke. He didn't even realise he was trying to quit the stuff until he had half way finished the bottle. But Simw is determined1 He'll go another thirty days without caffiene to prove he can!

[Paracelsus]

As I said, the WIDE availability of caffeine seems to be a very big problem in quitting it completely. It is present in coffee, many other beverages (coke, root beer, energy drinks, etc.), chocolate, many drugs, etc. Try to avoid situations when you could be exposed to caffeine.
As caffeine is probably the most harmless stimulant, I would advise against taking other "magic drinks" for stimulation. If you feel drowsy and feel the need for coffee, exercising a little bit and getting some sunlight into your eyes may help to get you refreshed.

[Klaus]

Swim uses 600 mg of caffeine everyday and has no ill effects apart from a bit of lethargy when not using.

[Trebor]

Well, Siwm is trying again and he's found it to be harder then the first time. He's also feeing a lot of anger building up inside, for example yesterday, in a cafe, he yelled at a water for giving him the wrong change, Siwm is not usually like this and would normally just discuss this with a memeber of the staff. But it's not all bad, Simw is finding his sex drive to be going on turbo. But in the mean while he has more of a craving for caffiene.

[Klaus]

How much caffeine did swiy use before ?

[Trebor]

Three litres so if you can work out the mg range of that be my guest.


Ok, so today Swim's anger has greatly been reduced after he went to the gym and hit a punching bag for a ehile. Other then that his body has stabilized greatly, sex drive is normal, still feels a little lethargic but don't we all? All in all Siwm finds that, even with that little lapse he's finding it easier not to want caffiene.

[Forthesevenlakes]

SWIM finds that when he gives up caffeine for protracted amounts of time (which he does every so often just to remind himself that he does not need coffee to function), that he gets a lethargy and cloudy-headedness similar to what swiTrebor describes. However, after a few days, this tends to go away and SWIM even notices an increase in creativity, if not total productivity. The quantity of work that SWIM is capable of doing may decrease without caffeine, but the overall quality tends to increase. Does this effect or something similar occur with any of you SWIMS?

[Trebor]

Siwm's been offered a lot of caffiene containing substances today and is getting pissed of that people can't get it into their heads that he's trying to quit. His girl friend also noticed that he's replacing one addiction with another as now, when Swm wakes up he rolls a joint. First thing. Is he replacing one addiction with another?

[Trebor]

Swim is feeling he way he did 5 years ago before he strated drinking coffee. He;'s happy, energetic and has an over active libido! He is considering never returning to coffee again.!

[Riconoen {UGC}]

I cannot go a day without my caffeine or I get insane cravings and a splitting headache so maybe the caffiene heroin comparison is true lol.

[DrMuffy]

I know this doesnt have anything to do with caffeine, but in my opinion obesity and over-eating is the hardest thing in the world to quit. Because you HAVE to have something to eat every day so your tempted pretty much 24/7, in a way like caffeine. SWIdr takes in alot of daily caffeine through various sources but can go cold turkey easily without any ill effects. Although SWIdr has diagnosed himself to heve a mindset that non-illegal drugs in the US (with the exception of priscription meds) do not effect him when it come to addiction and withdrawal.

[Donmeka]

Originally Posted by Trebor

First thing. Is he replacing one addiction with another?

ya you are but in my opinion a j in the morning is a lot better than coffee, I never really got into coffee, with my anxiety i never cared for it, it gave me a kind of wire i didnt like much. and hell a j calms ya down and makes ya happy, as long as it doesn't get in the way you live effectively then I say hell why not.

and props for quittin caffeine. a coke or soda now and then i say is cool i dont know the levels of caffiene in them but i would think its not near a cup of joe, but i could be wrong. i drink sodas every now and then but mostly juice but never any kind of coffee or energy drink (once in a blue moon)