Is anyone else suddenly realizing they are less resentful? I’m about six weeks caffeine free (a record for me), and I don’t feel any resentment toward my ex. I used to get irritated at him constantly…now it’s just gone. I feel nothing but peace.

Day 3 off and I am shocked to say I haven't had a headache yet. I did a good job tapering off slowly over the last 4 months I think.

Anyway, I'm proud of myself for making it through the 3rd day on a normal work week and not putting this off.

Today was a harder day than days 1-2. I didn't sleep my best last night (lots of wakings in the night) but still managed to get up and go for a 1 mile run, then kinda crashed the rest of the morning.

Ended up in a total depressive mental funk loop and ended up crying my eyes in my bed the first half of the day and then took a nap. So initially I'm having a decline in mood but I do think and hope that'll clear up in a few days.

My energy isn't high but it's steadier throughout the day. I don't feel as high or low and no crashes. Just steady and that's a HUGELY positive gain for me.

I've also noticed my appetite seems like it's a bit more manageable and not yelling at me to be fed. I still have to work to not overeat but I feel like I CAN now off the caffeine.

And I will also say, I'm already waking up feeling clearer initially. It's just the after I eat breakfast/by mid morning to afternoon Im already fatigued and need a nap but I'm sure that'll change soon.

I'm expecting days 3-6 to be the worst but it doesn't matter how long it takes, this is the right change for me. Caffeine apparently never gave me anything I delude myself into thinking.

Now we just clear the slate so I'm more fully in control of myself and can keep working on rebuilding a life that I feel excited and grateful to call mine.

So I was dealing with (paws) post acute withdrawl from another substance which basically just gave me anxiety. Once I hit 12 months of paws I could finally tolerate caffiene… I used it has a crutch for 4 months in this 4 months my aunt had hospice cancer and I had a lot of test and exams and she unfortunately passed. The caffiene worked and helped me alot but eventually wasn’t doing shit and I felt more of the anxiety and negative symptoms that come usually during a comedown and I started fiening and feeling like I needed more to satisfy me I stopped a few times in these months but time flew so fast and I’d go back to like feel confident and up beat and shit . Just literally came on it the last week and a half or two after 1 and a half weeks of decaf I just overdid it this week with celcius and coffee…

Anyway I’ve quit and experienced this first day without it : fatigue, anxiety, emotional sensitivity but also feeling like I don’t care, some intrusive thoughts?, headaches, strained eyes like when ur sleepy nd tryna stay awake..the feeling / mood of “fuck this shit” and the fear that I’m going to lose control over my life and go insane (TikTok and ppl talking abt mental illness fueled my anxiety )

Is this all normal though ? I’m 17 year old male

Alright, I think I've found the main cause of PAWS for my case. I have OCD (the organization type). So back to when I was having my daily caffeine dose (and my rituals) daily, my dopamine was like on 100%. Take caffeine out of my system and my dopamine drops to roughly 10%. Nothing seems to increase my dopamine now. If I organize my space, my closet, my library, my room— I immediately feel much better. More mental clarity and my life feels meaningful again.

I need suggestions for enjoyable, low-stim activities. My brain is looking for quick dopamine fixes like my ocd rituals (which I've been trying to limit) sugar, junk food or even arousal. I've found blasting music extremely helpful in my case but I'm afraid my brain might get bored of it as the sole solution.

I'd love to hear more suggestions and what you have found to be helpful :)

hi friends - reading through your detailed, insightful posts is so encouraging. I’m curious & want to crowdsource..

based on your anecdotal experience or medical/scientific knowledge - is there still a significant benefit to limiting consumption to only tea? (e.g. black/green/herbal tea brewed at home, no sugar)

I absolutely plan to quit coffee/soda, but I worry that I won’t enjoy the full benefits of quitting caffeine if I don’t exclude all sources

please share your thoughts & thanks in advance!

The higher result from week 4 was from a draw at 7am and the one from week 11 was at 630am. A big difference and I can feel it.

My sleep is still off with early morning wake ups and my sleep feels less deep and restorative. Valerian helps but I don't want to depend on it.

How is everyone's experince with sleep after 2-3 months?

Would also love to know others experince with changes in blood work with hormones and iron levels.

My ferritin has also gone up a lot without use of supplements-from 13 to 39. Yay!

Hi everyone!

I wanted to know if my experience is typical or something I should be more wary about. My goal isn't to completely quit caffeine, but I want to limit myself to 200mg a day. I never really did the math until I realized I was getting heart palpitations with alarming frequency: i was drinking about 500-600mg a day.

I havent quit cold turkey, but I have been limiting myself to that 200mg a day and it's been rough. I have almost checked myself into the ER twice and it's been a week now. At first, I had chest pain, dizzyness, and nausea. That eased up, but im still dizzy and have considerable head fog- it almost feels like an out-of-body experience. I'm not really experiencing any drowsiness though, but frequently my heart has been racing.

I am someone who has never struggled with high blood pressure before (i normally hover around 115/70 ish). I checked a few days ago when I was feeling particularly bad and I was 136/88 (I am back down to a normal bp today).

Today I woke up feeling a clarity I haven't felt in a while, and decided I would have a small coffee on my way to work (in contrast my usual order had 5 shots of espresso in it- this had 2). I couldn't finish it because it made me so jittery, and without paying attention I had a large diet coke with lunch that pushed me out of my comfort zone with dizzyness and a racing heart (not a mistake i will repeat).

I felt better after a few hours, and was hoping the worst of my withdrawal was behind me but im back to serious head fog again and dizzyness.

Can anyone weigh in? I also keep forgetting that these are probably withdrawals because last night I was googling rabies symptoms thinking maybe that made more sense 😭

I threw all my energy drinks away. Not only does it give me anxiety, it's totally destroying my stomach too. Coffee does the same. I am waiting to see a gastroenterologist.

I hope I didn't do too much damage but, yeah, waking up in the morning is going to be tough as I wake up at 6am everyday. I'm not brave enough for cold showers haha but hot showers still wake me up and I can still splash cold water on my face and drink water first when I wake up in the morning.

Hope it goes well.

This is my second time quitting (first back in 2022) . This time, cold turkey again, from a ~400-500 mg a day habit. This is week 3, and last night was first night to go to bed, fall into deep sleep, wake up around 11 to pee, and fall back asleep easily until 530AM. This with no "helps" (melatonin, GABA, etc.) .

Strangely, (this being posted on a Monday) last Thursday and Friday nights I got 2 hours sleep on Thursday and zero sleep at all on Friday. High anxiety when laying down, hypnic jerks. This with helps (tryptophan, and a herbal sleep aid with a mix of things).

So last night was zero anxiety, zero hypnic jerks, and I felt tired and sleepy and it actually happened. So, at least in my case, one of the worst 2 night streaks in the entire process were prelude to the best night of sleep since quitting.

Having trouble sticking things out. Usually by afternoon I’m over it because I always hated drinking caffeine in the afternoon and having it affect my sleep but 8-12 and especially 8-10 is tough. Always have a few moments (or really hours) of weakness just wanting a cup.

Main thing is feeling less productive overall and the secondary would be not getting that morning buzz to feel motivated.

It’s better when I get good sleep the night before and wake up in time to get to the gym but been stressing about my business which affects my sleep and the next day makes me want coffee even more to make up for the tiredness and lack of productivity.

Gonna keep trying to stick it out but some days it’s pretty tough!

Just random little question, im only quitting from 1-2 cups a day, on day 2 right now. I am experiencing tons of dry mouth like constantly, is this normal? also insane fatigue but I know thats normal, like I literally cant keep my eyes open. And also sensitivity to light? Like I went outside today and the light was blinding and triggered anxiety. Is all that normal?

Today marks the 7th day of me being caffeine-free. Yesterday and today felt a lot depressive and tiring than the earlier time. I managed without any stimulants (Armodafinil 50mg) during that time.

Now I just feel the craving and feel extremely bored with life. This tends to demotivate me and with lack of quick dopamine-seeking activities like irregulated phone use and caffeine, it just gets difficult. So I am using Armodafinil as a way to deal with the study work that I've to do for an academic job.

But life has never been so calm. I don't overthink anymore and I can imagine things which I failed to do when on caffeine (it's a bit in shades of grey right now). I do things and I like keeping busy. Silly thoughts and feelings occur now and then, but I recognize them and cope with them through calm reflection or/and meditation. My restlessness and anger have reduced drastically, and I am able to reflect more on my habits and personal issues. Sometimes I use l-theanine and magnesium for anxiety that is connected to shortness of breath.

Hopefully things will go on better. Sure it has taken away a need to keep myself busy with coffee as a sort of habitual pattern (Like snacking is,which people may do all the time because they feel lack of interest/focus otherwise). But I am adamant and though the thought comes now and then of taking a cup, I don't act it out. I bid you all great luck on your journey.

Woke up without symptoms. I can hardly believe it. Intrusive thoughts are gone completely (for the past 3 days they had been losing their grip). Chest tightness is gone. Globus sensation is gone. First time waking up LIKE A NORMAL PERSON after 2 months! I'm also not hyperaware of my senses anymore. I don't feel my pulse in random parts of my body and muscle twitching has subsided almost entirely.

My nervous system is finally almost back to normal. I can also feel pleasure again. I had lost my libido for nearly 6 months (another side effect of too much caffeine).

I can tell I'm a bit sensitive to stressors still. My sympathetic system has not settled 100% and it takes some time to switch gears but we're slowly getting there! Today is also leg day which puts a significant amount of stress on the nervous system but pushing through with care can actually help my body manage stress better and promote faster recovery over time.

Good luck to everyone out there! It DOES get better I promise :) Next update of mine will be once I reach day 60!

I want to hear y'all's experience with working out during your first 1-3 months into the withdrawal. What I'm experiencing for now is extreme stress before, during and after my workout. I feel like dying because I get intense anxiety symptoms. My symptoms subside much sooner now that im 50 days in but I still get terrified everytime.

I’m done feeling like a junkie.

Have been trying to quit for the past few months and keep failing, which is pissing me off as I thought I was mentally stronger than that, but then I realized this stuff is literally a hard drug. 90 percent of the world’s population regularly consume it.

Failed again last weekend and had a horrible caffeine hangover today. Felt absolutely terrible. Decided I would crack and go get a coffee at the work machine. They were out, and I literally got so frustrated and realized in that moment the strength of my addiction. I bought a shitty canned latte and gulped it down right there, not even enjoying the taste but still guzzling it down. Felt even shitteir in a few hours and had to just sit in my car for a bit when I got home. Threw my coffee maker in the trash a bit later.

I’m tired if this cycle. I’ve been trying to quit for years and only end up being able to for a couple months max. No more going back, this stuff isn’t for me. My anxiety has gotten out of control on this shit. I’m sure as you all know, you feel fine those first few weeks when you start consuming again, but then start to feel progressively worse as time goes on. I’m up to 2-3 a day, which is higher than my consumption has ever been, and I’m done.

Those who know, know. We know we shouldn’t be consuming this shit, but it’s just so damn hard not to. I have to just accept my fears regarding withdrawals and just get through it. I have no other choice.

Hope everyone is doing well in their recovery journey and for those of you with me that may be newer to the journey, join me and make tomorrow day 1. You know it’s the right thing to do.

I am happy I wake up earlier. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night around 12:30 and can’t sleep, most often, I wake up at 4 am and I’m up for the day. I used to have the hardest time waking up in the AM when I was a caffeine addict. I’m happy I’m waking up earlier but 4 am is so early.

I’m 27. I quit caffeine before and know for certain that my life is much better off of caffeine.

I’ve been yearning to quit, but unfortunately I currently am growing a technical startup and work has been absolutely hectic, there’s no way I can take vacation days this year.

I tried going a day or two but my productivity fell significantly, and I couldn’t get anything done.

It just sucks because I wish I could take a week off to detox, as I know that once i go through the withdrawals and my adenosine receptors down regulate that my productivity will return, but I can’t afford to take any time off at the moment.

Does anybody have any advice on how to remain productive through the withdrawals? Any supplements, techniques, etc?

Thanks!

I love the flavor of coffee, and cutting back on the experience of having a cup is just as hard as the caffeine aspect for me. Today I discovered a pretty decent 100% caffeine free alternative:

Take instant dandelion blend tea (brand dandy blend) and brew a half cup of water with the blend so it’s espresso-style, pour this into a half glass of whole milk. Adding the milk makes it much closer to the coffee texture than it is as a water based beverage.

I was pleasantly surprised with the results - didn’t like this stuff until I tried it this way.

Does Coffee Make You Fat And Anxious? (VIDEO)

I find it very interesting that there isn't a ton of people talking about the connection between coffee/caffeine and weight gain due to chronically elevated cortisol. This video dives into the connection between caffeine and increased cortisol which leads to anxiety, stress, and abdominal fat. Since quitting coffee and energy drinks and switching to 1 cup of green tea just 4 days ago, I already look trimmer around the midsection. Could be a lot of water weight loss but this video keep me motivated to keep going!

Health experts and articles always claim that caffeine helps suppress the appetite. Drinking coffee does suppress my appetite for a few hours but I do find that once the effects wear off and I start to crash, I get anxious and tired and then crave sugar and salty junk food like a mad man. While on 1 cup of green tea I can think rationally about what I eat and I honestly have been less hungry throughout the day, and especially at night when I would normally crave junk food. I'm just not that hungry.

Good luck y'all.

How do y'all cope with dessociation/derealization? It's like im watching my life from someone else's POV or like im on autopilot. It doesn't happen as often as it did for the first 3 weeks but when it happens idk how to unstuck

It’s been just about two weeks since I quit drinking energy drinks and a full week since I cut out caffeine entirely. It’s been a harsh time but it feels like I’ve turned a corner in the last couple of days. Heart palpitations, shortness of breath, jitters/tremors, and general anxiety levels are way down compared to when I started. I initially had a harsh panic attack after I stopped drinking Celsius, so a lot of my symptoms were likely hangover symptoms from the episode and withdrawal symptoms hitting me in tandem.

Went to a doctor (I needed a physical and bloodwork anyways) who told me to continue with limiting caffeine intake as much as possible, and to try cognitive behavioral therapy for the anxiety. For anyone else also having heightened anxiety/panic attacks, I would recommend trying the DARE app. It has guided meditations and audios that talk you through anxiety for a variety of situations and gives you tools to more effectively handle your anxiety or panic attacks when they come on. Remember that we’ll all feel normal again one day.

Long story short I quit weed and got weed post a cute withdraws and ocd symptoms I had a panic attack from synthetic potent shit but I’m basically normal now it’s only been 16 months since I quit. I couldn’t use caffiene the first year cuz of anxiety but then i tried again at 12 months it worked and helped ocd and intrusive thoughts and now those don’t bother me no more but then I used it for confidence, mood, energy, all nighters, playing the game etc…

I began using energy drinks and all but I didn’t rly ever go over 400 mg only rarely… but yeah I feel like I’m done with it it’s been 4 months and off and my focus is better during the times I’m not on it I get work done have better mood attitude which is so good for me because before I quit substances and even started I was around the wrong crowd had bad discipline grades hygiene etc I was a troubled kid but after I quit everything I changed everything around and have done good for this entire year and was doing good in my last months of using and still is all of those negatives are like good now.

I’m just scared to quit my confidence in my looks, my music , sexuality appearance etc is so bad the first week when I quit I usually always go back because it makes my mood better and social skills better and make me more confident in my self.

Hopefully I do good the first time I used it for 2 weeks and quit all my ocd and intrusive thoughts came back 2nd time I just slept a lot 3rd time I don’t remember cuz I think I gave in

But hopefully things turn out well for me… I’m scared I have a mental disorder cause when I had a panic attack last year after quitting weed I searched up every mental disorder syndrome and condition EVER so that kinda fear is always there especially now while I’m in a comedown

But if u read all this thnx pls js wish me luck

I've wanted to quite for a long time. My breathing and relaxed body state feels good every time I have a day without.. I can run a much smoother 6 min mile too without feeling like i have to just suck air the last lap.

However my brain fog, headache, and work ethic tanks. I have toddlers and see patients for 10 hours a day as a physical therapist and can't keep up. Anyone similar?

Would quitting over a week vacation be doable ? Tapper down?

Hi everyone, I’ve been following this community for a couple years now and have found great inspiration here. Thanks.

Caffeine is destroying my life, but I can’t seem to give it up. I read Caffeine Blues, I know the risks, I read success stories, but I can’t stay off.

I quit twice before. I even had a whole list of challenges and benefits written out during those quits for the purpose of posting here. But here I am again.

I’ve quit alcohol and nicotine for years, but this one is tough to shake.

The health problems - especially re: blood sugar - are just shocking with caffeine. It’s making so many people so ill. And the anxiety. So bad.

Anyway, I’m gearing up to try again. Last time I made it to the “wake up with adrenaline in the middle of the night” stage and couldn’t go on. I’ve struggled with chronic insomnia for like 6 years.

I’m 45yo and have a severely high stress job. I’m using the caffeine to prop myself up and if I keep going on like this I’ll have health issues. It’s like red-lining a vehicle constantly. Can’t go on like this.

I’m going to do the taper method. Wish me luck. Let’s hope this time I actually get to post a success story!

Welcome back to the unhinged rant show.

So as of last Friday I had 3 days caf free and I was gooood feeling fine. Then I had negotiated with myself "I will not do caffeine at the rave" maybe i will take some sudafed, but i will NOT DO CAF. well, I did. I had 3 teaspoons of instant coffee in the evening.

Anyway, that wasn't too bad, I was still wired pretty late but the next day is when I messed up. Because of the lack of sleep I wanted the coffee. I convinced myself not to, then I cracked and ordered a filter coffee (has the most caffeine i think apart from cold brew). It was wild i was so high for like an hour, then I statted to feel wired, shakey, heart palpitations, trouble concentrating, trouble thinking... and I couldn't get to sleep that night either. So come this morning, I was so scattered, so headache, couldn't work well, trouble thinking etc... but I stayed off the caffeine.

And by the evening I feel OK now. I'm gonna make it to the end of the week with no coffee.

And what about the next rave? Maybe I will just drink water and see if I stay awake. It might not be too bad... hard to say.

I get up early so it's really difficult to stay awake late without stimulants.