Caffeine Detox Time

  • Thread starter Thread starter LiE
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bainbridge said:
Have you considered decafe?

I know it can still contain about 5% of the caffeine in full fat coffee, but it somehow does convince me that I've had a coffee :)
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Good point, I have decent decaf tea and coffee beans for evenings/nights. So can probably get a bit of pleasure from that. I like decaf coffee more than decaf tea but it's more effort to make all day!
 
I don't know how many of you guys have had the same issue but a single cup of coffee seems to mean that the next day I will wake up with a bit of groggyness and brain fog. I can have that coffee at 11AM and still suffer the effects the next day. Doesn't seem to happen when I drink a lot of tea but a single coffee causes me issue.
 
bainbridge said:
Can you get decafe beans? I used to love grinding em up in my caffeine crazy days
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Oh yeah, most roasters now have a decaf line! It's quite widely agreed chemical decaffeination isnt as healthy for us so there are more natural methods using carbon dioxide now. Works for me, I usually find it less flavoursome than good coffee, but better than cheap stuff.
 
I've been ill for a few weeks, and I haven't drunk a single cup whilst I haven't been well. It forced me to completely kick the habit - I have a glass of OJ with my breakfast in the morning now and that's me done.

Same with booze too, haven't had a drink in nearly 5 weeks. I'd rather not have been ill, but it has had its plus points. :D
 
Update: I had a cup of instant coffee this morning. :(

The good news is my sense of taste still isn't really back so it didn't taste of much, and what I could taste didn't taste much like coffee. Hard to explain, didn't taste like it usually does at all.
 
I might give this a go again. The next 3 days are going to be terrible but i have been able to shake it off in the past , but usually last 3-4 weeks and i am back on the wagon. I do like coffee, but certainly understand its good to reset.
 
Almost 9 weeks now with no caffeine, it's been a rollercoaster of emotions for sure. Each day is different as my body is still trying to figure out how to function normally and reach homeostasis.

My sleep isn't great at the moment which surprised me, one of the big drivers for quitting caffeine was to get deeper more restful sleep. On caffeine I would go to bed at 11pm and fall asleep easily and wake up when my alarm went off. Now, I fall asleep easily still but I wake up between 3-5am for a period. On a few occasions I have woke up at 4am completely wide awake, got up and had energy for the entire day no issues. My guess is that on caffeine when I had my 8 hours of sleep I was probably getting 5 hours of actual deep restful sleep, so now that I get that improved sleep off caffeine my body thinks I'm done after 5 hours and wakes me up.

Mood has been all over the place. Some days I will feel completely "flat", probably due to normal responses within the body being low and non-respondent. No doubt my serotonin and dopamine responses completely at a loss without being stimulated all the time by caffeine. I have had some days where I've felt fantastic, almost like I've had caffeine, I put these down to the body over compensating on those natural responses in an attempt to find a balance. Looking forward to the day when my body returns to normal, caffeine has truly wrecked it.

The benefits I've been enjoying are reduced anxiety, no more increased heart rate/blood pressure, I feel so much more calmer which changes my mindset when approaching decisions and thinking. Gut and digestive health is much improved.

I have started guided meditation again in the mornings and still doing Scottish showers which are fantastic, a little sprinkle of cold water therapy in the morning.
 
LiE said:
Almost 9 weeks now with no caffeine, it's been a rollercoaster of emotions for sure. Each day is different as my body is still trying to figure out how to function normally and reach homeostasis.

My sleep isn't great at the moment which surprised me, one of the big drivers for quitting caffeine was to get deeper more restful sleep. On caffeine I would go to bed at 11pm and fall asleep easily and wake up when my alarm went off. Now, I fall asleep easily still but I wake up between 3-5am for a period. On a few occasions I have woke up at 4am completely wide awake, got up and had energy for the entire day no issues. My guess is that on caffeine when I had my 8 hours of sleep I was probably getting 5 hours of actual deep restful sleep, so now that I get that improved sleep off caffeine my body thinks I'm done after 5 hours and wakes me up.

Mood has been all over the place. Some days I will feel completely "flat", probably due to normal responses within the body being low and non-respondent. No doubt my serotonin and dopamine responses completely at a loss without being stimulated all the time by caffeine. I have had some days where I've felt fantastic, almost like I've had caffeine, I put these down to the body over compensating on those natural responses in an attempt to find a balance. Looking forward to the day when my body returns to normal, caffeine has truly wrecked it.

The benefits I've been enjoying are reduced anxiety, no more increased heart rate/blood pressure, I feel so much more calmer which changes my mindset when approaching decisions and thinking. Gut and digestive health is much improved.

I have started guided meditation again in the mornings and still doing Scottish showers which are fantastic, a little sprinkle of cold water therapy in the morning.
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I had a similar experience when doing a caffeine detox and lost patience with it. Possibly needed to stick it out longer and I'm sure there are other habits that contribute to some of these issues.

Actually ended up adding tea into my caffeine "routine", which has L-theanine in it; essentially a counter to caffeine, and that made a difference - you can also try it in supplement form if your caffeine intake is high.
 
Mesai said:
I had a similar experience when doing a caffeine detox and lost patience with it. Possibly needed to stick it out longer and I'm sure there are other habits that contribute to some of these issues.

Actually ended up adding tea into my caffeine "routine", which has L-theanine in it; essentially a counter to caffeine, and that made a difference - you can also try it in supplement form if your caffeine intake is high.
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I used green tea when I'm tapering off caffeine, the L-theanine helps.

It definitely takes sometime, which makes sense, can't be on caffeine for 10 years and expect the body to know what to do naturally after a few months.
 
LiE said:
It definitely takes sometime, which makes sense, can't be on caffeine for 10 years and expect the body to know what to do naturally after a few months.
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I don't know if you're chasing some feeling or state of mind/body which doesn't/can't exist for yourself?

I'm no expert I'll be the first to admit, but after a few months without caffeine I'd have thought you'd be well in the clear.
 
wingman said:
I don't know if you're chasing some feeling or state of mind/body which doesn't/can't exist for yourself?

I'm no expert I'll be the first to admit, but after a few months without caffeine I'd have thought you'd be well in the clear.
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It definitely can take more than a few months, I've been on stimulants for 18 years. The immediate withdrawal effects are long gone, what I'm left with now is the lasting damage caused by caffeine. It will take time for my body to balance and figure out how to function without self medicating caffeine.

Today I feel pretty decent, all I'm after is stability.
 
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That cup I had in August was my last proper brew! Been on decaf tea ever since. I found coffee, even decaf sent me running to the bog every 15 mins, which was odd as it was normally just strong coffee. I must be getting old. :(
 
It is amazing how you can rely on coffee to 'start the day'. I used to hate it around 5-6 years ago and started on mochas. Then it went to flavoured lattes, flat whites and now I am on all black. :o

Never more than 2 a day and also never after 1pm unless I am going out. :p
 
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