In accordance with my new years resolutions, I gave up Coffee and Diet Coke last week. First few days were too easy, now I'm starting to get some mild headaches and lethargy.
Good luck ,Dean ,you know you can do it.Getting thru the "detox" period is always uncomfortable.I also am going to work on getting back to marathon condition this year and will have to start with reducing some of the "tonnage"Talk about lethargy!!Like you I like to keep on working on "something' helps keep something from working on me!!Hope headaches pass as the caffeine starts to remove itself,talk to you on the rebound!
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Selfishness-self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.
As some of you know, I quit smoking (but still use tobacco) and hardly ever drink soft drinks, which I used to chug by the gallon. But I just can't imagine giving up coffee! That is the one vice I'll probably cling to forever. Then again-- who knows? If I can stop drinking alcohol, I suppoise anything is possible.
It's good to have these problems with substance abuse and not the more serious ones!!!! I quit drinking pepsi, which was big for me, although I am a certified Coffeholic. Good luck on your new sober journey!
I loved coffee too, and it was manageable for me for the most part. Sometimes I'd lose sleep because I had iced tea at dinner (plus coffee in the morning). Other times I drank too much diet coke at work and woke up in the middle of the night with an irregular heart beat. Coffee was amplifying the food suppliments and causing stress in the morning making me irritable. But the biggest reason for giving it up is that coffee/caffeine raises your cholesterol, and I'm one of those person with inherently high cholesterol. And because I have a liver disease, I can't take drugs to lower the cholesterol. I gave up caffeine last year and my cholesterol went down. I normally stay at about a 230 total cholesterol score, which used to be acceptable but they lowered it to under 200 a few years ago. Both my parents have had vascular issues. Father had a CVA (stroke) and Mother has angina (heart). I don't want to have either or by pass surgery, I want to Live!
Day #5. Feel great this morning. Gone is the uneasy feeling (stress/worry) brought on by caffeine. I knew that it was there when I drank coffee but didn't realize the extent until now. It's hard to describe the feeling of calm that I'm experiencing. I'm going to enjoy it as much as possible because I know, that in a short time, I'll be used to it and the contrast won't be so great. I hardly ever think about how good it is to not smoke cigs as it's been over 20years since I quit and I hardly ever think about it unless I'm around some second hand smoke. My gratitude has been increased today.
Hey thanks for posting this, it's a nice reminder how sobriety gives us the strength to work towards taking care of ourselves in other ways! I had no idea that caffeine affects cholesterol, so you taught me something today. I only drink about one diet coke a day, but my battle right now is trying to lower salt in my diet for hypertension. It's not fun but I'm learning a lot (MY GOD how much salt we consume!). Anyway, I'm glad that you are doing so well with this, keep it up!
Good going Dean. The adrenline pumped activities you've been doing lately are certainly a better jump for your heart than sugar and caffeine. Even yoga can be energizing.
Arizona Diet Green Tea w/Ginseng is pretty tasty & has 0 this, & 0 that-I've lost 50lbs w/nutritional changes & adding excercise; stress-reduction; not smoking & reducing coffee to a cup in the AM and an occasional decent quality decaf in the pm. 'course, I'm still addicted to the Internet!
Hey Lee, I'm giving up diet drinks too because of the artificial sweetener. I like the flavored water and I use stevia (natural sweetener) in the green tea that I'm drinking in morning. I'm at 14 days! My memory, mental clarity, and sleep have improved dramatically. I'm not getting stressed, even had to deal with my wife's car getting hit and run (at the auto repair shop) and didn't get pissed.
Green Tea has caffeine... I have quit caffeine many times and relapsed just as many times. I am currently (I think) about 2 weeks off caffeine. This time I decided to treat it like alcohol. In the previous attempts, I would still drink hot chocolate which has a small amount of caffeine, and then I might start adding just a little coffee to it. Eventually I would be right back up there at 2 cups or so a day, sometimes a lot more. The book "Caffeine Blues" is a good one to read. According to the author, it may take 60 days or more for your body to normalize (longer if you drank more). Right now I am still experiencing a lot of fatigue and temptation. I did meet a guy at Starbucks and had a grande hot chocolate, and very shortly afterwards got very bad stomach cramps and slight jitters. Haven't had any since then.
green tea has very little. like 1/6 the caffeine of one 8 oz. cup of coffee and I drank 3 cups at least and then a couple diet cokes in the afternoon and maybe iced tea out at dinner. I not drinking black tea, which has about 1/3 the caffeine. But I hear you. I'm definitly not drinking or eating chocolate. I quit coffee before for about a year.
