You guys need to realize that you are drug addicts, plain and simple. The only difference is, like nicotine and alcohol, it's fairly cheap and easily available, and can't forget, socially acceptable. If that weren't the case most of you would be no better then a meth or crack fiend trying to get the next fix.

You have to realize all of us have addictive tendencies and from a very young age have been programmed to react to this. First sugar, then caffeine, then alcohol, then nicotine, then "Fill in your choice".

You can thank your corporations lobbying to keep these poisons the way they are and let the inertia effect progress to the next generation like they have been doing since the dawn of the corporation's influence.

I've quit all of the above and have been going strong for close to 10 years of my 31 already on this hypocritical and greedy planet of ours.

Today is my first day of not drinking any sodas or coffee. I decided to go cold turkey and endure the headaches. I must say, it is a little difficult for me, but I am determined to do this.

Thanks to all you after reading your comments. You all are encouraging! Be blessed!

Give up my sweet baby coffee? Never! I've had to quit cigs already, so I know i could quit caffeine if needed (although quitting smoking was hell). I see no reason to, though.

A cup in the morning gets me up and going, helps with my chronic constipation issues, and just tastes delicious. I think everything in moderation is the key. Have a cup or two in the morning, and then don't have any other caffeinated drinks the rest of the day. It gets you up, gets you moving (in more ways than one hehehehe) and the taste is amazing. Drink on children.

I have been pretty sick lately so I decided to detox. I bought a juicer and started a real mission.

I stopped my double espresso cafes that I had

every morning and I feel like someone hit the back of my head with a baseball bat. Hope this feeling does not last long. --Jan

I've decided to go off all caffeinated products because I'm experiencing acid reflux. I'm on day two of going cold turkey and just got up with a moderate headache. I'm determined to persevere.

I'm in the same boat as all of you. The reason I'm thinking about quitting is because I decided a year ago to try and get pregnant and I can't get pregnant.

My husband went to have his sperm tested and it turns out even though his sperm is sluggish, his overall sperm count is fine. So I know it is me. Ever since I was a child I was exposed to diet soda -- mostly diet pepsi -- and I used to drink it a lot when I was a teenager and then into adulthood.

At one point when when I was an adult I was running to the bathroom so many times at night that I couldn't sleep until the wee morning hours.

I had a series of urinary tract infections in my twenties that led me to urologists and even then I was still running to the bathroom at night. In the last two years I have reduced my soda intake from three cups a day to one or two. I have my diet coke in the morning and then a cup of diet pepsi at night.

Sometimes I only have the diet coke in the morning. It just bothers me so much that I didn't know that diet soda with caffeine can contribute to infertility and if I had known then what I know now, I would have stopped soda a long time ago.

Even though people have said to me they drank lots of soda and still got pregnant, for me it is doing the opposite. So yesterday I tried to quit and my god, I was so sick I thought I was going to die and then I realize these were affects of withdrawal.

So now I'm going to have to plan this more gradually. And when I do I'm going to have to be prepared with water and green tea and possibly learn to make fruit smoothies.

I will stop drinking soda at restaurants and tell the waitress: "water only!" It is just sad to me that caffeine is a drug addiction and that many people are so unaware of this. And if we make people more aware of this, we wouldn't have so many problems we have today.

I had no idea about coffee withdrawal. I was drinking two or three cups of strong coffee a day and then three to five diet sodas after work. I never drink coffee on the weekends. I decided to give up soda and switch to decaf and I am day four of this miserable hell.

I had to go to the doctor because I thought I had an aneurysm that was going to burst. The pain incapacitated me for hours at a time. Lights were too bright and smells only worsened it. I couldn't leave my desk. The worst thing though, was that I could feel it coming on and there was nothing I could do about it.

i was just wondering. i took a supplement called No2 Black Powder last week and i have been a constant diet coke drinker for a while -- at least four or five a day for a year or so. little did i know the Black Powder had over 300mg of caffeine in it and i had an overdose of the stuff. I was in the ER twice. then i decided to quit cold turkey off caffeine a week later. and i have nausea and a general fogginess in my head a blurred vision i had some headaches but not as bad as most. i have anxiety and jitters. is this normal for caffeine. and since i used to drink so much how long do you think these effects will last?

Midol with caffeine is good for weaning off. one a day for a couple days, half a day for 2-3 days, then nothing.

I've been drinking coffee for years now, at least 5 or 6 years so far. I'm 19, and up to measured out about 6-8 cups of coffee. just going 8-10 hours with it awake is enough to give me a headache. i stayed overnight in a hotel with some friends once, and the next day went out and had fun, and the headache was unbearable just going that short amount of time without any coffee. i took some ibuprofen and felt some relief but had to make up for it some what by drinking pop all day. coffee isn't something i plan on ever giving up. i enjoy it, so i see no need to. but good luck to anyone out there trying to cut back or get rid of caffeine altogether. hope it goes well for you and once you get past all the withdrawal symptoms just know it's worth what ever you want to accomplish. i'm very proud of you all.

I gave up caffeine about two weeks ago due to having palpitations and generally aggravating my anxiety i was on around 7-8 cups of strong coffee a day and when i was out with friends i tended to have a few red bulls too.

The first few days i didn't really suffer too much. i didn't get any headache at all that many people complain about. it was only on the third and fourth day that i started to get restless and argumentative for apparently no reason. Also i felt the need to be at home as my anxiety worsened.

After the first week i began to suffer with mild insomnia and found myself drinking more which only helped in the short term but still not giving me the sleep i needed.

Then came depression - i have just recently split with a long term girlfriend - but this was aggravated by the withdrawal i think. I started to feel detached from the world and unfocused, also i have a few exams coming up and normally while i was still consuming caffeine i could study for hours but i found it hard to even read and understand a single page, now two weeks on after a bit of exercise and trying to get out of the house i feel much better for it.

Caffeine withdrawal isn't a joke but in the end it's better for you. I wish i could have weaned myself off it over a few weeks instead of just quitting straight away. i think that is a better option :)

I'm quitting caffeine all together. I started off drinking caffeine free soda at home and only having regular at dinner, but then I read that the lithium I take multiplies the effects of caffeine, which would explain why I couldn't sleep at night after drinking only one to two cups of caffeinated soda. So I've been totally off caffeine for 3 days, and I have been having mild headaches, grumpiness, sleepiness, and inability to focus. I am sleeping much better though, through the night! The withdrawal symptoms are annoying, and interfere with my school work, but are so far relatively mild.

I have been off caffeine for 18 days now. I still have mild headaches, and I'm getting fewer cravings. But I am still having trouble sleeping and have severe depression. All the sites I've been reading say that it should take up to nine days, two weeks at the most, but I've been almost three weeks and still feel crappy? Did anyone else feel this way?

I could,and have, drank a 2 liter diet soda a day *easy*. Decided to quit caffeine cold turkey like I did smoking. Quit yesterday. Today, I am experiencing tiredness, very sleepy, mild depression, and inability to concentrate. Hopefully this gets better soon.

Hi everyone. It's my first day after going cold turkey on coffee. I cannot describe the feeling that my head would explode and I felt so nauseated that I vomited everything I ate today I had to leave work earlier as I was unable to function and immediately went sleeping. After six hours I had milder headaches but still the nausea is here. I hope I will get over it and *never again* put a drop of this poison in my system!

ive been drinking lots of energy drinks recently. then the shop i go to stopped selling them so i never had one for about four days. after that the headaches and dizziness were unbearable. i had to go somewhere else to buy one.

OK so picking the first week of September to go through this, not smart. Omg migraine was ridiculous. It lasted two whole days. I tricked my brain to thinking it was still getting it with caffeine free pepsi, psychosomatic maybe, but after a few days of that I stopped soda altogether. I'm so sleepy now. I want to crash at 9 p.m. every night. I satisfy my sweet tooth with that crystal light mix in bottled water (yuck. I hated the taste of water). In the home stretch, I have three more days to go to get to my Day nine. My pants actually have more room in them now too, go figure.

I'm on soda hiatus-- my girlfriend wanted me to stop, so I bet her I could hold off on soda for 4 weeks. After that, I can have some, but not much. It's been 7 days, and I've had none of these symptoms. Got lucky, I guess!

Did I mention that I have also lost 10 pounds since I went off the bean? Yeah. Of course that's combined with increased activity and adjustments to my diet: more fresh vegetables and fruit, less red meat and carbs, and drinking plenty of water. Taking the approach of focusing on making sure I get what I do need rather than denying myself what I think I shouldn't have. Usually by making sure I get my fill of all the healthy things I know are good for my body, by the time I get my fill I no longer crave the less healthful options.

i was drinking a half case of pepsi a day: 144 ounces. i recently decided im overweight and need to quit because the calorie intake is ridiculous. so i switched to diet pepsi, and because it tastes horrible, i am not drinking as much (maybe 3-4 cans a day) and they have lower amounts of caffeine anyway.

symptoms so far: Headache- Moderately severe;

Depression- Severe; Vision Problems- mild;

jitters- severe; anxiety- severe.

can't wait for it to stop. a few months back i went straight cold turkey off of pepsi. i felt like killing myself the pain was so bad and wouldn't go away. worst headache in the world and i have a very high pain threshold. *sigh*

so i'm hoping my headaches don't get worse and i will be fine. not quitting caffeine -- just cutting back :)

Almost four months off the bean and going strong. Working crazy hours and feel more energized and free, not bound by some caffeine delivery routine. Have also discovered that I really do like the taste of coffee and have found some good local decafs, but rarely drink them. My preferred beverage these days is H2O and EmergenC.

Been off caffeine for 3 to 4 days - headache was unbelievable. The muscle stiffness I experienced in my legs especially was just as bad. In any case, I don't feel depressed at all because I'm so excited about kicking the habit. Found a really good decaf coffee made in Campos - NSW, Australia. Tastes great and I'm really fussy. Hope this helps. Deb

Man oh man, withdrawal is no joke. I am trying to wean off slowly and at only 3/4 of the normal amount I drink. I feel literally like I am hung over from drinking too much alcohol from the night before. Don't ever start is my best advice.

I quit drinking pepsi yesterday - I was drinking one liter bottles. Sometimes more than one per day, sometimes a few 20oz bottles a day. I bought some no doze for the caffeine, took one pill today when i started getting a horrendous headache at work (i work at a gas station. it's been hard to quit in the past - we get fountain drinks for free) I figure i could quit drinking the sodas first, while weaning myself off the caffeine. i've found some great ideas in these comments! -LM

I decided to give up caffeinated tea. My goodness I didn't even think about the withdrawal symptoms. I had the most awful, painful, brain-splitting headache that lasted for 3 days. It was like being hit by a truck. I also a few days later had pains in my thighs and calves that prevented me from sleeping. Nothing ever prevents me from sleeping! Anyway it was too much and I started back on caffeine tea again. From tea=love in Greater London

Hi to everyone trying to give up caffeine..You might want to check out the book " Caffeine Blues" by Stephen Cherniske,M.S. He gives you a program called off the bean. It really helps you to give up the wicked stuff without withdrawals. Also give you so much info on what the stuff can really do to you. Hope this helps. His book really helped me I'm on day 4 of weaning off and not feeling too bad at all.

3 weeks and going strong! Took a little over a week for the withdrawal symptoms I described to subside. Occasionally crave the taste of coffee and am on the lookout for a good decaf. So far the few I've had were swill! I *did* have a *great* decaf at Think Coffee while visiting NYC. Met a friend there and with little optimism gave the decaf a try. Was pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately no Think Coffee locations in Los Angeles and they don't seem to have an online store. I ain't out to advertise for them, but as decaf goes, that was frigg'n good cup.

At 37 I have been on and off caffeine for a few years. Believe it or not I didn't start drinking coffee until I was 34 yrs old and rarely drank caffeinated beverages before that. My daily consumption ranges from a 20 oz. press-coffee and an espresso to about 40 oz. a day. (FYI-20 oz. is a Venti coffee at SB.)

Here are a few of my observations about caffeine in general, and withdrawal when you're trying to kick it. I started drinking coffee because I was tired. Plain and simple. Having a history with addiction, but never really into stimulants before, I was really taken in by the appearance of energy & focus that came with drinking coffee. When I first started drinking coffee regularly my work schedule (12-18 hr days) was incredibly demanding and coffee appeared to give me an edge. Ironically, two years before I had a similar work schedule and didn't drink *any* coffee or caffeine. During that caffeine free period, though I got tired at times, as would be normal working such long hours, my performance and level of focus I think was superior.

We can't discount the fact that caffeine *is* a drug. If you are someone prone to addictive behavior this is something to consider. I think there is a psychological benefit in doing something "drug free." Though caffeine is obviously in a totally different class when compared to recreational drugs, I would venture to say the base addictive response is similar. And for those with a history of addictive behavior it can act as a trigger, maybe not relapse into the previous behavior, but a more subtle psychological trigger to a lot of unhealthy thinking that comes with addiction. Not to be an alarmist, and a small minority is likely to have this come into play, but for those familiar with addiction I think it's worth considering.

One of the things I was really surprised by was the aches and pains I feel when I'm off coffee for a few days. The headaches I expect, and the mood swings I was prepared for, but the classic flu-like symptoms have been a bit of a surprise. I found I'm super-tired, having to take 2-3 hr naps late in the day, and my muscles ache, particularly my forearms, legs and calves. Interestingly enough, I remember when I first started to drink coffee feeling these mysterious aches and pains. In hindsight it make sense.

Emotionally I'd always heard people get "aggro" when they are off caffeine. My first few days I was downright depressed! Generally feeling pretty positive and optimistic, this one took me by surprise and actually got me worried a bit. The good news is it passed fairly quickly lasting only a day for me.

Searching the internet for "caffeine" can be pretty enlightening as to understanding the mechanisms behind caffeine withdrawal.

In my past attempts to go without caffeine I've weaned myself off, continuing to drink tea and decaf coffee in modest amounts. Though I think this can be an effective strategy, this time I'm going with the all or nothing approach, to really try and limit my caffeine intake and avoid it all together for a while. Eventually I'd like to get back to drinking low caffeine teas noted for their well documented health benefits, such as green tea.

For those looking to reduce their caffeine intake here are a few suggestions (keep in mind, as an earlier post mentioned some of the coffee chains have highly caffeinated teas): green tea, white tea, decaf teas & coffee. If you want to go caffeine free altogether consider the large variety of herbal teas available. I really like roobois & roobois chai. When going decaf, note that if something is "decaffeinated" it likely still has a small caffeine content. Here's a trick you can do with hi-quality caffeinated teas that can tolerate multiple infusions, consider doing a quick 30-60 second brew, discard that infusion and then drink the 2nd and 3rd brew. Most good quality teas are good for 2 or 3 infusions and I've heard 80-90% of the caffeine is released in that first batch.

Speaking of brewing tea... Oh, the coffee making ritual... I love grinding the coffee, foaming the milk, the smell... I love buying new coffees and trying them out... I love french presses, espresso makers and gadgets of all kinds. I love that first sip in the morning. I love all the paraphernalia and the process so much that I often get satisfaction from just making a coffee and not even drinking it! Well, not really.

But all this, love, love, love is counterproductive. What I don't love is coffee breath. I don't love my whole day being "off" if I miss my coffee. I don't love that I find I structure my morning around it, so much so that I'll be late somewhere to satisfy my jones. I don't love getting the jitters when a coffee is stronger than I expect. I just don't love the idea that I'm "on something" as part of my daily routine when it is not medically necessary.

We can argue until we are blue in the face the pros and cons of coffee drinking. I invite you to search out the different perspectives on the topic. There's a load of data out there. Ultimately it all seems to converge around moderation. But what I ask you to finally do is honestly ask yourself, are you OK with your consumption of coffee? If that results in a resounding "Yes!" then I say go for it. But if your drinking coffee has a negative overall effect on your well being, then you will only compound that problem by denying that observation. For me, what happens when I come off coffee, and my need to keep myself regularly dosed so I don't experience that, is enough to motivate me to stop. Sure there are a lot of things that we require, that if we were to stop doing them, we would feel a negative result. But coffee is optional.

As you may have noticed there's a lot of past and present tense being mixed up in this post. That's because I'm 3 days into my latest attempt to get off the caffeine. This will be the 3rd or 4th time I've tried over the last 4 years. I usually go for about a 2 weeks to a month and then jump back in head first. Every time I try to stop the withdrawal symptoms seem more pronounced. This post, in a way, is a tool for me to express myself and verbalize my relationship with caffeine, to help me think through how I feel about it. I think one of the biggest parts in changing a negative behavior is truly identifying the effect that behavior has on your life. You've got to truly *want* to change, and owning that can be reinforced by reflecting on the impact that change will have on your life. Good luck!

I have been off coffee for for 4 days and have had a bad headache and flu like symptoms. I am not sure if this is related to my not drinking coffee, but I am certainly not feeling very good two days into not drinking coffee. If this is withdrawal from caffeine I can't imagine what long term health effects caffeine must have on my body. Waiting to feel better.

Darn coffee. Pretty easy to get stuck in that ritual. For me, coffee is fine as long as I am quite active physically which seems to counter act the negative effects. Probably because it metabolizes faster. However, whenever I cut back on the activity caffeine catches up with the negative effects pretty quickly.

I quit using green tea, in tea bag form. It's still caffeine of a type of course, but it doesn't seem to have all the negatives that coffee does. More notably, green tea doesn't seem to mess up blood sugar as much as coffee does. Green tea also allows some re-hydration over time, a week or two *and* it seems much easier to give up than green tea.

There is still caffeine of course. For me even dropping from 1-2 green teas a day (40-100mg of caffeine) still makes a worthwhile positive difference.

Weaning from caffeine is usually a better choice than quick stopping. You can do it but it can make for a few miserable days. Beware of green tea from coffee stores, a lot of these places have pretty strong, caffeine wise, green tea.

After quitting for a week or so, just one green tea has quite a major affect on me: sweating, flushing, heart rate, dopamine high, etc. Seems like I am somewhat sensitive to caffeine effects. That is surprisingly easy to overcome since there were times drinking 3-4 pots a day didn't have that effect. I'm sure it had a pretty negative effect of course, but you get used to it quickly and it just becomes the new normal for you.

So it's been a long time since my post! I have been off the caffeine for a long time!! *Wow*!! I have more energy and fell good!! It's crazy to think it has control of your life! Keep it up guys!

Wow! I didn't think that people could go through these kinds of things.

This is my week off from work and since I don't have to wake up early for work, making coffee was the last thing on my mind.

It's been 3 days and I'm hurting. It feels like I'm catching a flu virus or something until my bf told me it's because I didn't have coffee for awhile. I didn't believe him so I had to look it up. Wow! Coffee ruined me....

I have had major addiction to energy drinks. I have consumed more than enough to probably kill someone, about 4 a day. Then, under peer pressure, I decided to stop. Now I am experiencing a lot of symptoms including blurring vision and my left eye is twitching constantly. Is this because of the large caffeine intake?

Well it has been 11 days I hope it goes away.

Hi Everyone! I too was consuming way too much Caffeine for the past 3 months. Sadly, I didn't realize that the Green Tea that I was drinking had caffeine in it! I thought that it would say it on the ingredients but it didn't.

I have stopped consuming caffeine for almost a week now and I just realized today the way I was feeling for the past week was due to caffeine withdrawal symptom's.

I experienced nausea, slight headache's, nervousness, and light depression. Now that I know that it was due to caffeine withdrawal, I can relax more.

So hang in there Guys we can do it!

Yes, I have decided to stop drinking soft drinks, and although, I only drink one 20 oz bottle per day, that was enough to become caffeine addicted. I also use caffeine to help with migraines because it's certainly helps.

I am on my 3rd day now without caffeine, and have only had a slight headache. I just had acupuncture last week to get over a migraine so I'm hoping that helped.

My eyes were very light sensitive, too, though after no caffeine too, so I do think it's possibly a withdrawal symptom.

Also, sometimes, I used Excedrin for my headaches since it has caffeine, and although, it has more caffeine in it than a soft drink. I don't seem to want the Excedrin again the next day. It also doesn't have all the other bad stuff in it that soft drinks have.

To Vanderlith,

No idea when you posted, but I have recently decided to quit caffeine, not only because I am severely addicted but because I'd like to quit drinking soda. I have noticed that drinking tea really helps. There is a small amount of caffeine in tea, but a small enough amount that I am still having withdrawal symptoms, including blurry vision.

Tea should help. Also, at least nine hours of sleep seems to help as well.

I am just starting to come off caffeine. I also suffer from migraines. I always used caffeine to help get rid of the headaches. Would the caffeine withdrawal cause my eyes to be sensitive to light or am I having a mild migraine?

Hi I too am trying to quit caffeine and so far I only lasted 1 week, since my vision has been going blurry once in awhile until I drink a pepsi. do you have any tips for me?

Caffeine Withdrawal Symptoms:

My name is Keith I have been off coffee now since the 20th of last month!! Caffeine was making me very tired and sleepy! Read an article that caffeine withdrawals could last for a few months!! I have been feeling very blah for a while! I have the brain fogginess still!! Is that normal!! I was drinking up to 6 espresso drinks and maybe 1 to 2 rockstars!! I hope I start to feel better soon!!

Thanks, Keith

It helps to drink just a little bit of caffeine when you get a caffeine headache - just enough to stop it, but only if you can stop! If you can't stop, better to just power through or use a different pain reliever without caffeine.