Heretical topic: What happens to you when you quit coffee?

by **Chert** on Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:40 pm

I imagine some people have quite colorful remarks about days they have spent without coffee. There are some accounts in a book I read about the history of coffee. When prices spiked in the seventies and there was a coffee boycott someone described how terrible it was to quit coffee.

I stopped three days ago and am finally tonight enjoying relief from the nearly constant headache I had after 24 hours without the drug.

I miss the great flavors of espresso and coffee in general, but I think I will make it, henceforth coffee free.

Any other accounts of the pain of coffee withdrawal out there?

by **cai42** on Wed Apr 01, 2009 2:28 am

Greetings,

You become goofy.

Stay Caffeinated.

Cliff

by **Tag Team Jesus** on Wed Apr 01, 2009 4:08 am

I was getting to be an espresso junkie, so I took a week off of coffee a couple weeks ago. I ended up with a 5 day headache!

And it made for a strange, strange week of dreams. One dream involved everyone around me vomiting blue pudding. When I told one of my friends about this dream, he started laughing and interpreted the dream for me: Blue Bottle! Damn, that's exactly what the dream was about. My local roaster here in San Francisco, getting purged out of the body. hahaha.

I have since returned to drinking espresso, but I am trying to cut down lately. It doesn't help though that this bag of Misty Valley has been exceptional. Oops, had a shot at 11:00 tonight. hehehe. Seriously, though, when I drink too much, it gives me headaches in my left temple. And it feels really groggy and I feel like dung a dung dung. Definitely cutting back a bit.

by HB on Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:58 am

Seventy percent of the respondents to Ever suffered from caffeine withdrawal? report withdrawal symptoms. For me, it usually results in a mild headache early afternoon the next day, then it's over. It's been awhile since I skipped my daily coffee/espresso. Next time I'm low on coffee, I'll skip it for a few days and report back. :wink:

by **orwa** on Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:38 am

Nothing happens in my case. I usually encourage people to drink lesser, and better coffee, which is exactly what I do. I am usually surrounded by people who would swallow all sorts of black liquids called falsely coffee, which in fact repulses me a little bit. Coffee to me is a passion and a science, but is not a drug that I will die without. Dark roasted and oily coffee is something that I do not deal with as it seems to me that most of the negative effects of coffee on the body are exaggerated in that case.

by **Anthony** on Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:39 am

Me, I can quit anytime I want, so why bother? :mrgreen:

by **TeMpTiN** on Wed Apr 01, 2009 11:06 am

Dan, When was the last time you were low on Coffee.

After periods of heavy consumption then going cold turkey I have experienced the headache, however under normal circumstances I just walk around asleep longer.

by **cafeIKE** on Wed Apr 01, 2009 11:31 am

I drink about 5 or 6 singles over the course of a day. A few years back, I had to quit for some medical tests for two weeks. Middle of the next day, the headache started. By the evening of the 2nd day, I felt like I'd been beat with a rubber hose. Splitting headache, every joint and muscle ached. The symptoms gradually wore off over the next 4 or 5 days.

by **GVDub** on Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:29 pm

I tried once and entropy accelerated to the extent that I owe it to the universe not to stop.

by **another_jim** on Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:00 pm

Last time I quit coffee, I just smoked more. Twenty years ago I realized doing it the other way around might be smarter.

by **cannonfodder** on Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:13 pm

Does not bother me much. I usually have 3 or 4 doubles during the day. I go on business trips now and then and instead of drinking the swill most places produce I simply go without. I can also have a shot 3 hours before bed with no ill effects and down 7 doubles in an hour doing testing before I get that 'you had too much' feeling.

by **shadowfax** on Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:25 pm

I am a victim of caffeine withdrawal too. It's kind of amusing, I get no caffeine rush (even when I went through about the equivalent of 8-10 doubles in an afternoon... felt sick to my stomach, but that's it), but I get the nasty headache. I find that other drinks don't seems to help me (tea, diet coke), even if I drink a lot of them--they might mitigate it for me a little bit, but I still get a bad headache. On the other hand, as long as I get at least one double, even after days of drinking 4 or more doubles, I don't get the headache.

It's been interesting to read others' comments as regards headaches lasting multiple days. I've had headaches that lasted several hours (say, an afternoon into the night), but never anything that dramatic. What mitigations have you guys tried for dealing with withdrawal (other than just drinking coffee)? When I expect a caffeine withdrawal and I can't drink coffee (when I am away from home, and I refuse to drink swill 'coffee'), I usually try to make sure that I eat consistently (maintain normal blood-sugar), drink a lot of water, and take a Tylenol/Ibuprofen when the headache hits. If I do those things, it usually prevents the headache from being so awful. My worst headaches have been when I go off coffee because I'm too busy or too focused to remember to make myself any for a couple days... Usually, that goes with forgetting to eat well or drink enough water, always a horrible combination.

by **timo888** on Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:39 pm

Moderation. It has worked through the ages.

by **SlowRain** on Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:32 pm

I'm currently reading My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk. This is what he has to say:

"Forty years ago, the Persian Sha Tahmasp...quit drinking coffee, and naturally, his brain stopped working."

The novel is set in Turkey in the 16th Century, so there are several references to coffee and coffeehouses. There are a group of people trying to ban coffee because it is a sin. In the novel, coffee is viewed as something good, and anyone against coffee is viewed as evil.

by **TeMpTiN** on Thu Apr 02, 2009 2:11 am

To help with the headache from caffeine withdrawal, or the one from a hang over the best thing I have found is to dunk my head in to a small stream just out side Kyleakin Scotland, works every time!
Barring that fill a 5 gallon pail with ice water and maybe add just a little salt, stir till fully chilled then submerge your head. It wont take long, its "refreshing" and most of the time solves the headache.
Of course YMMV.

by **itsallaroundyou** on Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:16 pm

cannonfodder wrote:Does not bother me much. I usually have 3 or 4 doubles during the day. I go on business trips now and then and instead of drinking the swill most places produce I simply go without. I can also have a shot 3 hours before bed with no ill effects and down 7 doubles in an hour doing testing before I get that 'you had too much' feeling.

That's my case too....my first trip to vancouver, and first real exposure to quality espresso, i went nuts....had 10 shots from 4 cafes in one day. i expected a sleepless night, but i fell right to sleep that night woke up and felt fine.

back when i used to do field work, i'd routinely give it up for days at a time with no ill effects (i wish i could say the same for some of the people i was in the field with!)

by **Chert** on Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:47 pm

An update:

Day 8 with no espresso or coffee. I have had a headache of varying severity for 5 of the past 7 days. I always get a withdrawal headache when I skip my morning cup, often the night of the following day, even if I do drink the coffee. I think there may be the following correlation: migraineurs have caffeine withdrawal but the rest of humanity does not.

Also over the past 8 days I feel generally achy and one day was a bit feverish. Perhaps unrelated to the coffee withdrawal. I sleep better and somewhere around day 3 my energy levels improved. Driving without caffeine, though, is riskier. I have to be prepared to stop and stretch!

I think I'll have to eventually cut out the cafe visiting, but the Blue Saucer in Maple Leaf (Roosevelt & 91st) pulled my wife (she's not crazy, ie still caffeinated) a nice latte of the Stumptown Hairbender. I also have 40 pounds of coffee to roast over the next year... I hope to use my experience to encourage my patients who need to avoid relapse into alcohol, cigarettes or smack.

by **vanboom** on Mon Apr 06, 2009 1:42 am

When I started roasting, I was doing 2-6 shots of espresso a day for about 2 weeks. I got so jittery I decided to take a week off. I never get headaches, and I have had friends with migranes, and the ensuing 36 hour headache was what I could describe as a migrane. Even blinking was painful.

Now I roast once a week, and drink coffee maybe 3 days per week. If I stop now, I never get the headache so maybe I have dialed in the right "moderate" amount. I hope

this stuff is too good to quit.

Don

by **gabriel** on Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:51 am

If I forget to get my morning espresso I got the first 2 hours at work to correct this mistake or the day is ruined.
The headache won't go away with coffee if it was not taken 3-4 hours after I wake up
In that case Advil is my only friend

I was once in Indonesia for two month in diving vacation and had to stay with no coffee (they probably ship out all the good coffee)
The headaches went away after 2-3 days and I was free from addiction
Too bad I got back to square one as soon as I went back home

/gabi

by **shadowfax** on Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:06 am

gabriel wrote:If I forget to get my morning espresso I got the first 2 hours at work to correct this mistake or the day is ruined.
The headache won't go away with coffee if it was not taken 3-4 hours after I wake up
In that case Advil is my only friend

I've noticed a (time-shifted) phenomenon like that, as well. My headache doesn't start till the evening of the first day off or, sometimes, the afternoon of the next day, but I have certainly experienced the unavoidable headaches--after it starts, no amount of caffeine stops mine, and it's just the other remedies mentioned that seem to mitigate it--lots of water and some Tylenol/ibuprofen.


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