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How can I cut my caffeine intake?

Sun, 2006-01-15 20:06 — Daniel
Most people report a very good success ratio by cutting down caffeine intake at the rate of 1/2 cup of coffee a day. This is known as Caffeine Fading. Alternatively you might try reducing coffee intake in discrete steps of two-five cups of coffee less per week (depending on how high is your initial intake). If you are drinking more than 10 cups of coffee a day, you should seriously consider cutting down.

The best way to proceed is to consume caffeine regularly for a week, while keeping a precise log of the times and amounts of caffeine intake (remember that chocolate, tea, soda beverages and many headache pills contain caffeine as well as coffee). At the end of the week proceed to reduce your coffee intake at the rate recommended above. Remember to have substitutes available for drinking: if you are not going to have a hot cup of coffee at your 10 minute break, you might consider having hot chocolate or herbal tea, but NOT decaff, since decaff has also been shown to be addictive. This should take you through the works without much problem.

Some other people quit cold turkey. Withdrawal symptoms are quite nasty this way (see section below) but they can usually be countered with lots of sleep and exercise. Many people report being able to stop drinking caffeine almost cold-turkey while on holidays on the beach. If quitting cold turkey is proving too hard even in the beach, drinking a coke might help.

 

Comments

Mon, 2008-05-12 19:36 — Anonymous (not verified)

caffeine levels

Another thing to consider is what kind of coffee you are drinking. Vietnam has recently become the worlds second largest coffee producer, and almost all of it is Robusta. The supply of cheap Robusta flooding the market has driven prices down and thus made its use more popular for some companies. (i.e. Folger's is about 33% Robusta)

Robusta beans can contain 2-4x as much caffeine as Arabacia beans. Selecting 100% Arabacia could be a good first step to lowering you caffeine intake.

Sun, 2007-12-02 10:00 — Robert (not verified)

Caffene withdrawal

I am going through my third time quitting and it seems that each one is more painful and lengthy. I was drinking 10 or more cups per day. I am sure caffeine is contributing to my high blood pressure problems.
I drank about 1/2 my usual on coffee on Thursday and then only had 1/2 cup on Friday and none on Saturday. I felt just awful, I could not get out of bed, I have severe aches and pains in my chest and in my back. These are continuing but are moderated by taking IB profin as a pain reliever.

The malaise and lack of ability to move has not been helped. I broke down and had 1/2 cup of coffee about 1/2 hour ago and I am beginning to feel a little better. I plan to try 1/2 cup a day through Thursday and then go cold turkey again and see if I can get through the weekend with out a relapse.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks
Robert

Thu, 2008-01-24 14:27 — Anonymous (not verified)

caffeine withdrawal

Hi,
This worked for me when I quit my 5-cup/day habit. I took No-Doz to ease the withdrawal. First thing in the morning, take a pill to ward off the headache and gradually cut the pills down until you are taking just tiny slivers. After a few days of taking tiny amounts of the pills you can stop taking them at all and you won't get that nasty I-need-a-cup-of-coffee headache. Hope this helps

Thu, 2007-11-08 11:23 — Anonymous (not verified)

Less energy? Stick with it...

A number of years ago I quit caffeine as many others have. I "faded" but a little quickly and my headaches only lasted a few days. I know that these symptoms do vary.

At first I was very distressed that I was very tired after taking out my normal caffeine intake. I wondered how I would ever manage to much if I remained so tired. To my surprise, after a couple weeks I found that not only did my energy levels returned to normal, but, without caffeine, I actually had more energy that I had when I was drinking two or three sodas at a time.

I am not sure if this is consistent with others, but if you notice that your energy levels are down after being off of caffeine, stick with it!

Tue, 2007-10-23 04:20 — Graham (not verified)

My reduction programme

This is going to sound geeky, but...

I started my reduction programme a few weeks ago. Each day I take 95% of the caffeine I had the day before. I measure my intake in terms of mounded desert spoons of coffe grounds (I don't drink tea or cola and I don't eat chocolate). To avoid having to weigh out grounds precise to a gramme, I round off the value to the nearest half a mounded desert spoon of grounds. I use a spreadsheet for all this. At the end of this week I'll be down to half a mounded spoon of grounds a day (i.e. one rounded one)

In the past I've tried simply cutting down by half a cup a day and found that rate of reduction too steep. When I got to zero I got withdrawal symtoms that I couldn't tough out and failed.

OK, I'm not down to zero intake yet and the test comes when I am. But I'm down to a fraction of what my intake was and I'm not feeling much worse than I did before I started cutting down. I recommend this method.

Graham

Thu, 2007-09-20 11:59 — drug treatment center (not verified)

I started drinking espresso

I started drinking espresso about five years ago. I drink a double espresso (size of a coffee) first thing in the morning. Every single day in the late afternoon I get horrible migraines and stomach aches. I have a generalized anxiety disorder so I do have anxiety most of the time but since the coffee intake very severe. I was wondering if this one espresso in the morning could be causing these symptoms every afternoon?

Tue, 2007-10-23 04:27 — Graham (not verified)

Some people are more

Some people are more sensitive to caffeine than others. My intake has never been anything like as high as some people's, and has actually been relatively low for a few years now, but I still have problems. So, yes, it could well be your problems are caffeine-related.

Tue, 2007-07-24 14:30 — Anonymous (not verified)

A number of potential drug

A number of potential drug interactions can occur when
aspirin is used in combination with other medications. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is usually recommended instead of aspirin in these situations.

Mon, 2007-06-04 12:32 — Anonymous (not verified)

Quitting the Caffeine

I quit drinking caffeine once and I did it cold turkey. It took 2 weeks for the headaches and fatigue to go away. I was tired of the incoveniance of always trying to get my morning coffee and when I quit It made my life so much easier. Their was an extra 30-60 minutes a day I didn't have to worry about getting a fix. I only made it 6 months and I slowly started drinking caffeine again, before I knew it, I was drinking coffee everyday again.

I have since tried to cut back by drinking green tea, but I ended up drinking green tea all day long and not drinking an ounce of water. I always felt dehydrated and the need for more green tea was once again becoming an inconveniance.

Fri, 2007-06-15 04:54 — Anonymous (not verified)

well done

im happy that you mannaged to quit...
have you got a hobbie to take your mind of coffee? like rock climbing, swimming, helping others?
green tea is verry good for you and you should try to drink more water!

xx good luck! xx

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