Started drinking water instead of drinking soda and coffee very often. Never looked back. I may drink a soda once or twice but I really don't miss it at this point. I got into this after using the MyWater app https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mywater/id665244736?mt=8
One of the more interesting comments in the article is in regards to the social stigma of only consuming water during meals - people who have quit alcohol for various reasons have faced the same stigma when going out with friends.
I've found that ordering something that has little to no calories or substance goes a long way to alleviate these fears (like tonic or sparkling water).
Because something like this still costs money, it helps convince the purchaser that they aren't appearing to be "cheap" by only ordering water. Topo Chico (a sparkling water similar to San Pellegrino) is a favorite among recovering alcoholics in my area.
That's my thought, too. When I order water, it's almost like a declaration of a lifestyle - I choose to be fit, to stay healthy, and not to drink any of the substances that are an obstacle on my way.
I guess it's a question of company. If most of your friends order water, you feel a bit guilty ordering something less healthy.
I think that might be why it bothers people who some people do drink when you order water: they see it as you somehow saying that you're better than them by declaring your health lifestyle
Avoiding alcohol is easy as long as no one pushes you to drink every five minutes when you obviously want to only drinking water. Drinking culture is extremely annoying.
I'm not sure if you meant to imply the contrary, but club soda isn't the same as tonic water--club soda doesn't have sugar added. So if you're yet to find a replacement for your gin and tonics, you could try out vodka sodas :)
The non-alcoholic "evening out" drinks market is actually one of the fastest growing at the moment. Even to the extent that Diageo's investment arm recently ran a competition to find the best up and coming non-alc drinks.
I can't imagine what kind of food you like to eat then.
The food-wine (or beer) pairing is an integral part of a lot of cuisines.
But I can understand that it may be a very alien concept if you like to eat Mac Donald burgers or American pizzas.
I can understand wine or beer -- I was mostly referring to water instead of a sugary soda. But pairing an appropriate wine with seafood or a good steak does enhance the experience.
However, in my case, my schedule (and budget, and family factors) keep me from restaurants, except for an occasional lunch out at work. And then alcohol is verboten if I'm going back to work afterwards.
Pro tip: Club soda with a lime looks just like a vodka soda.
Works great when you're trying to keep a clear head at a party full of heavy drinkers too. Just make sure to take slow sips so that people don't catch you with an empty glass.
Club soda with anything, syrups, bitters, citrus, is the secret for a happier sober life. not to mention is usually free in bars. (bitters are technically alcoholic, so that is a personal choice)
Ginger beer (as in fancy ginger ale) + lime juice + bitters, well-iced, is quite tasty. It's a Moscow mule without the vodka. You can mess with adding tonic water if you miss the vodka taste. A splash of Luxardo syrup, cherry juice, blueberry purée, of any number of other little flourishes (lychee is notably great, tumeric is interesting) can make it extra special. I drink occasionally but I also enjoy these NA concoctions. It helps that I don't have friends who make it weird for anyone to not drink alcohol when we're out or at parties.
soda + bitters is super tasty. if you're in a fancy cocktail bar (which I'm not that often these days, because drunk people are annoying when you're sober), most good bartenders will be happy to concoct "something tasty" and non-alcoholic, too.
Something similar has helped me in not drinking pop/soda. I just get soda water and add lemons/limes. It has the flavor and fizziness of Sprite, just not the sweetness. And it's pretty widely available.
Best thing I did to quit soda the first time sround was get the True Lemon powder (it is crystallized lemon) and just drink that at water. I always found I would never use actual lemon before it became rotten, but that stuff is super useful.
> One of the more interesting comments in the article is in regards to the social stigma of only consuming water during meals - people who have quit alcohol for various reasons have faced the same stigma when going out with friends.
That stigma is entirely self-perception. No one cares or even notices what anyone else drinking.
This is definitely false. I've had multiple women tell me the dominant thing they noticed on a first date was that I didn't order a drink. Likewise, many people can attest that the social encouragement to get everyone drinking in group situations is very explicit. Shared consumption of intoxicating substances is closely monitored by everyone in the group, and is not same thing as the true fact that no one cares whether you have a brown or black belt.
Were? Smoking isn't very cool anymore, but drinking is still pretty cool. It's losing popularity in some circles, but in pop culture, rappers are still in the club ordering bottles, and not of Voss. Weed has a big chance to shake up the alcohol industry, because you can smoke like a Cummins 12-valve until you pass out, then feel fine the next morning. You also don't die if you have too much to smoke. It does have to do some work to get out of the goofy / high schooler / college bro image, but I think they can make it classy (esp stuff like vape pens...the whole blow torch + dabber + water pipe thing has pretty limited appeal because it's too involved and conspicuous).
I don't know. It feels like vape pens is one of the least classy things going on at the moment. I think the only thing that can make "weed" acceptable and "classy" is some variation on fancy edibles (or perhaps drinkables to bring the discussion full circle)
I am suspicious that smoking pot is just as bad for your lungs as smoking tobacco and we simply don't have decades of evidence yet. It stands to reason that inhaling burnt organics is going to have many of the same effects regardless of which plant is involved.
That's likely true, although with legalization has come the popularity of - and even preference to - vape pens and edibles, which weren't as accessible.
Not only that, some people leap to the conclusion that you don't drink because you're an alcoholic, and from there to the judgement that you're unreliable and untrustworthy. (Not that being an alcoholic makes you those things - but that's their perception learned from our culture.)
Another unhealthy thing about drinking culture is how it stigmatises teetotallers as some moralising oppressers (thanks Prohibition), when they might just not want to feel like shit in the morning.
Maybe you're driving. Maybe you're on medication. Maybe if you're a woman you're trying to get pregnant (or already are).
Either this "if you don't drink you must be an alcoholic" thing is entirely American or lots of people on HN hang around with the wrong crowd.
EDIT: Also being "on call" is a good reason not to drink. Though if you need an excuse every time you go out with your friends, you deserve better friends.
I'm in rural Germany. For 20-somethings it's perfectly normal to have designated drivers who don't drink, no questions asked. If you're a woman, most people will suspect you're pregnant but it's too early to be socially acceptable to ask you about it.
Transportation plays a larger role in determining "tolerance" for how socially acceptable that is. Urban environments, with their preponderance of cars for hire reduces the need for designated drivers.
I live in a suburban area in the U.S. and what you report is similar to what I've experienced, too.
It could also be that my social circle is older, and many of us are parents, so it's not as convenient to go out for a hard night's drinking.
Yeah, with friends who are parents the designated driver of the two also usually is the one who has to take care of the kid (especially when it's a very young kid).
But even when I'm out in town non-drinkers aren't bullied into drinking. If it's a party and they're not drinking (especially if they're men and thus pregnancy is off the table) someone will likely push them on it because it's uncommon but no more than vegetarians or anyone else with dietary restrictions.
However in that case "I don't drink because I don't like being drunk" or "I don't drink because I don't take it well" is a perfectly acceptable answer. Then again, a lot of the people I'm talking about are goths so straight edge / clean living isn't too uncommon.
Unless, that is, you're dining out. I do drink occasional alcoholic beverages but the last time I was out to dinner with my family and the waitress asked if we'd be interested in drinks and I declined while asking for an additional water, she gave me a not-quite-concealed eye roll. The message was loud and clear: she wasn't going to make much off my table. I can hardly blame her. Tips are how waitstaff make money, and if you order drinks the check is going to be a lot bigger.
This is also why some people say weird things like you're "cheap" if you don't order drinks (especially if you are paying).
Ya, I think it's more that people assume that if you choose not to drink, you look down on people who do drink, and especially in one-on-one settings that makes them feel uncomfortable drinking around you
Ah yes, the concept of "anticipated reproach", where seeing someone do something that you deep down know you should do triggers a defense mechanism that makes you dislike them.
It's pretty easy to spot in people, and I go out of my way to avoid people that are that morally and intellectually stunted, so that may contribute to me seeing less of this reaction.
On the alcoholic drinks front: In Minneapolis there are a number of places where you can buy kombucha on tap, even getting a growler to take home. Lately I've been drinking a glass of that in the evening instead of my standard beer. It seriously makes a difference in my overall well being, especially now that I'm in my 30s and really feel the toll on my body when I drink.
I quit alcohol a few years ago. I wasn't an alcoholic or anything of the sort --- I just decided to stop.
For social things along the lines of house parties, I'll bring my own cup. I bought a set of vintage tupperware cups, and, to my surprise, they're always a hit. Its silly, but it helps. I don't make a show of drinking water, and most people assume the cup is filled with beer. When people do ask what I'm drinking, and I tell them that its just water, my assumption is that their assumption is that I was / am an alcoholic... sometimes I let it slide, other times I will clarify.
Over these past few years I've moved away from everything but one cup of coffee per day, and about 2 - 3 litres of water.
Regarding the stigma, it may be a regional thing (Vancouver), but most people don't care about what I order at a restaurant or drink at a social function. The strangest look I'll get is when I order room temperature tap water... but that's understandable :)
Since moving away from everything else, I've found that I rarely crave sugar --- and when I do, everything is far too sweet for me. I used to have a notorious sweet-tooth, but moving away has cured me of that. I also can't handle fizzy things anymore, which was also surprising.
> Regarding the stigma, it may be a regional thing (Vancouver), but most people don't care about what I order at a restaurant or drink at a social function. The strangest look I'll get is when I order room temperature tap water... but that's understandable :)
I think you might be right about that (Victorian here). No one ever cared what I was drinking in Victoria. Now that I'm in Europe it seems like people drink soda, beer or wine with every meal, even at home and they get weird when I ask for water. Like, they'll try to push soda or beer on me to the point where it gets uncomfortable if I say no. I'm still trying to figure a way to navigate around this, even as I slowly become acclimatized to drinking way more sugar and alcohol than I'm happy with.
It's weird water. It's very hard and there's a lot of copper in it. You get buildup on bathroom fixtures and it looks gross. When I first tried it I didn't like it... but I got used to it after like a month and now it just tastes like water. Doesn't everyone get used to it eventually?
The build up would be such a hassle. I've been to a few cities around the US where people go through bottled water like crazy. Delicious, balanced tap water is such a luxury. :)
Possibly. I wouldn't drink tap water where I live because its not nice (but other people do...) I do drink a lot of non-sparkling water though, even in Restaurants and I'm in Europe. Not all places will even give you tap water, sometimes you have to buy bottled water (which I often do anyway if I don't think the tap water tastes nice..)
On behalf of drinkers, I apologize for the that a lot of drinkers act this way.
Personally I really don't care what anybody else consumes and I certainly don't look down on people for not drinking. People have lots of good reasons to abstain from drinking, and zero of those reasons are my business (unless they want to share)
I actually drink beer quite regularly, and whiskey when I am more in the mood (and in the money). (see: Canadian)
That said I rarely drink when I'm out with coworker, or I'll limit myself to a beer or two. I've never seen a real hard time from anybody, but I'm also a stubborn person when I feel the need to be. I wouldn't dream of giving anybody a hard time about not drinking and certainly would never look down on anybody for not partaking.
I think my only hope is that this view is reciprocated. I've found drinkers can just as often be condescended to for the indulgence -- and unless one really cuts loose and acts like an idiot, I think it's unwarranted and in poor taste... that it can be seen as an act of lower intelligence, or whatever you want.
I think your perception is stronger than the actual social effect - people who object to others not drinking are loud, but in my experience very much the minority.
The good thing about going off caffeine is that it works well when you have some from time. For example, when I have a long drive ahead of me I get some Starbucks. I am so sensitive to caffeine now that it keeps me awake the whole drive (and a few hours more unfortunately).
One of the things that always gets to me when I try to stop drinking coffee/tea is that I end up feeling tired all day and then can't get to sleep at night. Apparently sleeplessness is a side effect of caffeine withdrawal, it's almost comical. Then again I have never tried slowly reducing my intake over a month, might be worth a try.
I've found that going cold-turkey is actually way easier than trying to ween yourself off of it. Reducing my intake only makes me want it more and more because I already have a little bit of it in my system. While going cold-turkey sucks for a 2-3 days, after you're off of it you have almost no urge what-so-ever to drink it.
I drink coffee because I enjoy it, not to give me a "boost" in the morning. I limit myself to 1 large mug per day, with the (very) occasional afternoon cup. I don't notice any difference between my energy levels before / after my morning coffee, nor on days I skip it. I get a headache in the early afternoon when I skip it, though, so I'm definitely addicted.
I wonder if the author's energy level issues were due to his "ever-increasing consumption".
I stopped drinking it for a year just to see what difference it made - it felt like more even energy over the day, but mornings lost something - so I have two strong cups very early now and no caffeine after 9am - except maybe tea
Some of the energy thing is related to dehydration I suspect - if I drink more water over the day it has same effect as stopping coffee
By far the best tip I ever got from /r/LifeProTips was "drink two cups of water first thing in the morning". Makes a huge difference for my energy levels and likelihood of getting a headache.
Just like you, I enjoy drinking coffee too and I don't notice any change in energy levels. If I don't drink coffee in the morning the only thing that happens is the headache in the afternoon, as you mentioned.
When I drink coffee at night, which is rare, I also don't have any trouble falling asleep.
I thought that originally, but turns out my lunchtime routine had more of an effect than my coffee consumption. Getting up and away from my desk for 30 minutes has far more of an impact than whether I have 0 1 or 2 coffees that day.
I'm similar. I drink coffee because I really like drinking coffee. That it's healthy is another bonus point, but at the same time I have to limit myself because the voice in my head says "don't drink too much otherwise your off-days will be harder".
Though I am still at maximum 1 cup per day and have absolutely no problem skipping a few days here and there. Good thing about caffeine is that it's very fast to reset back to 0.
Other caffeine sources I enjoy as well but try to stay away as much as possible and only consume very very very occasionally. Studies that link telomere length to caffeine (from non-coffee sources) are enough to make me not want to drink energy drinks at all despite me really liking the taste and boost.
I drink Pepsi, and have tried to quit many times. One major thing I notice when I'm "on it" is that I get super drowsy a couple hours after lunch every day. When I'm off Pepsi/caffeine, I don't get this afternoon drowsiness. However, It's really hard to stay up after 10pm when I am off Pepsi/caffeine, which is when I work on my personal projects..
What you're describing is sugar dependence, not caffiene. Cut out all processed sugar and after 2 weeks you'll wonder what drug you are on (then cut out "healthy" carbs like bread and pasta and you'll wonder how you ever wanted to eat them).
I get those symptoms from coffee. I don't eat processed sugar and I mostly avoid other carbs during the work week. When I don't drink coffee I don't need an afternoon nap. But I like both coffee and naps so I often have coffee.
I enjoy coffee too, but I've noticed that with the pods machines like Nespresso I tend to drink more of it and I wonder if it's not the same for the author (I had a french press before and I had to clean and prepare the coffee which was 5-10 minutes per day, vs 1 minute now). My new coffee machine created an addiction without I've noticed it.
The bright side is that according to recent studies coffee can prevent liver cancer. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25291138)
I have a lot of problems trying to quit caffeine. Ever since I was a young child, they gave me really powerful amphetamines to get me to focus. Then when I turned 18 it became much more difficult to obtain.
In the US, Ritalin/dexadrine/adderall are all class II controlled substances with similar restrictions to cocaine or fentynal, so in order to get it I would need to have a doctor's appointment every month, which wasn't only inconvenient but super expensive once I lost my mom's insurance.
So, dipshit that I am, I replaced it with megadoses of caffeine. At my peak, I was consuming 1g (yes, gram) of the stuff every day in the form of energy drinks. I am now down to 280-560mg per day on average. I have tried not drinking any, but the inability to focus and headaches mean that trying to cutback seriously puts my job at risk.
I really wish I could just get back on ritalin or something so that I can give my poor heart a rest, but I am afraid to walk into a doctors office after not going for years and asking for drugs.
Isn't that caffeine, too (actually we have a name for caffeine found in tea vs. coffee called "teina" vs. "caffeina" in Italian, but not in English I believe)?
Sounds like quitting drinking by switching from wine to lots and lots of beer...
It depends a bit on the specific preparation but black tea contains at most half as much caffeine as brewed coffee (per liter) and green tea is again half as much.
Thus an easy way to reduce your caffeine intake is to replace a cup coffee by a cup of the same size of black tea and maybe later green tea (you are not going to drink twice as much liquid and are not drastically cutting your caffeine intake).
The English term, "theine" (not to be confused with theanine, an amino acid analogue also found in tea), is not commonly used anymore. It's occasionally used by cranks who insist that it's actually a different and preferable compound to caffeine.
I cut my caffeine in half each day (and went from a quarter cup to zero) I did experience some withdrawal symptoms, including headache, lethargy, and some mild but notable depression. The worst of it was over in a couple of days, I'd say the full deal took about a week and a half. Not a load of fun but honestly not that bad considering I was a heavy coffee drinker for 30 years.
I'd recommend drawing down a little slower than 50% a day. Maybe a third or quarter? Either way don't go cold turkey definitely draw down.
I've been out out caffeine since January because I did something similar (and got similar withdrawal symptoms): I started by mixing regular coffee beans with decaf ones. First two weeks I used a 25/75% decaf to regular mix, next two weeks 50/50%, then 75%/25%, etc.
The key for my was finding good quality (and expensive) decaf coffe beans. After triying differente brands I settled with Lavazza.
Biggest tip: make sure you're not addicted to sugar as well. If you are taking your caffeine as part of a sugary concoction, taper down the sugar part and get onto plain coffee/tea.
Then taper down the coffee. Have 3/4 of a cup when you would have had a whole cup. Then 1/2 cup. Etc.
YMMV but I find I can do it fairly easily over the course of a week usually. With the amount you're drinking, maybe a month would be easier. Go as slow as you want... it's not a "macho" contest, there's 0 reason to make it hurt. Go as slowly as you want... no need to impact your mood or anything.
> I am afraid to walk into a doctors office after not going for years and asking for drugs.
Just do it, it's really not that hard. Lots of patients (especially with ADHD) go off their meds for long periods. If anything, it's a sign that the diagnosis was correct.
Many medical organizations require a licensed psychologist to write the prescription for ADHD medications, rather than the attending PCP, and many insurance plans don't cover psychologist visits.
As a psychologist, my experience is that lots of physicians, even psychiatrists, want testing and a diagnosis from a psychologist before prescribing, so it might look like the psychologist is prescribing, when they are just diagnosing.
Incidentally, psychologist prescribing happens in some states also.
You may consider contacting a general practitioner or psychiatrist to get a prescription for Vyvanse. From what I've read, it is essentially a harder-to-abuse time-release version of Adderall. Doctors can reduce patient visits to once every 3 months or even 6 months.
Vyvanse is terrible in my experience. The release of the drug is highly irregular. I'm not sure what's responsible for this, but when I was on it, some days it wouldn't even last 8 hours and I'd have too much in my system at once, and other days it wouldn't pick up enough and then keep me up at night. Adderall XR is much more consistent.
I have essentially been doing the same thing with 2-4 grams a day, and occasionally add nicotine gum as well. Fortunately I'll be getting health insurance again soon though, so I may head back to a doctor and try and get my prescription back. I've been without it for a couple years now.
Once my dose was titrated, I went down to 1 visit per 6 months; my Psychiatrist will mail my prescriptions monthly. They are required to see you every so often, and cannot issue a prescription for more than a month, but do not need to see you in person every month.
For similar reasons to your use of caffeine, I decided to intermittently take Sudafed for when I needed extra focus or energy. Not the off-the-shelf kind with phelylephrine(which is a total placebo), but the kind with pseudoephedrine that you have to ask the pharmacist for. I find it works very well for short periods of time, and it has effects that are closer to that of prescription amphetamines. I'm probably on a list of "possible meth cooks" at this point because of how often I buy it, but it's worth it to not have to justify myself to a doctor all the time.
If you live in Southern California I can recommend some doctors who will prescribe it (if you have a legitimate need for it). I don't currently use adderall but I believe people should have access to it with medical supervision if they've done the research and think it will help.
I have tried not drinking any, but the inability to focus and headaches mean that trying to cutback seriously puts my job at risk.
Hey, I've been there.
How do you consume your caffeine? Black coffee or something else?
If you're drinking coffees with a bunch of cream and sugar, or energy drinks, you're addicted to both caffeine and sugar. Try quitting one at a time. Slowly switch to unsweetened tea/coffee so that you're getting your caffeine but not blasts of sugar. Even if that's all you do it's an improvement in mood/energy. Once the sugar thing's stabilized you can think about tapering down the caffeine. YMMV but if you do it over the course of a week or so you should be fine.
If you're drinking diet soda energy drinks with no sugar... I still feel like these have a lot of the effects of sugar because they trigger a lot of the same chemicals in the body. I think these artificial sweeteners have their own weirdly addictive properties.
I'm guessing you drink the zero-cal Monsters because you don't like the taste of coffee or tea? Don't worry, you're not alone. =)
I'm going to make a suggestion. If you want to break the Monster addiction you might think about exploring cold brew coffee. It's not the same as brewing a pot of coffee and throwing it in the fridge. With cold brew coffee, you just soak the coffee grounds in water over night. What you get is extremely concentrated coffee, with like 4x the caffeine of regular coffee, but with a ridiculously smooth taste, lacking the acridity/acidity/whatever of regular coffee... a lot of people who don't like coffee enjoy cold brew coffee.
Just remember that it's very concentrated stuff, 1/4 cup of cold brew coffee has the caffeine of an entire cup of coffee.
It's also a lot cheaper than Monster; you just use regular old coffee from the supermarket, you're gonna save like $50 a week.
But anyway, that's one possible way to tackle the addictions separately. Monster --> cold brew coffee --> single addiction that you should be able to beat just by tapering the dosage over time.
I also do large doses of caffeine to get through the day. I have long-term severe insomnia, and have just been prescribed modafinil, which in theory does not affect sleep.
And definitely go see your doctor, if you are anxious about it, doing it will make you feel less anxious afterwards, even if the visit accomplishes nothing.
It has always been interesting to me that (at least in America) this particular drug dependence is something we joke lightly about ("don't talk to me before I've had my coffee"). And of course it's much less serious than other forms of dependence, but it still seems not particularly good to me. I try to refrain from having caffeine often so that it still has an effect when I drink a coffee.
Why does caffeine "dependence" concern you? It's extremely harmless and for the vast majority of the population the sole remaining effect is that of a very slight laxative.
Frankly, people drinking coffee over sugary beverages is a public health win.
I've quit caffeine on a few occasions for long stretches. Most recently I just reduced consumption to a couple of cups of coffee in the mornings and that was it (a little creamer, no sugar/honey). That worked really well for 2 years.
Then we got a puppy and I haven't slept well in 4 weeks.
When I quit smoking I wore nicotine patches for months. They were actually quite pleasant, providing a nice memory and creativity boost. It's now been a few years without cigarettes or patches, but I'm missing the warm stimulation and considering taking up just the patches.
No, but certain teas have rather high amount or caffeine in addition to L-Theanine. Especially mate. Sadly the only place I knew of near me to get that was Teavana, and they're all closing...
I have been doing that since last November, saved a lot of money from buying coffee without all the side affects of having coffee. My focus is the same or more than having coffee daily.
Lookup nootropics, there's a reddit forum for it. I take a combination of caffeine, l-theanine, bacopa, and magnesium in the morning, and one caffeine pill in the afternoon.
I'm in Canada, you can get caffeine pills cheap: 100x 200mg pills for <$10.
Visit your local fitness health store, and asked them for stuff for focus. I am sure they can help you.
I've tried it for a couple of weeks in different ratios: 1/1, 1/2 and 1/4 if I recall correctly, also with different types of L-Theanine. Didn't notice any effects.
I've been off coffee for 1 month now. I've drank one or 2 decaff cortado or americanos because I like the taste of coffee, but I feel like decaf doesn't taste as good.
I was a good week with intense headaches, it was scary. I used to drink 1 or 2 a day, nothing more.
As for the link, it doesn't work ... hackernews DoS induced?
Decaf doesn't taste as good, at least in the US. The American public won't tolerate a higher cost for decaf than ordinary coffee, so roasters pay for the decaffeination process by purchasing lower quality beans.
Btw to eliminate withdrawal headaches one only needs a small amount of caffeine. I've taken one caffeine pill per day for about a week (~100mg daily depending on brand which is less than one cup of coffee equivalent).
I've been wanting to do this, but I think I'll probably have to take 2 weeks of PTO to do that, unfortunately. At least it's a relatively benign addiction, I suppose.
The few times I've quit, I switched to decaf and caffeine pills, and then slowly reduced the amount of caffeine from pills. No side-effects from this approach. Cold turkey almost killed me.
I only started drinking coffee two years ago. First it was once or twice a week, then it became everyday.
About 6 months ago I started having slight muscle tremors, my doctor said it could be because of stress. I didn't tell him I started having too much coffee (nor he asked me).
But the tremors kind of increased slowly. I read on HN about some guy who had similar problem with caffeine shots. It then struck them that coffee could be the problem.
Now I rarely drink coffee and tremors are also gone.
Caffeine increases excretion of calcium and magnesium [1]. This is why some caffeine pills are pressed with ~75mg calcium.
Muscle tremors could be a sign of magnesium and/or calcium deficiency, so it's likely that you were losing too many minerals and not making up for it in your diet.
I personally never drink coffee. I do however drink tea and other drinks with caffeine in them (mostly Coca Cola). But I do wonder how much of a perceptible difference drinking coffee makes. I'm also curious whether you get a tolerance, so that heavy drinkers need to drink more to recover the same amount of energy. Can anyone give their experience?
> I'm also curious whether you get a tolerance, so that heavy drinkers need to drink more to recover the same amount of energy. Can anyone give their experience?
You don't have to go by anecdotes: caffeine is the most popular drug in the world and has been studied fairly heavily. It improves focus and some other cognitive metrics for a short period of regular use, and then your daily hit of caffeine just brings you up to what your baseline used to be.
I drink a ton of tea and don't notice an energy boost but I do get a throbbing headache if I don't have some sort of caffeine in the day or so. This only started when I began to drink coffee socially. I'm going to be cutting that out and I hope that will fix things.
I drink a ton of tea (up to 4 litre a day, no milk or sugar; usually black, sometimes green), but nevertheless when I go a day without, or drink much less of it, I suffer no real side effects and can function adequately. I'm still not sure whether this is healthy for me, though.
>There have been many demanding days in the last couple of years where I felt that if I would just give in and allow myself a cup of coffee, I would get more done.
Caffeine doesn't do anything for me anymore except stop dependence side effects - been thinking about ditching it and using modafinil on days like these - seems relatively side effect free and easy to get pharma grade stuff.
The author had some good reasons, but drug dependence on its own seems like a pretty poor reason to stop drinking caffeine unless you have other symptoms. There exists a great deal of consensus on Coffee's effect on health:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/upshot/more-consensus-on-...
... people tend to build a great deal of psychological dependence on friends and significant others as well. Dependence does not seem a bad thing on its own.
I've been drinking about 1000mg of caffeine a day and developed tolerance to the point where I don't feel any effects anymore.
Recently, I tried to quit caffeine for 10 days and didn't feel the need for it, so I'm hardly addicted to it, rather I just enjoy the taste of it. Since I'm completely tolerant, to the effects of caffeine at this point, trying a decaf could be an interesting option. Has anyone researched health implication of drinking decaf?
I'm celiac and my symptoms* can best be described as hyper sensitivity to addictive foods. I suspect this is more common than has been studied [1] as my main symptom was daily sinus headaches.
The first thing I cut out was gluten. Gluten has been shown to act like an opiate in people with autism. [2] I believe I was going through a short time-scale withdrawal when consuming it regularly. That was the best I ever felt, but I would still get the occasional sinus headache. Having tasted the good life, I was on a mission to feel 100%.
The next thing I cut out was caffeine. It was tough. On all my attempts to give things up, I've gone back and forth multiple times. I joke that it's to "confirm" the trigger, but really it's because giving up tasty foods is tough. Each time I go through an initial withdrawal. Bad sinus headache, shaking (nerves), vomiting, stomach problems. It took about a month until my energy levels were back to normal after giving up caffeine. I would usually come home and work on side projects, I just didn't have the energy for a solid month. If it didn't get better I was ready to suffer through the headaches to get my energy back, but it did get better.
There is an amazing gluten free restaurant near me, and they have pizza. I was eating pepperoni pizza's pretty regularly (because omg pizza) and still getting headaches. Narrowing it down, only eating their pizza in the day and seeing what happened I was able to identify what it was that was triggering headaches on those days. I brought it up to the owner and he pointed out sodium nitrite as an ingredient in the pepperoni. This is a common ingredient in bacon and BBQ meats, which explained my sinus headaches with those too. Did a few tests and it seemed consistent. There is uncured bacon and pepperoni but it's just a trick. They use celery powder or celery juice to cure it. Celery contains sodium nitrite. This also explains the headaches I get with Old Bay seasoning (contains celery).
I feel there is a perfect phrase to describe this, but I can't think of it, so I'll just say I cut down more of the forest I could more easily identify the trees that were giving me sinus headaches. While I had given up caffeine, I was still a total sugar fiend. Caffeine-free root beer, bowls of vanilla ice cream doused in sprinkles. With my limited diet it was pretty easy to identify the causes. Sugar was really rough to give up. I don't know if it was the quantity I was eating, how long I had been eating it, but it was bad. With sodium nitrites I just get a sinus headache when exposed to them. With sugar I get the full symptoms described above. I went back and forth on sugar a few times but the withdrawal symptoms (after giving it up) are what made me finally say this is horrible and I'm never doing it again.
The final thing was MSG. I eat a lot of chips, since I can eat potato and corn. I was particularly fond of the Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream ones. But lo' a headache! Reading over the ingredients, monosodium glutamate. I didn't know that was MSG at first, I had to Google each ingredient, but when I found out, it made a lot of sense.
Giving this stuff up is difficult. I'm actually incredibly thankful for my hyper-sensitive symptoms as it has gotten me to start eating healthily. It has also made me realize how much addictive stuff is put into foods and how scarcely it is researched.
*Celiac symptoms vary wildly, and I can only speak from my own experience.
So much this. What you are describing very closely parallels my own journey with food. The only thing I haven't cut out is caffeine, but I have cut out most sources of gluten (I can't help the odd dish of orange chicken), MSG, sugar, and most interestingly also, sodium nitrite. That one was easy because a smart doctor identified it as a sensitivity when I was a child so I have always avoided sources of it. When I make the mistake of trying anything that contains it my body swiftly and appropriately punishes me.
The final, most recent and by far most difficult was sugar. My experience cutting it out was the same as yours.
I only drank coffee regularly for a few months in my life and the past five years I've removed all caffeine (that I'm aware of) from my diet except for special occasions where I need to stay up for safety reasons, usually driving long distances (extremely rare). It definitely helps as I have insomnia. The insomnia did not go away, but I have noticed a huge improvement. When I do have caffeine it wires me up the whole day into the night, even if I drink it in the morning. I have no problems with energy or anything like that and also sometimes do the intermittent fasting the author talks about. All in all, I agree that it's a huge improvement. I'm also not dependent which is a huge plus and it saves money. I think it's definitely worth trying, especially for people that are consuming many cups of coffee throughout the day. Of course, as the author points out, if you are going to try it, make sure you get enough sleep. Focusing on getting enough sleep, I find, is a much better energy boosting technique (for the next day) than caffeine or anything else for that matter.
Coincidentally I just decided a few days ago to ditch caffeine for awhile.
Last week I had terrible sleep, from 3-5 hours a night. Even though I was exhausted during the day, I still couldn't fall asleep at night.
I only drink two cups a day, with sometimes a Coke at lunch. But might be my old age that is making me hypersensitive to caffeine. Back in college I could drink cup after cup and still fall asleep when I was ready.
So I'm stopping caffeine for awhile to see how it goes.
In my experience, sleep definitely gets worse with age. I often can't fall asleep even when exhausted or wake up multiple times sometimes unable to get back to sleep. That's why I put such a premium on it. Sleep decides at least 50 to 75% of how my day will be, maybe more. It's by far the most important bodily function, imo. Exercise is second and can undo many of the effects of bad sleep temporarily, but there's nothing like a good night's sleep. I would not skimp on it. The anti sleep culture that exists is horror and hell to me but to each his own.
I occasionally quit caffeine as a way to recalibrate the tolerance that develops over time. But, within certain limits (my general consumption is 1-2 coffees a day, sometimes 3-4 if super tired or when exercising), there's very few negatives for most people, and quite a number of benefits. Nice explanatory video on the matter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTVE5iPMKLg
I also find that my tolerance drops very quickly when I quit. When I'm on vacation, I don't drink much coffee because my schedule is different. I find after 2-3 days, I no longer am in withdrawal and when I come back from a 1-2 week break, my tolerance is very low.
I've also been off of caffeine for about two years, for a few reasons (anxiety reduction, desire to be free of chemical dependencies, and especially sleep improvement). It took me about three weeks of depression and lethargy, but was totally worth it. My sleep especially is much-improved, and I'd say that my anxiety levels are generally lower.
The main thing is that you need to get enough sleep at night.
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[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 322 ms ] threadI've found that ordering something that has little to no calories or substance goes a long way to alleviate these fears (like tonic or sparkling water).
Because something like this still costs money, it helps convince the purchaser that they aren't appearing to be "cheap" by only ordering water. Topo Chico (a sparkling water similar to San Pellegrino) is a favorite among recovering alcoholics in my area.
Most of my friends are also healthy individuals and will also order water though, so maybe it's dependent on who your "friends" are.
I guess it's a question of company. If most of your friends order water, you feel a bit guilty ordering something less healthy.
I was pretty surprised when I'd realized this--G&T's had been my go-to "low-cal" cocktail for quite a while.
Ordering a club soda w/ lemon or lime however is a great move when avoiding alcohol in a social setting.
A lot of food tastes are enhanced with alcohol like wine.
However, in my case, my schedule (and budget, and family factors) keep me from restaurants, except for an occasional lunch out at work. And then alcohol is verboten if I'm going back to work afterwards.
Works great when you're trying to keep a clear head at a party full of heavy drinkers too. Just make sure to take slow sips so that people don't catch you with an empty glass.
That stigma is entirely self-perception. No one cares or even notices what anyone else drinking.
That's when I learned that - much like smokers - drinkers were a tribe.
Coming soon to a state near you.
I don't know. It feels like vape pens is one of the least classy things going on at the moment. I think the only thing that can make "weed" acceptable and "classy" is some variation on fancy edibles (or perhaps drinkables to bring the discussion full circle)
Another unhealthy thing about drinking culture is how it stigmatises teetotallers as some moralising oppressers (thanks Prohibition), when they might just not want to feel like shit in the morning.
Maybe you're driving. Maybe you're on medication. Maybe if you're a woman you're trying to get pregnant (or already are).
Either this "if you don't drink you must be an alcoholic" thing is entirely American or lots of people on HN hang around with the wrong crowd.
EDIT: Also being "on call" is a good reason not to drink. Though if you need an excuse every time you go out with your friends, you deserve better friends.
I live in a suburban area in the U.S. and what you report is similar to what I've experienced, too.
It could also be that my social circle is older, and many of us are parents, so it's not as convenient to go out for a hard night's drinking.
But even when I'm out in town non-drinkers aren't bullied into drinking. If it's a party and they're not drinking (especially if they're men and thus pregnancy is off the table) someone will likely push them on it because it's uncommon but no more than vegetarians or anyone else with dietary restrictions.
However in that case "I don't drink because I don't like being drunk" or "I don't drink because I don't take it well" is a perfectly acceptable answer. Then again, a lot of the people I'm talking about are goths so straight edge / clean living isn't too uncommon.
Get better friends.
that said, some women become terrible (in more bad ways than good) when they get tipsy... including my current
Some care, but that's usually easy for me to get away from. They usually notice, and they usually go through the standard comments on it.
This is also why some people say weird things like you're "cheap" if you don't order drinks (especially if you are paying).
Wow this is insane. The culture I grew up in is famously health-friendly, so I've never come across this, but it sounds horrible.
I started drinking only water around high school, and the only reaction I ever got was "good for you, I wish I had that habit".
> Because something like this still costs money, it helps convince the purchaser that they aren't appearing to be "cheap" by only ordering water.
Interesting, you think that appearing cheap is behind the stigma? I would've guessed it would be something along the lines of anticipated reproach.
It's pretty easy to spot in people, and I go out of my way to avoid people that are that morally and intellectually stunted, so that may contribute to me seeing less of this reaction.
For social things along the lines of house parties, I'll bring my own cup. I bought a set of vintage tupperware cups, and, to my surprise, they're always a hit. Its silly, but it helps. I don't make a show of drinking water, and most people assume the cup is filled with beer. When people do ask what I'm drinking, and I tell them that its just water, my assumption is that their assumption is that I was / am an alcoholic... sometimes I let it slide, other times I will clarify.
Over these past few years I've moved away from everything but one cup of coffee per day, and about 2 - 3 litres of water.
Regarding the stigma, it may be a regional thing (Vancouver), but most people don't care about what I order at a restaurant or drink at a social function. The strangest look I'll get is when I order room temperature tap water... but that's understandable :)
Since moving away from everything else, I've found that I rarely crave sugar --- and when I do, everything is far too sweet for me. I used to have a notorious sweet-tooth, but moving away has cured me of that. I also can't handle fizzy things anymore, which was also surprising.
I think you might be right about that (Victorian here). No one ever cared what I was drinking in Victoria. Now that I'm in Europe it seems like people drink soda, beer or wine with every meal, even at home and they get weird when I ask for water. Like, they'll try to push soda or beer on me to the point where it gets uncomfortable if I say no. I'm still trying to figure a way to navigate around this, even as I slowly become acclimatized to drinking way more sugar and alcohol than I'm happy with.
Personally I really don't care what anybody else consumes and I certainly don't look down on people for not drinking. People have lots of good reasons to abstain from drinking, and zero of those reasons are my business (unless they want to share)
--
I actually drink beer quite regularly, and whiskey when I am more in the mood (and in the money). (see: Canadian)
That said I rarely drink when I'm out with coworker, or I'll limit myself to a beer or two. I've never seen a real hard time from anybody, but I'm also a stubborn person when I feel the need to be. I wouldn't dream of giving anybody a hard time about not drinking and certainly would never look down on anybody for not partaking.
I think my only hope is that this view is reciprocated. I've found drinkers can just as often be condescended to for the indulgence -- and unless one really cuts loose and acts like an idiot, I think it's unwarranted and in poor taste... that it can be seen as an act of lower intelligence, or whatever you want.
edit: not at the same time
(former BR scooper. It got _everywhere_)
I wonder if the author's energy level issues were due to his "ever-increasing consumption".
Some of the energy thing is related to dehydration I suspect - if I drink more water over the day it has same effect as stopping coffee
For me, that was the majority of it. I've settled on a 1:1 ratio. Drink a cup of coffee, then a full cup of water before I have another coffee.
Lack of hydrating is probably my worst bad habit.
When I drink coffee at night, which is rare, I also don't have any trouble falling asleep.
For the life of me at around 4pm I start to feel snoozy if I had one in the morning.
Though I am still at maximum 1 cup per day and have absolutely no problem skipping a few days here and there. Good thing about caffeine is that it's very fast to reset back to 0.
Other caffeine sources I enjoy as well but try to stay away as much as possible and only consume very very very occasionally. Studies that link telomere length to caffeine (from non-coffee sources) are enough to make me not want to drink energy drinks at all despite me really liking the taste and boost.
What you're describing is sugar dependence, not caffiene. Cut out all processed sugar and after 2 weeks you'll wonder what drug you are on (then cut out "healthy" carbs like bread and pasta and you'll wonder how you ever wanted to eat them).
From the abstract, they never say it prevent liver cancer.. but maybe that could help if you already have a big liver disease.
I'm the author. Apparently caffeine affects people in different ways.
In the morning, I usually eat some fruit to help me wake up. I generally just drink water throughout the day.
In the US, Ritalin/dexadrine/adderall are all class II controlled substances with similar restrictions to cocaine or fentynal, so in order to get it I would need to have a doctor's appointment every month, which wasn't only inconvenient but super expensive once I lost my mom's insurance.
So, dipshit that I am, I replaced it with megadoses of caffeine. At my peak, I was consuming 1g (yes, gram) of the stuff every day in the form of energy drinks. I am now down to 280-560mg per day on average. I have tried not drinking any, but the inability to focus and headaches mean that trying to cutback seriously puts my job at risk.
I really wish I could just get back on ritalin or something so that I can give my poor heart a rest, but I am afraid to walk into a doctors office after not going for years and asking for drugs.
I'm at >= 5. Pretty bad.
I also feels like caffeine doesn't have much effect anymore.
Any way to make quitting easier?
I would say that when I'm down of caffeine I'm more tired that I should, but not that I'm more awake when I drink it.
Sounds like quitting drinking by switching from wine to lots and lots of beer...
It depends a bit on the specific preparation but black tea contains at most half as much caffeine as brewed coffee (per liter) and green tea is again half as much.
Thus an easy way to reduce your caffeine intake is to replace a cup coffee by a cup of the same size of black tea and maybe later green tea (you are not going to drink twice as much liquid and are not drastically cutting your caffeine intake).
I cut my caffeine in half each day (and went from a quarter cup to zero) I did experience some withdrawal symptoms, including headache, lethargy, and some mild but notable depression. The worst of it was over in a couple of days, I'd say the full deal took about a week and a half. Not a load of fun but honestly not that bad considering I was a heavy coffee drinker for 30 years.
I'd recommend drawing down a little slower than 50% a day. Maybe a third or quarter? Either way don't go cold turkey definitely draw down.
The key for my was finding good quality (and expensive) decaf coffe beans. After triying differente brands I settled with Lavazza.
Then taper down the coffee. Have 3/4 of a cup when you would have had a whole cup. Then 1/2 cup. Etc.
YMMV but I find I can do it fairly easily over the course of a week usually. With the amount you're drinking, maybe a month would be easier. Go as slow as you want... it's not a "macho" contest, there's 0 reason to make it hurt. Go as slowly as you want... no need to impact your mood or anything.
Just do it, it's really not that hard. Lots of patients (especially with ADHD) go off their meds for long periods. If anything, it's a sign that the diagnosis was correct.
And all insurance plans do cover mental health per the ACA... It is one of the ten benefits that must be covered on all plans under the law.
Incidentally, psychologist prescribing happens in some states also.
Also, it appears parent has an unusual level of caffeine intake, and did much better when they were taking amphetamines.
How do you consume your caffeine? Black coffee or something else?
If you're drinking coffees with a bunch of cream and sugar, or energy drinks, you're addicted to both caffeine and sugar. Try quitting one at a time. Slowly switch to unsweetened tea/coffee so that you're getting your caffeine but not blasts of sugar. Even if that's all you do it's an improvement in mood/energy. Once the sugar thing's stabilized you can think about tapering down the caffeine. YMMV but if you do it over the course of a week or so you should be fine.
If you're drinking diet soda energy drinks with no sugar... I still feel like these have a lot of the effects of sugar because they trigger a lot of the same chemicals in the body. I think these artificial sweeteners have their own weirdly addictive properties.
In any case... good luck!!!
I'm guessing you drink the zero-cal Monsters because you don't like the taste of coffee or tea? Don't worry, you're not alone. =)
I'm going to make a suggestion. If you want to break the Monster addiction you might think about exploring cold brew coffee. It's not the same as brewing a pot of coffee and throwing it in the fridge. With cold brew coffee, you just soak the coffee grounds in water over night. What you get is extremely concentrated coffee, with like 4x the caffeine of regular coffee, but with a ridiculously smooth taste, lacking the acridity/acidity/whatever of regular coffee... a lot of people who don't like coffee enjoy cold brew coffee.
Just remember that it's very concentrated stuff, 1/4 cup of cold brew coffee has the caffeine of an entire cup of coffee.
It's also a lot cheaper than Monster; you just use regular old coffee from the supermarket, you're gonna save like $50 a week.
But anyway, that's one possible way to tackle the addictions separately. Monster --> cold brew coffee --> single addiction that you should be able to beat just by tapering the dosage over time.
And definitely go see your doctor, if you are anxious about it, doing it will make you feel less anxious afterwards, even if the visit accomplishes nothing.
Frankly, people drinking coffee over sugary beverages is a public health win.
That's why I had to stop. Over time the effect bacame "non-slight". That wasn't convenient for my 1h commute...
Then we got a puppy and I haven't slept well in 4 weeks.
Typing this as I consume a Diet Dr. Pepper.
(When you make coffee you get new coffee beans and drink all of it. Tea is different, mechanically.. ?
Lookup nootropics, there's a reddit forum for it. I take a combination of caffeine, l-theanine, bacopa, and magnesium in the morning, and one caffeine pill in the afternoon.
I'm in Canada, you can get caffeine pills cheap: 100x 200mg pills for <$10.
Visit your local fitness health store, and asked them for stuff for focus. I am sure they can help you.
I was a good week with intense headaches, it was scary. I used to drink 1 or 2 a day, nothing more.
As for the link, it doesn't work ... hackernews DoS induced?
Decaf doesn't taste as good, at least in the US. The American public won't tolerate a higher cost for decaf than ordinary coffee, so roasters pay for the decaffeination process by purchasing lower quality beans.
I rarely drink anything other than a doppio in the morning, but I simply can't start my day without it.
About 6 months ago I started having slight muscle tremors, my doctor said it could be because of stress. I didn't tell him I started having too much coffee (nor he asked me).
But the tremors kind of increased slowly. I read on HN about some guy who had similar problem with caffeine shots. It then struck them that coffee could be the problem.
Now I rarely drink coffee and tremors are also gone.
Muscle tremors could be a sign of magnesium and/or calcium deficiency, so it's likely that you were losing too many minerals and not making up for it in your diet.
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7836625
You don't have to go by anecdotes: caffeine is the most popular drug in the world and has been studied fairly heavily. It improves focus and some other cognitive metrics for a short period of regular use, and then your daily hit of caffeine just brings you up to what your baseline used to be.
Caffeine doesn't do anything for me anymore except stop dependence side effects - been thinking about ditching it and using modafinil on days like these - seems relatively side effect free and easy to get pharma grade stuff.
Or is it the symptom of a drug sensitivity that some people have and some people don't?
All the research I did indicated that it was an extremely rare reaction that certain people would have, not that it was a result of long-term use.
... people tend to build a great deal of psychological dependence on friends and significant others as well. Dependence does not seem a bad thing on its own.
So it's not hard to imagine that in our fucked up world at least some of the "research" on coffee is "fake news".
[1] http://www.ncausa.org/Industry-Resources/Economic-Impact
Recently, I tried to quit caffeine for 10 days and didn't feel the need for it, so I'm hardly addicted to it, rather I just enjoy the taste of it. Since I'm completely tolerant, to the effects of caffeine at this point, trying a decaf could be an interesting option. Has anyone researched health implication of drinking decaf?
The first thing I cut out was gluten. Gluten has been shown to act like an opiate in people with autism. [2] I believe I was going through a short time-scale withdrawal when consuming it regularly. That was the best I ever felt, but I would still get the occasional sinus headache. Having tasted the good life, I was on a mission to feel 100%.
The next thing I cut out was caffeine. It was tough. On all my attempts to give things up, I've gone back and forth multiple times. I joke that it's to "confirm" the trigger, but really it's because giving up tasty foods is tough. Each time I go through an initial withdrawal. Bad sinus headache, shaking (nerves), vomiting, stomach problems. It took about a month until my energy levels were back to normal after giving up caffeine. I would usually come home and work on side projects, I just didn't have the energy for a solid month. If it didn't get better I was ready to suffer through the headaches to get my energy back, but it did get better.
There is an amazing gluten free restaurant near me, and they have pizza. I was eating pepperoni pizza's pretty regularly (because omg pizza) and still getting headaches. Narrowing it down, only eating their pizza in the day and seeing what happened I was able to identify what it was that was triggering headaches on those days. I brought it up to the owner and he pointed out sodium nitrite as an ingredient in the pepperoni. This is a common ingredient in bacon and BBQ meats, which explained my sinus headaches with those too. Did a few tests and it seemed consistent. There is uncured bacon and pepperoni but it's just a trick. They use celery powder or celery juice to cure it. Celery contains sodium nitrite. This also explains the headaches I get with Old Bay seasoning (contains celery).
I feel there is a perfect phrase to describe this, but I can't think of it, so I'll just say I cut down more of the forest I could more easily identify the trees that were giving me sinus headaches. While I had given up caffeine, I was still a total sugar fiend. Caffeine-free root beer, bowls of vanilla ice cream doused in sprinkles. With my limited diet it was pretty easy to identify the causes. Sugar was really rough to give up. I don't know if it was the quantity I was eating, how long I had been eating it, but it was bad. With sodium nitrites I just get a sinus headache when exposed to them. With sugar I get the full symptoms described above. I went back and forth on sugar a few times but the withdrawal symptoms (after giving it up) are what made me finally say this is horrible and I'm never doing it again.
The final thing was MSG. I eat a lot of chips, since I can eat potato and corn. I was particularly fond of the Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream ones. But lo' a headache! Reading over the ingredients, monosodium glutamate. I didn't know that was MSG at first, I had to Google each ingredient, but when I found out, it made a lot of sense.
Giving this stuff up is difficult. I'm actually incredibly thankful for my hyper-sensitive symptoms as it has gotten me to start eating healthily. It has also made me realize how much addictive stuff is put into foods and how scarcely it is researched.
*Celiac symptoms vary wildly, and I can only speak from my own experience.
1. http://www.aaaai.org/ask-the-expert/coeliac-disease-sinusiti...
2. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1517/14728222.6.2.175
The final, most recent and by far most difficult was sugar. My experience cutting it out was the same as yours.
Last week I had terrible sleep, from 3-5 hours a night. Even though I was exhausted during the day, I still couldn't fall asleep at night.
I only drink two cups a day, with sometimes a Coke at lunch. But might be my old age that is making me hypersensitive to caffeine. Back in college I could drink cup after cup and still fall asleep when I was ready.
So I'm stopping caffeine for awhile to see how it goes.
The main thing is that you need to get enough sleep at night.
If you're interested, I found some support on reddit, http://www.reddit.com/r/decaf.