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Has anyone ever quit caffeine?

CactusRyan

CactusRyan

Rising Star
I could really use some advice. I never really overindulged in coffee. Normally 1-2 a day. Sometime 3. But recently I have noticed myself getting more and more negatively affected by it. My sleep was getting worse/shorter. I was getting more anxious. Feeling more scatterbrained. And now, due to some recent life events, I am in a very stressful and kind of depressing situation.

I decided to quit all caffeine about 30 days ago and I have noticed my anxiety is down and I am sleeping much better. Here is the problem. I feel completely flat and anhedonic. No motivation. I don't know how close it parallels to depression because I don't feel hopeless, I just feel completely flat. Nothing makes me laugh or smile, I cant rally myself to do much, and I procrastinate. My work situation is stressful right now and I cannot afford to continue with very little productivity, but I don't want to go back to drinking caffeine in any form. The anxiety was really becoming a problem and I can't continue living like that.

Has anyone gone through anything similar? Will this get better?
 
I think this has to do in part with how the dopamine reward system works and how caffeine affects it. Your brain has gotten used to releasing dopamine with the intake of caffeine to make you do things. When you cut out the caffeine, your brain is left hanging, waiting for that stimulant signal, to release dopamine, and when it doesn't get it, it doesn't release any dopamine, hence why you're feeling unmotivated and flat.

I'm by no means a physician, but I imagine that, provided you have no underlying physiological issues with your dopamine circuit, with time your brain should get used to the lack of caffeine and start getting back to baseline dopamine levels, restoring your sense of motivation and drive.

How long that would take, I can't safely say without completely speculating. Some people get off the caffeine hook in just a couple of weeks, others need months. If you are concerned, I would recommend seeing a physician that can perhaps run some bloodwork for you and check if everything else is in order.

Good luck!
 
I’ve read that for many people it can take up to 4 months to go back to normal, so you might have to stick it out.
In the meantime, you could try some others things that have an energizing effect. Cold showers (or even better: ice baths) come to mind, maybe Wim Hof breathing, exercising... Harmala’s often help me get out of similar states of ‘flatness’, try some Syrian rue tea maybe.
I recently read an account of someone who says DMT microdosing (like 3-5mg vaped) should be served alongside coffee because it has a similar energizing effect (with an afterglow that lasts through the day). Entirely anecdotal, of course.
 
I've stopped using coffee at times, had it every other day, once a day and so on. Not noticed much difference in how I slept and felt thou. But it was many years since I had a stop for over four months...
But one thing you might want to try, if your state of mind continues, is to try tea (green, red (black) or puerh) or yerba mate. Its caffeine but in a different way then coffee.
 
When I need to make a break in coffee consumption I substitute it with black tea. It has much less unpleasant effects and still enough stimulation.
 
“America runs on Dunkin” 😜

This decision of yours sounds wonderful. You are investing into your natural energy and focus, which is dynamic, sharp, and always with you. It will even make you a bit smarter, and happier. And more inspired, and literally stronger. More responsive,

Maybe make sure keep an out for your emotional relationship to other adrenaline based drugs/activities/situations. Your mind might have a high affinity for these things for whatever reason.

Sobriety from caffeines (coffee, tea, etc), amphetamines, and maybe even dietary tyramine might be an interesting experiment for you. It could free up a lot of baseline energy in you!

There could also be more players in this situation though. What you think might be caused by caffeine withdrawal, might be some natural need for adrenaline expressing itself, or sth, or a bigger more complex emotional reaction to your way of life as it is right now. Just throwing it out there, the analysis may be more complex than just the caffeine. What you drank is surprisingly little actually. Emotional stressors from just life can provoke all the feelings you describe, and much more, so I would keep an open mind to that possibility~

But quitting caffeine is usually good for us! I 'quit' over a year and a half ago. I was off the walls deep in caffeine. Like 6 or 9 shots of iced caramel triple of espresso lattes a day PLUS tons of green tea lattes, usually with plant milks though since my stomach doesn't handle that much dairy too well. After a year I was back to baseline, but I don't ever really drink caffeine. Especially with psychedelic practice, I stay away from stimulants in general nowadays, even tobacco and amphetamines rn. What I said though about the emotions there though, I said because I quit, suddenly, WAY more caffeine than you are, with a way less emotional re-action. These molecules activate neuronal clusters which are unique to how your brain is wired, so your re-action is unique. Because of that, I feel like for you the aforementioned comments I made about awareness of your relationship to adrenaline, and awareness of any other lifestyle factors that may be mixing in with the caffeine, might be of significance.

Best wishes luv! Have fun!!

MWAH!💋💋💝
 
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I quit coffee for 60 days just last year, really the thing i replaced it with was working out, have to get the dopamine system going then you should get out of your funk.
Good luck
Y
 
Nydex said:
I'm curious to pick your mind about that. How is the caffeine in tea different from the caffeine in coffee? Is it a chemical difference?
Click to expand...
Same caffeine [trimethylxanthine], but more theophylline [a dimethylxanthine], which is more a bronchodilator, plus L-theanine (especially in green tea) which works as a mild hypotensive and has something of an anxiolytic action, supposedly.
 
Transform said:
Same caffeine [trimethylxanthine], but more theophylline [a dimethylxanthine], which is more a bronchodilator, plus L-theanine (especially in green tea) which works as a mild hypotensive and has something of an anxiolytic action, supposedly.
Click to expand...
I knew about the additional compounds in tea that make it feel different, but I thought there was a chemical difference in the caffeine as well. Thanks for clarifying!
 
Black tea can be a lot stronger than coffee, and maté can be even stronger.
They all have different profile, but coffee gives me the “heaviest” feeling of them all.
Maté is a heavenly drink, but it's costly here and I like it very strong :oops:

Coffee oh coffee, I have a love-hate relationship with it for more than a decade now.
Imo, it's harder to quit than tobacco. It's everywhere in my country and easily accessible for free or very cheap.
Social environment and climate are very big factors here. I plan to make one more attempt at quitting in the summer.
Just need right conditions and some form of distraction. Thanks for all advices and best wishes to all who struggle :)

P.S. After some experiments during the years, I found that after a hefty dose of harmalas (4-5g rue seeds) one can easily stop.
Bodily cravings are minimal and one needs to work with mental habit only. The same goes for tobacco.
I have no idea if there is some science behind it, just my observations.

One more thing. When I stop with coffee, other similar habit kicks in (dopamine or environment :unsure:).
So it usually goes in circle: coffee > tobacco > food > coffee.
Nowadays, I stopped thinking too much about it and my relationship with all of them is better.
As mentioned above, I would look at other aspects of live and why misuse happens in the first place.
Much work to be done here :coffee:
 
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I know it is hard for anyone to provide a timeline. Just wish I had a better idea of when I can expect my neurochemistry and dopamine system to restabilize.

I suggest people try giving up caffeine just so you can experience how much it affects your brain and body. I was not expecting this type of reaction and I wasn't even drinking that much coffee
 
How long were you drinking caffeine?

Every day, your habits change the shape of your brain. They accumulate titanically. Even a little habit done over a long period of time can take months or even years to un-adapt from. Your caffeine withdrawal I assume will get better very fast, but complete recovery might take a few months up to a year perhaps, or more of it's an extreme case but I'm guessing it's not an extreme case. Pretty soon you will probably be getting better and better every day. Make sure to keep your life as a WHOLE healthy during this process:

🌙 Get good sleep
🥦 Eat & drink very healthy (!!!) (and avoid drugs which trigger dopamine, cortisol, epinephrine, or spike glucose)
💓 Get some good exercise at least once every day
📴 Try not to consume too much digital CONTENT (especially stressful or addictive content)

Caffeine and Caffeine withdrawal both trigger the HPA axis. Dopamine, cortisol, epinephrine, and glucagon, are all implicated, and reduce expression of serotonin and even oxytocin/vasopressin. You are having some stress at work which is usually a big deal for all of us emotionally, and you are probably dealing with a few other things right now big and small. How you feel will be the cumulation of all those things. By making your lifestyle more 'sober' you will be able to handle challenges that come your way a bit better, and do get much deeper rest and recovery when you have time to.

Best wishes luv!
 
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Interesting to read about these long term consequences for some. For me I have been drinking coffee for decades, but from time to time I have taken shorter and longer breaks. So far the only thing that has happened is when stopping cold turkey is the headache the day after. Then from there I have had zero effects whatsoever no negative (except for missing out on the taste of a great espresso) or positive.
I do like to drink coffee most of the time in the morning but don’t shy away from the evening espresso after dinner, strangely enough I have the feeling that I sleep better with a little bit of caffeine in my brain.

To the op, could it be that coffee might not have been the thing that needed attention, are you still in the same job? From experience I know that it’s a very difficult balance between stress and work and productivity and that an unbalanced work environment is sometimes causing these feelings of complete lag of motivation.
CactusRyan said:
I could really use some advice. I never really overindulged in coffee. Normally 1-2 a day. Sometime 3. But recently I have noticed myself getting more and more negatively affected by it. My sleep was getting worse/shorter. I was getting more anxious. Feeling more scatterbrained. And now, due to some recent life events, I am in a very stressful and kind of depressing situation.

I decided to quit all caffeine about 30 days ago and I have noticed my anxiety is down and I am sleeping much better. Here is the problem. I feel completely flat and anhedonic. No motivation. I don't know how close it parallels to depression because I don't feel hopeless, I just feel completely flat. Nothing makes me laugh or smile, I cant rally myself to do much, and I procrastinate. My work situation is stressful right now and I cannot afford to continue with very little productivity, but I don't want to go back to drinking caffeine in any form. The anxiety was really becoming a problem and I can't continue living like that.

Has anyone gone through anything similar? Will this get better?
Click to expand...
 
Varallo said:
Interesting to read about these long term consequences for some. For me I have been drinking coffee for decades, but from time to time I have taken shorter and longer breaks. So far the only thing that has happened is when stopping cold turkey is the headache the day after. Then from there I have had zero effects whatsoever no negative (except for missing out on the taste of a great espresso) or positive.
I do like to drink coffee most of the time in the morning but don’t shy away from the evening espresso after dinner, strangely enough I have the feeling that I sleep better with a little bit of caffeine in my brain.

To the op, could it be that coffee might not have been the thing that needed attention, are you still in the same job? From experience I know that it’s a very difficult balance between stress and work and productivity and that an unbalanced work environment is sometimes causing these feelings of complete lag of motivation.
Click to expand...
Yea same job. I think I might be a slow metabolizer of caffeine because if I drank an espresso at dinner time, I'm not sleeping

🌺🔥🫧 said:
How long were you drinking caffeine?

Every day, your habits change the shape of your brain. They accumulate titanically. Even a little habit done over a long period of time can take months or even years to un-adapt from. Your caffeine withdrawal I assume will get better very fast, but complete recovery might take a few months up to a year perhaps, or more of it's an extreme case but I'm guessing it's not an extreme case. Pretty soon you will probably be getting better and better every day. Make sure to keep your life as a WHOLE healthy during this process:

🌙 Get good sleep
🥦 Eat & drink very healthy (!!!) (and avoid drugs which trigger dopamine, cortisol, epinephrine, or spike glucose)
💓 Get some good exercise at least once every day
📴 Try not to consume too much digital CONTENT (especially stressful or addictive content)

Caffeine and Caffeine withdrawal both trigger the HPA axis. Dopamine, cortisol, epinephrine, and glucagon, are all implicated, and reduce expression of serotonin and even oxytocin/vasopressin. You are having some stress at work which is usually a big deal for all of us emotionally, and you are probably dealing with a few other things right now big and small. How you feel will be the cumulation of all those things. By making your lifestyle more 'sober' you will be able to handle challenges that come your way a bit better, and do get much deeper rest and recovery when you have time to.

Best wishes luv!
Click to expand...

Great advice, I will try to make sure I am living healthy in all areas of my life. I am feeling better than I was week 1 and 2 so the improvement is coming, just super slow
 
Nydex said:
I knew about the additional compounds in tea that make it feel different, but I thought there was a chemical difference in the caffeine as well. Thanks for clarifying!
Click to expand...
Yes! Lazy of me to write like that. It sounds like the actual caffeine were different, but what I meant was that the caffeine effects are different. Just like @Transform writes, its the combination with other molecules in the brews that makes the difference.

Regarding tea. I was recently at a tea tasting at the place of a small scale Chinese tea importer. He spoke about the differences in tea depending on the place, plant (I had tea from a 400y tea tree. Or so he said), processing and storage. That was mostly regarding the type of tea called pu-erh. Some he said brought out more Qi then others. Caffeine content were not a sales point :)
 
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