caffeine withdrawal surprising problems..

Ok so i just quit coffee, for way too many reasons, and I went from averaging 2-4 cups a day to quitting cold turkey. I got the headaches, but insomnia? Nausea and really not bearing to eat much? (i had to force down half my calories last night just to get in my bare minimum).. and yeah generally not feeling too great and wanting to nap all day (which i'm resisting... but then end up NOT sleeping at night and that's frustrating!)

Dunno if it helps to know, but I eat really clean, and for the past few days increased my fruit intake to help detox myself faster and absolutely no junkfood. I'm also a flexible vegan, and by that i mean that when i can help it I eat a vegan diet, but on the occasion i'm a guest at someone's place I try not to be a nightmare and just be a good guest and have whatever's being served, it's not too great but with my family especially this helps me avoid alot of clashes. So it's not that i'm eating crap, i'm so certain this is because of no more coffee...

I know that i've probably stimulated my adrenal glands way too much with my coffee kicks, is this how they 'get better' by any chance? needing a positive thought to hold onto amidst this! On my 5th day now... how long does this take?!

It could be that the coffee was keeping you awake 'artificially' and now your body is relaxing into its own rhythm.   But that's really unlikely.   The most common things that can prevent you sleeping are

• worrying or thinking too much about why you're not asleep yet...
• exercising in the evening
• being hungry
• room insufficiently dark or too noisy
• stimulants... caffeine, alcohol, nicotine

And if was a betting person my money would be on 'hungry'.... you mention that you're struggling to get the 'bare minimum' calories.  Hungry bodies find it tough to sleep at night and malnourished bodies tend to want to nap during the day.   Increase the calories you eat as soon as possible, adding more energy-dense foods to your daily menu... e.g. oils, nuts, carbohydrates.... especially in the early part of the day.   Take a daily multivitamin with iron to cover the possibility that you could be anaemic (caffeine limits iron absorption) You really don't need to 'detox' because your body will do that quite naturally all by itself if you let it.  A reasonably active adult (over 21) female should be aiming for 1900-2100 per day.

GI Jane has provided a lot of good advice, but I should add: have you considered green tea? I switched from lots of coffee in a day to keeping a green teabag or leaves in a pot over a day. Minimal amounts of caffeine compared to all that coffee but enough that I didn't suffer a massive crash.

How old are you, tall are you, how much do you weigh and how active are you? As Jane has also stated, "bare minimum" calories are just that: bare minimum! Unless you are very short, very small and completely sedentary I would hazard a guess you need more than the minimum 1200 for an adult female or 1500 if you're a female under 21.

Also, can I ask what you mean by "detox"? As in, a cleaner diet? Just wanting to clarify; "detox" by most definitions can be pretty unhealthy and unproductive. Your organs naturally detoxify you anyway, but I understand if you use that term in regards to simply eating a cleaner balanced diet with all the food groups (or alternatives where required) and the proper nutrition you need.

Thanks GI Jane and lalabanana for responding.

I definitely think worrying is part of the insomnia as well, i'm making huge decisions in my life right now and my mind's been extremely overactive. I've even been getting hair loss recently and that's making me look at diet, sleep, mental state, etc.. I'm not a fan of nuts or what they do to me but i might have a few handfuls during the day i guess.

lalabanana - i'm 5'3", 22 years old, 115, i'm also a dancer and a runner but i haven't been too active recently because i've been on a 2 week business trip, just got back 5 days ago and planned to quit coffee. Knowing that however, i was downing a pot at breakfast by the end of the trip... yeah not too great.

"detox" was probably not the right word but i really just meant eating as clean as possible, we've a ton of junkfood in the house and i've not having any of it (i don't even 'want' it either, which is surprising. huge box of assorted godiva chocolate... in fact my little nephew brought me a piece he picked out and left it on my dressing table and i never got around to eating it, just threw it out by the end of the day. which is extreme if you knew my affair with chocolate.)

the first days were good because i was downing 3-4 mugs of herbal and green tea... i was thinking too that because i haven't had some (the nausea is SO BAD), it's probably why it's worse now. Maybe i should just force some down.

Considering you are losing hair I'd strongly consider you check your bloods with your doctor. Hair loss combined with extreme fatigue or insomnia screams malnutrition - and possibly anemia. Given you're at a healthy BMI, and are losing hair and all your other problems - for now, stop focusing on weight loss.

On your sedentary days you burn 1600 calories to maintain. More active, and you adjust it accordingly. Again, I would look to maintain for now so build your calories up.

In the future, rather than have to take in so little I would take a smaller defecit (-250, not -400) on your sedentary days.

But for now, go to your doctor!

Original Post by 1200calgirl:

I'm not a fan of nuts or what they do to me but i might have a few handfuls during the day i guess.

What might nuts do to you?..   I agree that you should probably see your doctor if the insomnia is only the tip of the iceberg.  Hair-loss and so forth could be symptomatic of acute stress rather than dietary problems and you need a thorough medical check-up.  In the meantime, it never hurts to have a healthy diet and to get plenty of nourishment. 

Good luck

lol.. being direct, nuts give me gas..! I'm not a big fan either.

Yeah i'm getting a blood check soon anyway for my dermatologist who asked for one so hopefully that works out..

I'm going to try and meditate away the stress and fit in some yoga, since i've no energy for the slightest workout (this is from someone who ALWAYS had the energy to! Think 2 am runs after a long day of studios and work, as i go to an architecture and design school)

the hair loss sounds like it predated the caffeine withdrawel....as far as the caffeine withdrawel goes it might take a couple weeks to level out. have you tried some dandelion tea? this seems to help me sleep and is cleansing. there is a website you may want to check out that is for a coffee substitute. it is called teecino cafe. google it. click on the info page about caffeine effects and withdrawel.

Hi there,

I just have a question out of curiosity. Why did you quit drinking coffee? I've heard people say it's bad for you and then I've heard people say it's good for you. I've probably quit drinking coffee 2 or 3 times in the last five years but always go back to drinking it after a few weeks or months of being coffee free.

I've limited myself to drinking one cup a day now, and up to 3 cups on bad days when I'm extremely tired, which is rare. So my question is "Is coffee actually bad for you?"

If I knew for sure 100% that it was bad, then I'll quit right now, but it's very hard when I'm tired and can't open my eyes, lol. :P

Jules

Coffee is OK for people who are in decent health, as long as it's not overdone. My mother has been drinking it for over 40 years and is in good health! I drink about 2 cups a day without a problem. I used to drink 4 and sometimes up to 6, and thought that was too much, so I trimmed it down.

No withdrawal other than being a little tired here and there for awhile and occasionally getting mild headaches at night in the first week. Those weren't even that bad because they were bearable and helped me fall asleep.

Unless there's a medical problem requiring an immediate caffeine elimination I'd think it's best to cut down bit by bit and then drop the coffee once you're comfortably down to about a cup a day.

It sounds like some of your symptoms have more to do with stress, but check with a doctor.  I quit caffeine 2 years ago cold turkey (I even cut out chocolate) and the first few weeks I had headaches and felt a little light headed.  If I recall there was some restlessness involved as I adjusted to the caffeine withdrawal. 

To answer juliepatoutie question, I cut out caffeine because it was really hard on my stomache and it was contributing to anxiety.  I have noticed a huge difference in how I feel now that I am caffeine free.  That being said, caffeine is not entirely bad...it really depends on your body and how much you actually consume.

A friend at work swears by the amino acid Tyrosine to kick a caffeine addiction.  The way he explained it to me was that Tyrosine is the amino acid your body naturally produces that is replaced by caffeine.  With a regular caffeine intake, your body's production of tyrosine shuts down and hence the withdrawl symptoms when you stop getting the caffeine your body is used to.

His instructions were to take one capsule first thing in the morning and then have breakfast in 30 minutes.   Do it for a month and then you can use the tyrosine on days when you need a pick me up (the same way you would have used caffeine but without the crash after it wears off or any addiction).  They are sold at most vitamin shops but I know they have a couple of brands at GNC.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. It's a helpful community here!

Im making the choice to quit drinking coffee for many reasons, one being that i want to stop stimulating my body and focusing on nourishing it to get the response I want. The more I read about how a cup of coffee, even with it's benefits (which I feel I can get from other foods anyway), is practically just kicking your adrenal glands for a response and forcing the body in a flight state. I used to be just a cup - a - day person but it would definitely be early in the morning and there's not much of a worse way to break your night fasting state than an acidic cup of stimulant. The cup in the laer evening is probably a better solution, but for now i want to quit to be able to 'make the  choice' if i want that cup instead of feeling dependant. I also have Reynaud's, and have been told to stay away from coffee and even too much tea, as well as not smoking (which i don't anyway), because it could worsen my condition as it constricts the blood vessels. Another reason, I've noticed my skin being a lot better without it, even though i was sticking to organic coffee to stay away from the pesticides.

So yeah that's pretty much why!

The Tyrosone sounds like a much friendlier way to get a pick me up.. I'll definitely look more into it and read about it. THANKS for letting me know!

It's good to hear some here share how the felt after going caffeine free, I can't wait! I know i'm still consuming some amount of caffeine... I had a bit of cocoa powder in my cup of oat milk last night, and I am drinking tea (green for now! 1 to 2 cups a day) which 3 cups =  1 cup of coffee in terms of caffeine... It still is a huge reduction!

Make sure that you are still consuming enough liquids.  Lack of water is one thing that keeps me from getting a full night's sleep.  When I wake at 4 am and can't fall back to sleep, it is almost always because I am dehydrated.

I went caffeine-free in high school, after living on Coke and french fries.  I did it because I had trouble falling asleep at night.  Turned out that was unrelated to the caffeine intake, but I never when back to caffeination.  Within a year, I was highly sensitive to caffeine, and I still am, 25 years later.  One cup of green tea will keep me from falling asleep at night!

twalker23 mentions a sometimes nice effect of being off caffeine....when you really need a pick me up it takes very little to give you that. my biggest motivator in staying away from caffeine is that my appatite is cut in half when i am not drinking coffee. the only times in my life i have been overweight is when i have been drinking coffee...when i go off...i lose big. some are just the opposite though. it seems that those who are sensitive to blood sugar fluctuations have the experience that i have and try to stay away from it.

twalker i used to be THAT caffeine sensitive pre being a regular coffee drinker! I remember how the itsiest bit of caffeine would get my heart up there and i'd have sleepless nights. It kind of made me feel the contrast of how 'clean' i was and i'm keeping that point as a goal to get back to, because it just means that your system isn't loaded with it.

bestfriend (i love your nick! :) ) i noticed i'm seriously not getting cravings and forcing myself to get thru my meals now, major reduction in appetite. So this should be great :D I know the people that usually gain are the people that used coffee as a 'snack' and without it tend to have problems replacing it with healthy food and end up making poor choices, I never used coffee as a snack so Im not facing that prob i guess.