I'm pretty sure I'm chemically dependent--or pretty goddamned close--on caffeine.

Quick back story: I hate coffee. I tolerate tea. I've never been a soda drinker. Thus, I avoided--for most of my life--the perils of caffeine addiction. But recently, I've been scarfing down cans upon cans of Pepsi Max and sugar free Red Bull, both of which are loaded with fifty-gajillion espresso's worth of caffeine along with a heap of artificial stuff that can't be too good either.

But--and I mean this seriously--I'm utterly dysfunctional until I've gotten a jolt in the morning.

Another at 8am-ish.

One more at lunch.

None after that.

Severe headaches if I even think about skipping a caffeine dose.

Don't lie you know you are too. I see you Starbucks junkies sucking down double-mocaccinos in your car.

~String

You could taper off. This minimizes the headaches and might even evade them.

Sugar free red bull contains Phenylalanine

This essentially ends up being epinephrine dopamine and norepinephine. In general, along with the caffeine, you are telling your body there is a serious emergency. You get short term gains in that suddenly you have focus and energy, as you would if there was a physical threat on the veldt. The downside is....that is not what is really happening, so you are scaring yourself, essentially, all the time you are awake on these drugs. I say, drugs. It takes quite a while for the body to remove all caffeine at if you have some serious intake you are never without some rolling around in your body telling you there is a crisis.

Pepsi Max has asparatame.
Please watch this documentary on aspartame.....

http://video.google.se/videoplay?docid=-6551291488524526735#

Note how it got around the FDA via Rumsfeld who headed the company. If the doc does not scare you off aspartame, well, no advice here will.

The transition from this kind of ongoing stimulation to an actual relaxed resting state can seem depressing. You will definitely catch up on sleep and be low energy as you detox. On the other hand you will stop stealing energy from your own future.

EDIT: I should have added....these things are hard. I mean, it is nice to be instantly alert. It is nice to be able to find drudgework suddenly stimulating. It is unpleasant when the energy drop hits and the next can does instantly work. It gives us control. It's no surprise that caffeine and alcohol are legal. If people could not use the former to crank up for work and the latter to come down after work, there would be a slow revolution.

I'm pretty sure I'm chemically dependent--or pretty goddamned close--on caffeine.

Quick back story: I hate coffee. I tolerate tea. I've never been a soda drinker. Thus, I avoided--for most of my life--the perils of caffeine addiction. But recently, I've been scarfing down cans upon cans of Pepsi Max and sugar free Red Bull, both of which are loaded with fifty-gajillion espresso's worth of caffeine along with a heap of artificial stuff that can't be too good either.

But--and I mean this seriously--I'm utterly dysfunctional until I've gotten a jolt in the morning.

Another at 8am-ish.

One more at lunch.

None after that.

Severe headaches if I even think about skipping a caffeine dose.

Don't lie you know you are too. I see you Starbucks junkies sucking down double-mocaccinos in your car.

~String

Just quit. Kicking it isn't that bad.
Sure you'll have a headache for a week, but that's it :D
Been there.. and I 'tapered off'.. somewhat.
I read somewhere that it's unwise to go cold turkey though.

EDIT: I should have added....these things are hard. I mean, it is nice to be instantly alert. It is nice to be able to find drudgework suddenly stimulating. It is unpleasant when the energy drop hits and the next can does instantly work. It gives us control. It's no surprise that caffeine and alcohol are legal. If people could not use the former to crank up for work and the latter to come down after work, there would be a slow revolution.

I never felt more alert because of caffeine and I don't feel any different now that I kicked it.
I think the above is only relevant for people that are not addicted.

actually caffine has quite a short half life which is why you see office workers getting one more regually than people smoke. As a drug to be adicted to its better than alot. If your worried about the other things switch to coffee or tea and see if you still get the headaches as if you skipped it.

Before I began drinking coffee regularly, I would often sleep in in weekends. Now I get up pretty close to the same time I do on work days to get my caffeine fix. I joke about being a coffee junkie, but it is a worthwhile trade off for me. I do hold it to two cups of coffee in the morning, and one Coke with lunch.

Have you tried five hour energy? I've never used it, but I have a friend who swears by it. Also, try eating an apple with peanut butter with breakfast. I recently started a new job that requires me to get up very early, and I've found that an apple gives me more energy than a cup of strong coffee, and the energy sticks with me a lot longer. But if I don't take some form of protein with it, by blood sugar will spike, and then plummet.

http://www.solarnavigator.net/solar_cola/cola_images/Jolt_Colas_gamers_toast.jpg

Caffeine is the one thing I simply cannot defeat. It's been too long.

In my struggles against nicotine, I've mounted some decent efforts to quit smoking. Eighteen months once. Eight months a second time. I failed at my last attempt, and am gearing up for yet another "final" stand.

But caffeine?

Actually, now that I think about it, there was a period of years when I abandoned coffee and Pepsi altogether.

Coincidentally, I also started taking antidepressants either during or shortly after that time.

Yes, caffeine is an easy chemical dependence.

Right now, my refrigerator is stocked with Pepsi Throwback—because I adore the stuff—and I'm drinking plenty of coffee because mother dearest brought some back from Guatemala, and it's good.

If we ever happen to get together, maybe I'll try making klava for the first time. It's a long process and a strange way to treat coffee, but apparently it can be done for real, and it ain't bad.

Meanwhile, if you can get a proper almond latte, who knows, you might start liking coffee. Of course, this isn't what you want, probably. Maybe you should look into quality chocolate. Barring that, maybe, if yur stomach can take it, you might start popping an aspirin a day for health. Some common brands have caffeine in them; see Lieberman et al., 1987 (http://www.nootropics.com/caffeine/aspcaf-moodcog.html).

Caffeine isn't the worst thing in the world. The downside is it can play havoc with your kidneys if you're not careful. (I tried dropping caffeine as a response to hematuria.) But the "energy drinks" aren't reviewed by the FDA, so I really couldn't tell you what all is in them and how addictive they are. Some have ginseng, some taurine, and some this nasty South American stuff called guarana, which, for your purposes, is simply a marketing word for even more caffeine. Looking around, I see some fretting about ginseng, but I suppose that's part of the "a little knowledge can be dangerous" idea; I'm not seeing any reliable suggestion that ginseng is addictive. Pepsi Max contains ginseng.

Likewise, there is plenty of fretting about taurine, but I don't see any evidence that it's addictive.

If I recall, your history includes fast drugs; that might be part of the reason you're responding so strongly to Pepsi Max. Or, perhaps, my memory is wrong, in which case simply strike the preceding sentence.

The worst thing about Pepsi, though, in any form, is what it does to your teeth and stomach. Remember the syringe scare some years back? Company executives pointed out there was no health danger, as Pepsi was acidic enough to kill any potential biological hazard about the syringes. That's comforting in a way, sure. But it's also a little unsettling, when you stop to think just how acidic these things are. (Coca-Cola can be used to make chrome shine.)
____________________

Notes:

Lieberman, H.L., et al. The effects of caffeine and aspirin on mood and performance. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 7(5). October, 1987. Nootropics.com. September 12, 2010. http://www.nootropics.com/caffeine/aspcaf-moodcog.html

I used to drink a fucking lorryload of Red Bull. Then 2 things happened...one, the recession, and two, I used to get a pinpoint intense pain right where my adrenal glands would be. I couldn't tell you if it was actually from hitting them with an assload of caffeine, but I haven't suffered from it since drinking moderate amounts rather than enough to kill a small animal.

Oddly enough, I never got addiction symptoms.

I think it's mainly that intense taste I was addicted to. I wanted one even if I was hyperactive just for that taste. :)

Caffeine in coffee (1,3,7 trimethylxanthine), theophylline (so-called "caffeine") in tea (1,3 dimethylxanthine), and theobromine in chocolate (3,7 dimethylxanthine) are three different-but-related chemicals that our bodies metabolize differently. Most of caffeine (84%) is metabolized into paraxanthine (1,7 dimethylxanthine), which neither so-called "caffeine" in tea nor theobromine metabolize into. Notice how people describe tea as "refreshing" and "soothing", whereas coffee is for waking up and getting going. And, of course, some people find that theobromine makes them "feel good".

I kicked caffeine 16 years ago because I was a slave to it (or the pounding, mood-altering headaches), and I must wean myself off it if I accidentally drink it.

The can't-get-going feeling in the morning for coffee drinkers is the withdrawal symptom of caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant, so your body slows down your brain with a natural depressant, which happens to be longer lasting than caffeine. That's what you're feeling in the morning when you can't get going.

Lol, I was never able to get going in the morning, way before I'd discovered caffeine :(

I'm a night owl. Never grown out of it.

Right now, my refrigerator is stocked with Pepsi Throwback

Damn. I read somewhere that Coke (not the white flaky stuff, though not necessarily discounting that) is more popular with the coastal liberal crowd and Pepsi with the pastoral conservative crowd. Always bucking the trend, Tiassa.

Also, the throwback stuff is full of sugar which I fear even more than the engineered substances I'm consuming.

http://www.bevreview.com/wp-content/image_pepsimax_new1.gif


If we ever happen to get together, maybe I'll try making klava for the first time.

No McGriddles? You do realize that McDonald's Monopoly is almost upon us? Save your pieces!


Maybe you should look into quality chocolate.

Did you forget this thread: Belgian Chocolate (http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=95542&highlight=belgian+chocolate)?

Trust me, I already love the stuff and eat plenty.


If I recall, your history includes fast drugs; that might be part of the reason you're responding so strongly to Pepsi Max. Or, perhaps, my memory is wrong, in which case simply strike the preceding sentence.

Your memory is correct. Though it's been years, I was a fan of meth, blow and ecstasy. Meth especially. . . though I somehow avoided the worst that such an addiction can give. I'm seriously ADHD, and from what I've read, those like me have a tendency towards uppers, which--conversely--have a focusing effect on our minds.


The worst thing about Pepsi, though, in any form, is what it does to your teeth and stomach.

Not worried about my teeth. I don't "sip" the stuff and I don't drink it all day long. I have--maybe--three a day, and I--literally--pound them when I do drink them. Same for Red Bull.

Though, as to the stomach, I do have serious IBS, and I can't imagine it helps my bubble-guts much.

~String

I was addicted to a caffeine, and I kicked it.

I bought a tooth whitening kit, and reasoned it's perhaps worth steering clear of the drinks that were staining my teeth while using the kit. So no wine, coffee or tea.

After about three days I got a dull headache that felt someone was cutting my frontal lobes out with a wooden spoon. I rang a friend, who had given up caffeine, and he confirmed, yes this was the start of the withdrawal, but with a fair wind, it'll only last a few days. So, three days later, the headache finally subsided.

I now limit myself to two cups of coffee or tea in the mornings only. I work from home, so it's all to easy to just keep stoking the percolator. I now just drink water in the afternoons, and that helps keep me well hydrated for when I run.

I was telling a colleague about this experience, and she said she'd had a similar experience, except it coincided with a bout of food poisoning. She'd had a dodgy burger while away for the weekend, and got food poisoning. After a couple of days of vomiting, and just drinking water, the caffeine withdrawal started, and she got the headache. Her Doctor was then concerned she might have contracted Meningitis, so that worried her. But of course, as soon as she felt well enough, and had that first coffee, bingo, the headache went, and the penny dropped.

You could taper off. This minimizes the headaches and might even evade them.

Sugar free red bull contains Phenylalanine

This essentially ends up being epinephrine dopamine and norepinephine. In general, along with the caffeine, you are telling your body there is a serious emergency.
Not really. Phenylalanine is a very common amino acid that's found in virtually all meats, dairy, etc. You get a LOT more phenylalanine from eating a steak than you get from a can of Red Bull. The conversion of phenylalanine to neurotransmitters is regulated by the body, and you don't suddenly get a big spike of neurotransmitters in your brain simply because you had a can of it. The vast majority of it is simply used for protein synthesis or burnt for energy, just like all the other amino acids you eat. Also, the conversion into neurotransmitters - when it takes place - takes hours to occur. So it's certainly not responsible for the "energy boost" you might experience shortly after drinking a Red Bull. That's going to be mainly the caffeine.

Phenylalanine seems to be one of the latest crazes for the "health scare" crowd. You can find all sorts of nonsensical bullshit about it on the internet that's directly contradicted by basic biochemistry.

dodgy . . .


. . . the penny dropped.

So very British!

Specifically "the penny dropping". Funny how the US and UK drift apart in some ways. That idiom was much more common place with my grandparents, and the last time I heard it was by a British (by marriage) great-aunt. She's deceased now, but she was a veritable treasure trove of anachronisms and classic British-ness that I miss a great deal.

~String

Damn. I read somewhere that Coke (not the white flaky stuff, though not necessarily discounting that) is more popular with the coastal liberal crowd and Pepsi with the pastoral conservative crowd. Always bucking the trend, Tiassa.

Was that the outcome? I'm not doubting you; I just remember that someone did the research, but not the actual results.


Also, the throwback stuff is full of sugar which I fear even more than the engineered substances I'm consuming.

I've been developing a thing against high fructose corn syrup. And the Throwback really does remind me of the Pepsi I knew once upon a time.


No McGriddles? You do realize that McDonald's Monopoly is almost upon us? Save your pieces!

Let's see ... cigarettes and fast food. Those are the two things I need to quit. McD's Monopoly simply isn't going to help. Who knows, though? Maybe this time we'll actually win.


Did you forget this thread: Belgian Chocolate (http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=95542&highlight=belgian+chocolate)?

Trust me, I already love the stuff and eat plenty.

Why yes, I actually did forget. Or maybe I missed it altogether. Either way, though, yeah. Good chocolate is ... yeah.


Your memory is correct. Though it's been years, I was a fan of meth, blow and ecstasy. Meth especially. . . though I somehow avoided the worst that such an addiction can give. I'm seriously ADHD, and from what I've read, those like me have a tendency towards uppers, which--conversely--have a focusing effect on our minds.

And aren't ADHD drugs speedy? It's so counterintuitive.


You can stand all night at a red light anywhere in town,
Hailing Marys left and right, but none of them slow down.
I've seen the best of men go past; I don't want to be the last.
Give me something fast.

—Sisters of Mercy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI3yKorifpY)

I don't know. I just like the song. It comes to mind, for obvious reasons.


Not worried about my teeth. I don't "sip" the stuff and I don't drink it all day long. I have--maybe--three a day, and I--literally--pound them when I do drink them. Same for Red Bull.

Though, as to the stomach, I do have serious IBS, and I can't imagine it helps my bubble-guts much.

I don't have much to offer for advice; caffeine addiction is wicked. But if there are any good Chinese herbalists in your area, maybe you can find a tea or some such that will go a little easier on your body than anything Pepsi has to offer.

When I was nineteen or twenty, I remember we got hold of this liquid porcine adrenaline. You could get it at a health food store. It's probably been outlawed; I haven't seen the stuff in years. But maybe that's why I never liked cocaine. Have no idea what the stuff would have done to me over the long term, but it was ungodly fun while we were using it. I still have a "devil scar" on my left hand from those days. Being all strung out and shit one morning, and I decided it would be a good idea to heat the top of my lighter and then burn my hand with it.

And it felt good.

Something fast, indeed.

Liquid porcine adrenaline? Really?

Why were they selling that? I assume it was for something other than recreational use by crazy young adults? :)

I love caffeine. Coffee, Latte's, Cappuccino's. Whatever. It got me thru college (classes all day then working third shift, all night study sessions, etc.) Nowadays I usually drink a large mug in the morning and a diet pepsi/coke/whatever for lunch.

When I have a day off (really off, no "honey do" list or whatever), I'll usually not drink any coffee which means I'll end up with a headache by the end of the day. But I figure it's good to detox once in a while.

Liquid porcine adrenaline? Really?

Why were they selling that? I assume it was for something other than recreational use by crazy young adults? :)

Yeah, really. And no, I haven't a clue why they were selling the stuff. If I had to guess, maybe it was a "workout booster" of some sort. But I've never figured out what the point of that stuff was.

It came in both tablet and liquid suspension forms. The latter was a cleaner, more refined, more powerful hit.

I love caffeine. Coffee, Latte's, Cappuccino's. Whatever. It got me thru college (classes all day then working third shift, all night study sessions, etc.) Nowadays I usually drink a large mug in the morning and a diet pepsi/coke/whatever for lunch.

When I have a day off (really off, no "honey do" list or whatever), I'll usually not drink any coffee which means I'll end up with a headache by the end of the day. But I figure it's good to detox once in a while.

Damn. I seem to be one of the few who can guzzle caffeine the way normal people breathe air, then go off it with no ill effects. I wonder why?

Hey all you caffeine addicts, you'd better cut back or it may well drive you to murder!!!! Or maybe to falsely confessing to a murder. Well, whichever argument the court finds more plausible...

NEWPORT, Ky. – The lawyer for a Kentucky man accused of strangling his wife argued at trial Monday that excessive caffeine from sodas, energy drinks and diet pills left the defendant so sleep-deprived and mentally unstable that he falsely confessed to the killing.
Attorney Shannon Sexton said in opening statements at the murder trial of Woody Will Smith, 33, that he did not kill his 28-year-old wife, Amanda Hornsby-Smith, on May 4, 2009. The lawyer also told jurors that the man's statements to police were made under high stress prompted by large amounts of caffeine and a lack of sleep.
"As a result of his altered state, Woody Smith provided a false confession," Sexton said.
The argument was a twist on Sexton's previously stated defense as outlined in earlier court documents — that a high intake of caffeine rendered Smith temporarily insane and unable to form the intent to kill his wife.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100920/ap_on_re_us/us_caffeine_defense

I have heard it all now.

Hey all you caffeine addicts, you'd better cut back or it may well drive you to murder!!!! Or maybe to falsely confessing to a murder. Well, whichever argument the court finds more plausible...


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100920/ap_on_re_us/us_caffeine_defense

Lol. I already have the urge to commit murder frequently.

I've been a daily coffee drinker for the past 3 years (1-2 cups per day, black)

I recently started to question my habit and took a 2 month break. Once I made it through withdrawals, the results were incredible. I felt a connection to my inner being that I haven't felt in a long, long time. I truly believe that caffeine has a numbing effect on our core being, our true emotion.

Without coffee I am more peaceful, far less irritable, sleep much better, look much better(better skin) and have better focus. Shoot- my sex drive even returned!

As someone who has suffered from severe depression, I can confirm that coffee does have anti-depressant properties, but they are short-lived. In retrospect my caffeine use triggered a sort of 'manic' lifestyle. I became overly talkative but thoughts were less controlled and less clear, and by midnight I was apathetic and craving sugar. This was from merely one cup a day (usually).

I kid you not, those two months without caffeine were the best two months I've had in years. I felt truly at peace, truly happy, opposed to the chemical-induced elation produced by a morning Joe.

Unfortunately one cruel night/morning sent me spiraling back into daily use. I was up all night writing a paper, and I bought a coffee to stay awake for my 9 am class. That was all it took to re-start the vicious cycle.

Over the next three weeks I continued to drink coffee, and in short time the deep happiness/peacefulness was gone. That isn't to say life was bad; it wasn't. But I truly believe that caffeine numbs us from what lies within. And for someone with a blessed, exciting life, being numb is the last thing I want.

Caffeine is one hell of a drug. And one I plan to avoid entirely.

I'm addicted to decaf coffee.

I'm addicted to decaf coffee.

so is my roommate. he says it has a nice placebo effect for waking up, but without all the negatives!

But recently, I've been scarfing down cans upon cans of Pepsi Max and sugar free Red Bull, both of which are loaded with fifty-gajillion espresso's worth of caffeine...

No, not really. A Red Bull has ~80mg caffeine which is about the same as one cup of regular coffee, or slightly less than a concentrated coffee drink like an espresso.



.....I'm utterly dysfunctional until I've gotten a jolt in the morning.

Another at 8am-ish.

One more at lunch.

None after that.

So, that’s 3 Red Bull drinks a day? Which is equivalent to 2-3 cups of coffee per day.

I don’t think caffeine addiction is what’s going on here. People with caffeine addictions drink several (or more) cups of coffee each day.

I don’t think caffeine addiction is what’s going on here. People with caffeine addictions drink several (or more) cups of coffee each day.

Yeah, I was having around eight cups of coffee a day. Now, I have two at the most, a.m. only.

I don’t think caffeine addiction is what’s going on here. People with caffeine addictions drink several (or more) cups of coffee each day.I've been a (sometimes recovering) caffeine addict for 50 years and I hate coffee. I drink tea and diet cola, and eat lots of chocolate. My sensitivity to caffeine is fairly high, although it's finally changing now that I'm in my late 60s and my body no longer works reliably. Ten years ago I could pour out two ounces of Diet-Rite Cola into a measuring cup on Saturday morning and it would keep me bouncing off the ceiling for the whole weekend.

That's the way I am, I used to love it, now I'm really sensitive. Sometimes I can get wired on de-caf! Not all brands of de-caf are totally free from caffeine.

IMHO the pop and 'energy drinks' are far worse for you than coffee or tea. In fact, recent studies have shown both coffee and tea to be protective of brain health. Real Age pushes moderate consumption for health reasons.

I am in the 3 cups of coffee for breakfast and a mug of green tea in late morning club myself. Yes, coffee and tea are stimulants if you drink them regularly.

It is difficult for me to get wired on anything anymore though as I run 9 miles every morning with my Labrador. That settles me down and chills me out for the whole day, caffeine or no.

After 12 years of addiction to caffeine... I finally quit using it. I feel so much better in the mornings. That is, the time it takes me to "get moving" went down from 1-2 hours to about 10 minutes. Also, I no longer have morning headaches.

White tea is lower in caffeine, smoother-tasting, and packs an anti-inflammatory punch. I try to guzzle hot white tea these days. Between the chronic asthma, the chronic sinusitis, the allergies, and the general achiness of being middle-aged, I need all the food-based anti-inflammatories I can scarf.

I try to save coffee these days for those more sleep-deprived moments. But I also take L-theanine, which has anti-anxiolytic and attention focusing properties...that synergize with caffeine.

I'm on Theophylline for my asthma. Theophylline is an old-line asthma drug, not used much...I can't seem to tolerate what's considered a regular dose(barfies), but at the same time, my asthma gets worse if I don't take it...and it's cheap.
It's a caffeine analogue.

My inhalers include two different adrenalin analogues. Oh, and I megadose quercetin for the allergies...works very well indeed...unless I forget to reorder...I missed about a dose and a half of the quercetin b/c I didn't order in time...yep, it really helps control my allergies...
By megadose I mean 8 grams of it twice daily...I worked up to that.

Quercetin seems to cause mitochondriogenesis in vitro and in vivo in mice.

I like to put on a good caffeine buzz in the morning...it helps me concentrate.
For me, getting going in the morning has gotten to be easy due to working out regularly.

Everytime I need a coffee or a glass of coke, I slice a bit of lemon, fill a glass with cold water, squeeze a tiny bit of the lemon juice in the water, and put the lemon slice on the glass. Don't know why it works, just relieved that it does.
10 years of coffee addiction (about 8 big coffees a day) almost defeated and I like my new ritual.

I been wanting to quit caffeine. I am a peaceful person but when i don't get my caffeine i go through withdrawal rage where i feel like i'm angry but i'm not it must be a chemical imbalance.

Don't lie you know you are too. I see you Starbucks junkies sucking down double-mocaccinos in your car.

~String

I can assure you String I haven't been sucking down anything in my car.


Did you make any progress on withdrawing from caffeine?
Interesting fact - tea contains more caffeine per pound than coffee.

No progress. Totally addicted. I'm on vacation again next week and I've successfully moved into my new home. All that behind me, I'm going to try Tiassa's method: substitute Excedrin in decreasing amounts until I'm free.

As a recovering addict, being dependent upon even a socially acceptable substance weighs on my conscience. This all started a year ago when I began driving over an hour to work. Now I live less than fifteen minutes from my job. No excuse now. Must give up on caffeine.

~String

No progress. Totally addicted. I'm on vacation again next week and I've successfully moved into my new home. All that behind me, I'm going to try Tiassa's method: substitute Excedrin in decreasing amounts until I'm free.

As a recovering addict, being dependent upon even a socially acceptable substance weighs on my conscience. This all started a year ago when I began driving over an hour to work. Now I live less than fifteen minutes from my job. No excuse now. Must give up on caffeine.

~String

That's the trouble with addiction - sometimes you kick the habit, only to find it replaced with another. The substitution should work to get you away from this, although more than likely you'll find a new routine to take it's place. Usually it takes extreme self-discipline before you get to the addict stage to really get past all addictions.

Remember addiction is a problem, vices are not. ;)

No progress. Totally addicted. I'm on vacation again next week and I've successfully moved into my new home. All that behind me, I'm going to try Tiassa's method: substitute Excedrin in decreasing amounts until I'm free.

As a recovering addict, being dependent upon even a socially acceptable substance weighs on my conscience. This all started a year ago when I began driving over an hour to work. Now I live less than fifteen minutes from my job. No excuse now. Must give up on caffeine.

~String

My method for kicking my addiction to caffeine was to slowly decrease the amount I was taking in over a few weeks. My morning routine used to be to wake up and pop 2 caffeine pills (400 mg). After years of getting sick of waking up with a pounding headache and ending the day with a headache... I cut about 25 mg every few days... sometimes as much as 50 mg. After 3 or 4 weeks, I threw the rest of the bottle away and that was it.

Some days I was fatigued, and some days I had a burst of energy (perhaps my body's way of trying to compensate for a lack of caffeine). The fatigue was caused by a flood of adenosine that caffeine has been blocking all these years. So my only course of action was to tough it out during the day and go to bed early.

All-in-all, this was my only successful attempt at quitting caffeine usage. The trick was to make a decision to quit. That decision thwarted all my desires to get back into the habit.

Today, I can enjoy the occasional caffeinated drink without the negative side effects (for the most part). The other day I had a Red Bull and had the most energy I've ever had from caffeine since I was 15. But my desire to keep doing it is not there.

I think Coffee is good for you , Yeah It has many benefits. If you are asthmatic it helps you to breath and if you are a slow starter it gives you the go to go and there is something about a study that said it makes you smarter . There has been an off and on again debate based in scientific study whether coffee is bad or good for many years now . Personally I can see no ill effects in my self from drinking it, but then again It don't give Me headaches like I hear it does for a lot of people . Now I know people that say onions give you headaches too. Crazy thought to me .

As a recovering addict, being dependent upon even a socially acceptable substance weighs on my conscience.

Not sure about it as a matter of conscience, but I've long avoided getting addicted to caffeine (by not drinking anything stronger than soda, and then only in the afternoon) for reasons of simple practicality. I.e., most of the people I know of my parents' generation are strongly addicted to caffeine - to the point where ingesting it doesn't do anything for them except to cancel out the withdrawl effects. They have to go to all this trouble maintaining an addiction, just to remain exactly as functional and perky as they'd be if they'd avoided caffeine from the outset. So all it really adds up to is a liability - it's this substance that you have to have, all the time and everywhere, just to function normally. This causes certain hilarities when they come on wilderness rafting trips and don't realize that nobody brought coffee until they wake up on the first morning, with no prospect of any caffeine for days. I've seen 50-something adults with advanced degrees and successfully-raised children reduced to inanities like boiling combinations of leaves and gatorade in search of a substitute - pathetic.

I already see this happening to friends in my generation, who require a constant stream of coffee all day just to avoid the headaches they get from their last dose of caffeine wearing off. What's the point?

I've seen 50-something adults with advanced degrees and successfully-raised children reduced to inanities like boiling combinations of leaves and gatorade in search of a substitute - pathetic.

Well, they should have either made a checklist, or have a box of camping supplies with a vacuum-sealed jar of instant coffee powder in it...

Or have a bottle of caffeine pills in their backpack. Caffeine pills...mmmm.

There's only one plant native to North America that has caffeine in it I know of (yaupon), so they're kinda up a certain creek without a paddle there.

Until I started this current program of chugging white tea for the anti-inflammatory bennies, I usually did a caffeine withdraw day, once weekly, so that I could buzz along the rest of the week.
That was also my catch up on missed sleep day...I still do that, well, once a week, then back to sleep-deprivation...