7/12/2012

I quit...caffein, that is

I quit. 

Caffein, that is. 

Cold turkey.

Quitting caffein cold turkey is not my idea of fun. Enough said.

Why? Well, kind of took a detour to this one. Had a dentist appointment a couple of weeks ago. I told my dentist I drank quite a lot of soda. And there he went: lecture on soda and tooth erosion. He showed me photos. Enough to scare the hell out of this self-declared Google self-diagnoser. So, I quit the diet coke - was drinking quite some glasses of that a day. Since I am not a huge fan of coffee (well, I do drink the occasional ristretto), quitting diet coke automatically implied quitting caffein. I figured, why not go cold turkey. That way I can save the Coca Cola and caffein for races and will benefit of its effects - more than I did while drinking caffein on a daily basis.

How did I do it? I had my dentist appointment on a Tuesday - late AM. I did have a glass of diet coke that morning. After visiting my dentist I did not have any more diet coke that Tuesday. I could feel the caffein headache (side effect of the caffein detox) kicking in. Had one glass of diet coke on Wednesday morning. That seemed to help the headache for a couple of hours. Kicked in full force in the afternoon - migraine headaches. Not fun. That glass of diet coke on Wednesday morning was my last glass before I went cold turkey. Thursday was awful - could not stay awake, the migraine headache didn't help. Friday was okay-ish. Did notice that I found it easier to get out of bed in the morning. Drank lots and lots of herbal tea during these days (regular tea has caffein in it). Saturday was awful again - ran in the AM and spent most of the afternoon on the couch. Sunday was not super, but slightly better than Saturday. Still had a mild headache. Same goes for Monday. Monday afternoon I started to feel better. After that - I have not looked back. Up to date. :) Did have Coca Cola during the ultra a week and a half ago - and did feel I got more of a kick from it than I did before. Had no problem at all not having any diet coke after that.

For now: I am glad I quit caffein. I feel it is easier to get out of bed in the morning, and feel more energetic. But that might be just me. ;) 

Caffein detox is not the most fun thing to do, but - in my humble opinion - it is worth it. 

Are you a caffein junkie? Would you consider quitting?

4 comments:

Paul said...

Oh man. 8 yrs ago I drank *tons* of diet coke.
Now I don't drink it at all...and don't miss it.

I have done caff and no caff...right now I have good access to expresso maker at work so I do one in the morning...

latest studies show coffee is pretty good for u.....however it's not the caffeine as decafe also reduced mortality in the study by about the same amount.

So for me:

Sodas NO. (ok during ultras 8)
Coffee , yes if I want, but not after noontime and only one or two cups, Decafe after noontime.

I do use caffienated gels and the studies there say that if you are a super caffienated person they don't work as well...not enough in there for you! They work best if you aren't a regular caffeine user.

My caff use is low enough that if I go on a trip where I can't get it, I have no headaches or other problems.

T said...

I've long felt that I was superior to you... normal... folks because I don't ever drink caffeine. In reality it's because I'm super sensitive to it. But let's pretend it's because I'm better than everyone else ;)

Johann said...

I love my coffee and will never even think about quitting that or other caffeine bearing drinks. I honestly don't have any reason to do so.

Sarah said...

Well done on making it through that! I don't drink much soda. I'd say 3-4 diet cokes a week. I don't think I would miss it. Coffee is my weakness. I'd say 2-3 large cups every day. I always hear about how great people feel after they kick the caffein habit but I am a little scared of the withdrawal effects.