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Sunday, July 13, 2008
My name is The Dean, and I am a caffeineaholic
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
My caffeine addiction is not something I usually think about. It is a rather automated aspect of my morning routine. I fill my unusually tall coffee mug to the brim, and drink it first thing each morning—while checking my email and writing blog entries. (In fact, I’m drinking some coffee right now!) I have been doing this for years. And in the rare event that I allow myself to run out of coffee, or filters, here at home, I run up the street to the nearest gas station for my daily fix. But yesterday, something happened. For reasons I cannot explain, I did not fix my morning fix. And the profundity of the withdrawal symptoms I experienced gave me pause.
Sometime at around 1pm, I became inexplicably tired. Initially, I attributed it to the heat, and told my son we could no longer practice riding his bike without training wheels because I needed to cool off.
I sat down, turned on some television, and fell into a half-conscious stupor. My son asked what was wrong, and I told him that I must have been getting sick. I asked him to watch some television or to play in his room with his marble run while I got some rest. He did. My condition worsened.
When I felt the extremity of the headache hit, I was reminded immediately of the last time I had such pains—years ago, when I neglected to drink my morning coffee! I was experiencing, in a severe way, caffeine withdrawal. Half-asleep, with a pounding headache, and still feeling a bit hot, brewing coffee was not in my plans. I fumbled in the medicine cabinet until I found the last two Excedrin (which contain caffeine), popped the pills, and slammed onto my bed for a nap.
An unknown amount of time later I awoke. The headache was gone, but I still felt useless and fatigued. I spent the evening in the recliner, in a totally mindless state, in and out of consciousness. I went to bed at 9pm, and woke up at 7am this morning. The first thing I did was brew some coffee, to avoid a repeat of the previous day, and then the seriousness of my addiction hit me.
I am physically incapable of functioning like a normal person without caffeine.
This morning, I started reading online articles about caffeine addiction, and when I got to this one, the following excerpt felt autobiographical:
I can’t ignore the energy boost and mental acceleration that comes from caffeine. But I do notice negative side effects when I drink coffee. Caffeine seems to make part of my brain overactive and another part underactive. I become really good at doing things, but very bad at prioritizing what needs to be done. If I drink a lot of coffee, I’ll often spend hours doing a bunch of low priority tasks, and I find that other unproductive habits are more likely to be done excessively. I become like a rat in a treadmill, doing more and more but not accomplishing what really matters. I find it very hard to focus on the big picture from a holistic whole-brain standpoint if I’ve consumed caffeine.
I also feel that caffeine blocks too much of my intuition and creativity. I miss subtle sensory input, and my thinking becomes too linear. Sometimes linear thinking is OK though. If I have a lot of menial tasks to complete, and I already have a clear to-do list to follow, drinking a cup of coffee can get me through them quickly. But if I have to sit down and do high-level work like developing my next quarterly plan, caffeine will make a mess of my thought process and dramatically reduce my ability to concentrate. My mind races too much on caffeine; it’s hard to stay focused on just one thing.
Additionally, caffeine definitely disrupts my sleep habits. Even if I have a cup of coffee in the morning and none for the rest of the day, I don’t sleep as well. I wake up in the middle of the night, or it’s hard for me to get out of bed in the morning. When I consume no caffeine, I sleep more restfully and wake up easily. I also don’t experience so much midday sleepiness.
And lastly caffeine makes me feel hotter than usual, including while I sleep. I need to turn the air conditioner up to feel comfortable, so that’s another hidden cost.
So I think I’ll try to break this one, to see what happens. It looks like Teeccino is the preferred replacement for breaking the addiction.
I’ve been addicted to this stuff for so long, it seems impossible to be ready to work in the morning without it. But I guess that’s a sign of my addiction.
Though I occasionally desire a cigarette, I guess life has improved since I quit smoking. On the rare occasion that I have a cigarette while out with friends, I usually find the taste disgusting and I become irritated with dry mouth in the middle of the night. These experiences serve as a nice reminder for why I quit. But I don’t have the physical need to smoke anymore, like during the drive to and from work, or during my lunch. And I can actually sit at a bar, drinking beer, without getting nervous over not smoking. In the beginning, the idea of having a beer without a cigarette seemed impossible.
So I guess I’ll be able to break this one, too. I wonder how much it will change my life.
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13 Jul 2008 at 02:34 pm | #
Ditto. I gave it up years ago and now only drink a little if I have to be alert late at night, such as while driving.
13 Jul 2008 at 05:09 pm | #
I’ve never had caffeine headaches as a result of not drinking coffee. I can pretty much stop & start as I wish without issue. *Some* of this might be partially mental.
Might I suggest stepping down you caffeine intake to get in the groove. Nothing beats a nice cup of Earl Grey Tea. (Or other kind if you wish).
Also, a 20 minute nap (with alarm) can often be a good idea. Naps are just a good idea for kids, they work wonders for adults too.
13 Jul 2008 at 06:21 pm | #
I did not “imagine” the ridiculously absurd headache.
13 Jul 2008 at 06:30 pm | #
On the headache itself, I am sure that was in no way imagined. I did not intend for my comment about the health effects to go that far. That’s why I said *some*. All I was trying to say is that once your are conscious of something that might be effecting you, the power of suggestion could have *minor* effects.
How many cups (6 oz or 12 oz) do you have each day on average?
13 Jul 2008 at 07:10 pm | #
Of course Ronko is not having caffeine headaches because he’s keeping up his intake by supplementing with high-caffeine Earl Grey. Most teas are caffeinated.
Your headaches are real Dean. Classic withdrawal symptoms. But do you really need to do without that morning cup? As long as you’re not running to Starbucks 4-5 times a day throwing down $5 to feed your Jones, like the hardcore addicts, what’s the problem? You (and I) have given up cigarettes and I think that’s about enough!
13 Jul 2008 at 10:55 pm | #
I remember when I decided to give up the caffeine. I was drinking about a 12 pack a day of Coke. I quit cold turkey and it was the worst two weeks of hell I have ever experienced. It was only because it was so bad that I resigned myself to not giving in and going back to my vice.
I allow myself a soda every now and again when I’m eating out...but so far I’ve lost about 15 lbs and it’s nice to not need the “high” nowadays.
14 Jul 2008 at 09:12 am | #
I thought about this very subject this morning as I walked to Brutopia for a cup coffee. I’m really not certain that I could make it past noon without a cup of something highly caffinated. As long as I’m not drinking UDFs “Jacked Up Java” (whatever the hell that is)I’m not really going to worry about it.
As far as switching coffee to Earl Grey. Ummmm, Earl Grey (black tea) has the caffeine content equal to a double esspresso (45 mg.) which is slighly less than your average cup of brewed coffee (60 mg). I drink chai often, and with the sugar added, I generally end up more wired from a cup of that than from a simple cup of coffee. Switching to green, (20 mg of caffeine)or white tea (15 mg of caffeine) is a good idea (with additional health benefits)--or you could supplement your daily coffe fix with half decaf and half regular coffee. Should you be interested in finding a substitute / quitting gradually.
I’m with cincysuz on this one. I make sure I buy organic coffee. I drink no more than two cups a day (possibly three if I’m on a deadline) and I don’t smoke anymore. I’m not giving up the caffeine. Besides, the last time I tried I was giving up caffeine I was much crankier than normal for two weeks.
14 Jul 2008 at 10:32 am | #
cincysuz,
Yeah, a lot of teas are caffinated, but typically they have much less caffeine than a cup of coffee.
breaking the coffee habit was difficult. quitting smoking had fewer physical withdrawl symptoms for me than quitting caffeine. I could just suggest taking some headache medication with you and taking some in the morning to prevent a headache. It certainly isn’t something i’d recommend long term, but for the two or so weeks it could take to get rid of the caffeine need in your body it might work.
Good luck.
14 Jul 2008 at 10:55 am | #
librariangrrl, don’t forget to look for fair trade coffee so the farmers get their fair share too. I know Bababudans has some.
14 Jul 2008 at 12:00 pm | #
Brutopia’s coffee is freetrade--they are a very socially conscious and enviromental friendly place
They also make their organic / freetrade beans (cleverly coined “Ludlow Uprising")available at the IGA on Ludlow.
15 Jul 2008 at 07:05 am | #
It has occurred to me that, perhaps, due to my severe caffeine addiction, that I am unfamiliar with my native personality—as I have been drinking coffee every day for my entire adult life.
15 Jul 2008 at 07:06 am | #
I usually use two full tablespoons and fill the coffee pot to the 4.5 mark. For the last two days, I used 1.5 tablespoons and .5 tablespoons of Teeccino. Very tasty. No noticeable withdrawl symptoms.
Dare I, tomorrow, move to half and half?
15 Jul 2008 at 10:24 am | #
The 4.5 mark? As in 4.5 cups? I use 2 tablespoons for each cup. So the 4.5 mark would be 9 tablespoons in my kitchen. Dear me! No wonder I’m kind of high strung.
15 Jul 2008 at 10:51 am | #
That would definitely explain all the horrible, terrible, no good, very bad things I’ve heard about you!
15 Jul 2008 at 11:50 am | #
Yeah, yeah, yeah I can be a handful, or so I hear…
Maybe cutting back on the caffeine isn’t such a bad idea after all!
Either way, keep up the good work in your efforts to detoxify.
16 Jul 2008 at 02:37 pm | #
Quitting caffeine sucked. Not only were there headaches, but extreme nausea. I was almost bed ridden. I’ve actually recently started drinking caffeine again, but after reading this and remembering the memories, it’s cold turkey for me again.
Thanks for the reminder.