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Beware the Perils of Caffeine Withdrawal
palegray.net writes "CNN is running an article on the notorious effects of caffeine withdrawal, a problem that seems to be affecting an increasing number of people. Citing numerous reasons why people might need to cut back on their caffeine intake (pregnancy, pre-surgery requirements, etc), the story notes a significant number of people who are simply unable to quit. I drink around eight cups of coffee a day, along with a soda or two, and I definitely suffer from nasty withdrawal symptoms without my fix."
Compared to both of you I am a complete lightweight, but I still experience headaches, depression, etc, when I go without.
I'm definitely going with "Not news." Caffeine is a drug, we're addicted.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Seriously dude, slow down. My wife used to drink about four Starbucks espresso drinks a day, and she noticed she was visibly trembling. Her doctors told her her heartbeat was erratic and racing, so she cut down to one or two coffee drinks a day. She's much more normal now.
The "geek chic" lifestyle, massive amounts of caffiene and Red Bulls, pulling all nighters to punch out code, scarfing down whole pizzas and gaming until all hours, it's not really good for you. Moderate. Get some exercise. Take multivitamins and get a good nights sleep. You can actually be as productive with healthy living and one cup of coffee as you are in stimulant and sugar overload, and you won't be burning the candle at both ends.
Plus, you really won't have to worry about withdrawal when you're stuck on an island with no WiFi, no coffee, but plenty of hot native girls.
I used to consume a couple liters of caffeinated beverages daily. 4 or 5 years ago my wife and I decided to switch completely to bottled water. There weren't really any health reasons to our decision - we just wanted to try it. I remember having headaches for a few days, and feeling lethargic, but the withdrawal wasn't too bad.
We still primarily drink bottled water, but when eating out I'll drink a tea or soft drink. The nice thing is that if I have extra work to do, or am driving on a long trip, I can drink a bottle of pop and it actually is a stimulant for me, as opposed to something my body relies on just to maintain the status quo.
Better known as 318230.
I stopped drinking caffeine in high school when the perma-shakes set in. I was having somewhere near the equivalent of 30-40 cups over the course of a 19-20 hour day and getting about 4 hours of sleep in order to keep full time school, full time job, and a very active social life all going.
The shakes quit after about 3 days. The headache after about 2 weeks. And somewhere about 2 years later I no longer felt permanently exhausted.
The nice thing now is that I find I can stay awake as long as I need to as long as I don't have high-sugar foods or have any alcohol. I just catch up the next day with little or no problem. I can't imagine going back to caffeine. As a computer-geek, I think it would be hard to do it just in moderation. Everyone else around me has the perpetual can of Coke next to their mouse.
I must be one of the few that just doesn't touch the stuff. I don't even generally like the smell. Never drank it -- coffee that is. And I only drink soda for lack of better fruit juice.
I believe half of /. needs to check themselves into a clinic.
Drugs are bad, m-kay?
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During most of the year I have 18-24oz of coffee every morning, and sometimes another 6-8oz or a caffeinated soda/energy drink after lunch. So about 3-6 "cups" a day.
But during Lent I go cold turkey. Just stop on Ash Wednesday. (I give up alcohol at the same time, FWIW.)
The only side effect I ever experience is becoming a zombie from 1p-3p every day for the second week I'm off the stuff. The first week I'm fine. The second week I'm a zombie and completely unproductive for two hours in the afternoon. Weeks three to six I'm fine, though I start earnestly looking forward to resuming my morning ritual by week six. My sleep patterns don't change. My personality doesn't change. I don't experience physical pain.
I really recommend everyone try this. Give up something you love for six weeks. Detach. When you get back together your relationship will be healthier. You will have a new appreciation for what you gave up.
Of course, this requires sacrifice and introspection. Good luck with that, seriously.
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
p.s., a software engineer is a machine that takes caffeine as its input, and produces computer programs as its output.
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If you replace the word "caffeine" in your entire post with "sugar" or "sweets" that would accurately describe me. Unfortunately I have fallen off the wagon and am seriously addicted to it again. Time to go cold turkey as the weight is starting to creep back up.
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I can smoke a bag of weed every week for 3 months and then stop. ZERO withdrawal symptoms. Maybe you should change your vice to something less addictive with smaller side effects.
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Oh, gee, I drink 8 cups of strong coffee per day and 2 huge servings of soft drinks. Unbelievably, after several years of doing this, I have problems!
Uhh, yea, dumb-dumb. At what point in your life did you think it was a good idea to drink that fourth cup of coffee in the same day, much less four more? I think this condition is known as: epic brainpower fail.
but have you considered the following argument: shut up.
There is the concept of "maintenance dose" in addiction. I find that just one soda, small cup of coffee / Nescafe, or one No-Doz are enough to forestall the headaches. One or two days of this "maintenence dose" and I can go cold turkey.
Really, cut down on the sodas. The coffee is fine, but as soon as I started working at a place without free sodas, I lost ten pounds and my blood sugar went down 20 points.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
By that logic, why do we have laws against cocaine and heroin?
Good question.
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
Doctors are horrified of everything you do.
Everything will kill you, given enough time. If your neurologist was freaked out about 6 cups of coffee, then you need to stop using doctors fresh out of med school, or probably still in school that haven't been in the real world long enough to know that all the shit they were told in school is generally made out to be a lot worse than it really is.
I am not a doctor, but my wife is. She almost spit her coffee out as she laughed at your neurologist comment.
If you continue to listen to your scare mongering neurologist, you'll end up dead from a heart attack because she will make sure your brain and nervous system are fine, but in the process she'll destroy your heart, liver, kidneys, and most of the rest of your body with medication or stupidity or both.
If you think drinking that much coffee is committing suicide, then you should go talk to some rheumatoidologist's and see how bad your typing is killing you.
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