When heavily caffeinated I almost become a people pleaser and struggle to hold my ground, it’s pretty odd

For the ladies I guess or men who have been with women who did this too! My main reason for quitting caffeine (daily 1 to 4 cups of coffee) was because I had a list of 31 symptoms due to hormonal issues. My doctors offered me hormones or psych meds, I am not really ready for either although was willing to try a little progesterone (which I hated).

So just wondering, how did quittinf effect your hormones? Peri symptoms? Menopausal symptoms? I am almost 43 for reference and have had a build up of symptoms for about 5 years, this year they became really bad and sometimes debilitating. Mainly the anxiety linked to histamine and estrogen, and the migranes ar several intervals during my cycle.

I have been a clean eater, workout person, yoga teacher, circadian biology observer, etc for decades. My only thing was coffee! Please tell me this can move the needle for my health!

I have been off it since october 1st. Noticed lower anxiety so far (huge win) way more headaches and my cycle was kind of better last time but also kind of messed up.

Anyone have some good anecdotal encouragement for me? ❤️

4 shots a day for 10 years and 2 cups a day for 10 years before that. Never really thought much about it, but it came to a head 4 weeks ago on a trip to Phoenix. Had a Nespresso shot, a cup of regular coffee and a cold brew all before 12 PM and boarding a flight. On the plane, I honestly thought I was stroking out a mile above ground. Made it to the hotel and just could not get my wits about me, called an ambulance. They took my vitals and said there was nothing abnormal. Suffered through the rest of the trip, but inadvertently quit caffeine as I didn't have the stomach for it. When I finally put 2 and 2 together, I was 5 days out and wasn't going back. First 2 weeks, lots of brain fog, physical and mental instability. Existential dread, oversensitivity to physical changes and rumination. Previously no history of mental health problems. Last two weeks have been better, but I am still exhausted by 7 PM and bouts of brain fog. If I miss my 7.5 hrs of sleep, I am wrecked for the day. I sleep like a rock, but my sleep is mostly REM and mental recovery over deep sleep and physical recovery.

Hopeful as I feel somewhat better physically than I have in a while, but want to know if my experience maps onto someone else's. Thanks all.

Hey everyone, I had a really interesting experience with quitting caffeine about two years ago.

Back then, I went through boot camp, where we were deprived of all forms of caffeine and other substances while dealing with extreme physical stress. I should also mention that I had been using kratom before boot camp.

I was mentally tough enough to get through all of it, but quitting caffeine turned out to be the hardest part. Even after five weeks, I still didn’t feel like I’d broken the habit. In fact, quitting kratom was easier for me.

On some weekends, we were allowed to have cola as a reward for good discipline. Once, we were promised cola, but the commanders changed their minds, and we ended up getting none. That was the only time during the entire course when I felt genuinely mentally unstable.

The whole experience really made me wonder just how powerful caffeine actually is, at least for people like me

Hello 76 veteran male Jim here vietnam 👋🥹. I am getting into all kinds of things to just check out with the rest of my life that i have... heh. Ok. Anyways i first used the "lazy Keirig" strat" for making coffee in my garage where i had been sleeping on my leather couch every day since i could just not get up and if coffee truggerss a movement in my "movement area" welp thats what the couch is for anyhow. Anyhow, since getting upgraded i guess to the shed following marriage to my wife Phillipina, i have no electric in the shed as of yet (still waiting on the guy to electric it for me from Reddit). Anyhow, I've been using a french press instead. And let me say, i did not get all the hullabaloo about switching of Keirig lazy, or about coffee and digestion either, until i had a gulp and cup of a french pressed coffee and lets just say now i see why it is called the french "press." Because it really pressed a hot movement out of my area and into the couch for my wife to just deal with and wipe later. Thank you for your all discuossion of coffee and it learned so much for me to get to this point you are all very wise.

Getting easier. Tired but manageable. Plan is to do 1 coffee a day this week, next week will be 1/2 a coffee and then decaf after that. Looking forward to rewiring my brain and quitting this shit!

Hit 90 days of being caffeine-free today, so here's my post :)

As a programmer, I bought into the classic trope that code literally runs on coffee. Every time I hit a wall with a bug or sat down to work, brewing a fresh cup was my automatic reflex.

What made it stick this time was realizing I wasn't actually addicted to the stimulant. I was addicted to the ritual. Grabbing that mug was just my brain's cue to start focus mode. To break the cycle, I simply swapped the physical habit:

• Replaced the desk coffee mug with a large glass of cold water while coding.
• Swapped the morning espresso for drinking 300–500ml of water right after waking up.

The first couple of weeks were rough with brain fog and afternoon fatigue, but pushing past that initial dip changed everything. What helped keep me honest was making a conscious commitment every morning and checking it off in a tracker instead of relying on sheer willpower. Watching the calendar fill up and setting a new personal-best streak made it way easier to keep going when motivation dropped.

Three months in, the results are night and day:

• Zero 3 PM crashes or post-lunch brain fog
• Waking up alert with stable, natural energy
• Deep, restorative sleep
• Much calmer baseline when dealing with stressful deadlines

I’m at a crossroads today though: Should I treat myself to one specialty cappuccino to celebrate 90 days, or is having even one cup playing with fire and risking momentum? 😁