Thought id ask here, cos as we know, Dev did what few could do and kicked some bad addictions, so i have my own questions!

I consume LOADS of caffiene everyday, like, loads! And i intend to try and quit ingesting it (again.) come the 24th or so of November, now, i have some questions..

1) Whats a sure fire method of not relapsing? I have the will power to a point, but then the headaches set in and i have a red bull to soothe the pain but then..

2) How can i substitute caffiene in my daily life? Like, energy drinks are my main beverage!

3) Quitting soda totally, how hards that gonna be? Im a bigger dude (14 stone and short, hooray.) and the smallest ive been in a year was 11 stone (After trekking around Venezuela! And i cant do that every weekend!!! im only 18 and in the United fucking kingdom!) i hear that cutting it out can really help with drastic weightloss and other health issues (I dont have any that i know of but something about bad breath?) any ideas?


Laugh me outta here, poke fun or help me! I know its not a true -addiction- of sorts, but i really wanna kick it!!!

Hopefully come the 17th i'll have some inspiring music to push me forward!

Cheers dudes

Would cutting back slowly not be a better idea than simply throwing it all out at once? It'll make the headaches more bearable, I think..

I remember when I kicked a pretty bad habit of substituting meals for caffeine pills about 3 years ago - personally I just stopped completely one day, but it took a while for my body to adjust - though I wasn't moving around much at that point, I became quite sedentary and lazy/lethargic. And old habits are hard to beat, since it still creeps back from time to time..

But yeah, calculate how many milligrams of caffeine you're ingesting a day, and just cut back slowly. Have more fruit or something, a natural sugar to keep your energy up.

Maybe jump into the Addictions discussion here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8680

Might be some good advice in thar. I've never had dependencies like the one your describing so I'm not gonna try provide any info cos it'll be plain useless!

And why not introduce yourself and say myello here while you're schmoozing about the GD: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1748

I would say the opposite. The only way I have ever found of quitting bad habits, and I have had some heavy ones when I was younger, is to go cold turkey. Quit and don't touch the substance again. Full stop. It is no fun initially, but you just have to tough it out. Don't try to quit. Quit or don't bother trying.

Caffeine is an addictive drug like many others, both psychogically and physically. The good news is the body gets over caffeine addiction a lot quicker than a lot of other substances - the physical addiction withdrawal is over and done inside of a week or so, I believe.

Things I have found that help with quitting stuff:

- Don't have your substance around. Don't have coffee or soda in your house. Same as with cigarettes or alcohol or cocaine or whatever. When you have a craving, if it's there you may give in. If you have to go out and buy some then you have longer to talk yourself out of it.

- Similarly, don't go to places where you will be around it or people using it. More difficult with coffee and cola as they are socially acceptable and people consume them in public places, but don't go into cafes or fast food places etc.

- When you have a craving, drink a large glass of water. Then make a conscious decision to go and do something - go for a walk, play some guitar or playstation or whatever. Do the washing up. Chat on a forum. Divert your mind.

- Take painkillers to deal with physical withdrawal symptoms - you aren't going to get hooked on Ibuprofen in a week or two and they will make the process a lot more bearable. It isn't about punishing yourself, it's about getting better.

- Every evening tot up how many days you have been 'clean'. Pretty soon it becomes a good incentive not to blow your track record. "I haven't had a (REPLACE your drug of choice here) for 3 days/3 weeks/3 months. Am I really going to ruin all that now?"

Good luck, dude.

There's usually good non-addictive herbs to help withdrawl symptoms for most addictions. The only one I can think of for caffeine is try putting about half a dozen cloves in hot water drink as a tea, helps with the center brow headache. Drink lots of good quality water. Maybe try non-caffeinated drinks to help with the habit of making up a brew. Not a fan of goin the cold-turkey, reckon weening off substances works, cut daily intake down gradually. Unless you like a good battle of the self.

Both going cold turkey, and cutting down over time work, depending on your own self control I tend to find.

my mum used to smoke an insane amount of cigerettes a day, but wanted to quit, so at first she went to the NHS to get the patches, but after a couple of weeks, they messed up order the patches for her, so she just kinda went "Fuck it." and full on stopped. She hasn't smoked anything since in about... 5 years?

So try both! xD

I haven't (I dont think.) become addicted to anything that phyically addicts, but mentally, I think I do. it sounds totally nuts, but I think in a sense I became 'addicted' to my panic attacks, because it provided stimulus for my brain. But now, I'm trying to prevent panic attakcs, and so far its working! Only had one full attack in the past year, and it took half the time to clear than it normally did.

Yep. What Billy said. Me thinks him and I have alot in common (history).

Also, I believe hairbearbunch was getting at a placebo effect of sorts. I have been trying to cut back on coffee, and changed my usual four cups in the morning to two cups, and two cups of green tea. Green tea has about 1/4 the caffeine content as coffee, so it can be considered a weening down of sorts.

But, Billy's right. Cold Turkey is always best. I did it with cigarettes last April...But, when I kicked methadone they had to give me all sorts of pills to replenish my system and help with the withdrawal...and it eased my brain because the ACT of taking the pills gave me comfort...because it was familiar and I was so used to it.

Anyway...good luck. I know it is hard.

I third or fourth cold turkey... Its how I quit smoking.

The reason I didn't recommend going cold turkey was the fact that I could barely function every day without taking the caffeine in the morning - I think cutting back slowly is going be much easier, since you can slowly wean yourself off the waking-up effects, rather than just taking it all away and leaving yourself with nothing.

But Billy's preventative tactics = gold.

Exercise, caffeine's worst enemy. Drink tons of water, you'll pee endlessly, but not as much as you do when ya drink coffee. And to staunch the cravings for the mouth watering taste of mountain dew code red...blueberries.

Our friend the Monster pick up truck used to haunt the local target. Free monster for us whipper-snappers to weigh down our cargo pockets. I finally saw the merit of those asshole hot topic pants.

< what Billy said here >

I have to agree with Billy here, too! (for once)
I consume a lot of tea and coffee, but my mornings are the same with or without caffeine.
And for me, I see the point being the habit of drinking, I could just switch to de-caf products, and have them replace the possibly addictive stuff, and still have the cup in my hands and warm fluid in it, like I am doing the "real thing".

I've had only one bad habit, and I quit it in one day.
It took me a whole 4 (four!) days to start hating the whole thing I had done for 10 years
So that was just something to do to pass the time or do with my friends, I never felt any strong withdrawal symptoms when I didn't consume the product for days.
I have to say I am really proud of myself! I was so suprised that I just did it, snapped my fingers and didn't do it anymore.
Whenever my friends activated and did it, I just didn't go. I said to myself "do I really want to smell as bad as them? I don't want to make my health any worse than it is now!", and the one-second urge to go was gone.

The Soda Incident?
I did that too, I've been there.
I have been a tad overweight for so long, but when I quit all sodas, my weight started to noticeably and steadily drop, and my tummy wasn't as pregnant-looking anymore. I gained my weight mainly from extra sugars, and I carried them all around my waist. Now I have almost an hourglass shape!
That stuff has sooo much bad crap in them, that I just can't think about consuming something as unhealthy as that
Now I drink flavoured vichy (bubbly water ), and it has totally replaced the sodas for me.
Also my Gravedigger quit sodas, and he lost immediately 3 kgs.

I see myself as a strong quitter when I can see the problem from health or money side, maybe looking things from many other points will help too.
Smoking costs a lot, sodas are really not healthy and caffeine addiction can make people as crazy as drug addicion, so it's nothing to laugh at.

I babbled a lot, this must be a record!
I wish the best of luck to all quitters!

Billy and Sarai, cheers so much!!!


Im starting as soon as i've finished the 4 pack of coke at home, my girlfriends offered me incentives to get it kicked!



Ill update my progress, but seriously, thank you guys

Today is one year since I ceased smoking.

Today is one year since I ceased smoking.

Sweet! I quit last April, but I haven't been counting the days. I did, however, get my keytag and coin on Monday for being drug free 1 1/2 years!

In case it hasn't been said, try to not let yourself subvert your addiction. My friend cut caffiene entirely out of his system, but he coped by letting himself spend alot when ever he wanted to drink. He simply exchanged a physical addiction for a mental one. He's now trying to cut down on the buying, and he's putting his attention into (I know this will sound crazy) a woman, and he is having a happy, functioning relationship for the first time since I've known him.

I have no idea if that helps at all.