Coffee

[pjr]

I decided to give up coffee as i now it is bad for anxiety. Well have not had a coffee since yesterday lunch time and now i have a pounding headache and feel sick. Should i have cut down slowly?

[Elle-Kay]

How much coffee did you used to drink?

[pjr]

4 to 5 cups a day.

[little scientist]

maybe rather than go cold turkey on the coffee, try reducing by a cup every two days or something?

[Elle-Kay]

It might be a withdrawal thing then, though I don't think 4-5 cups is excessive. You might also just have a headache. I often feel a bit squiffy when I get a banging headache. I wouldn't worry in either case, I'm sure it will pass :)

Try drinking plenty of water (at least 8 glasses) to flush any lingering caffeine through your system. Also, don't forget that some fizzy drinks (cola, pepsi etc.) contain almost as much caffeine as coffee, so don't replace one stimulant with another :)

[little scientist]

*looks at her can of coke*

[tamo]

coffe brings me out in a cold sweat but i can drink 4 bottles of pepsi max and mug after mug of tea and feel fine !!! strange .:ohmy:

[Angelica]

Hi, I gave up coffee for awhile and when I did I had a heavy head and headaches as well it all went away in a few days. I drank 4 cups a day.. I now drink 1 cup a day in the morning I can't give it up entirely.

[times71]

Dude, the best thing you can do is give up any form of caffine. Even the decaff stuff. If you smoke stop that too. You will feel like crap for the first few days, but its a trade off. If you ever want to improve your "panic feelings" doing the above is a 100% move in the RIGHT direction. Trust me on that. Oh, and if you drink cola, pepsi etc DO NOT replace it with sh*t like pepsi max, diet coke etc. Water, green tea, camamile tea.. if your finances allow buy a juicer. TRUST me on all this. Spare two weeks of your life to give it a go. Trust me, you will never go back.

peace

[Beagle]

Hi. I have just tried giving up caffeine too, having drunk about 8 cups of tea a day. Cold turkey was vile, with a crippling headache and sickness. This stopped as soon as I had a cuppa! I am, instead, tring to cut it down to just 3 cups per day. One cup is about 40 mg of caffeine and a high daily intake about 200 mg. hopefully 120mg per day will not stimulate the anxiety, but if it does I will have a staggered stop, so no withdrawal symptoms

[Sparkle1984]

I've never been much of a coffee or tea drinker (I don't really like the taste) but I remember in my CBT Stress Control classes, they said it's best to cut down on caffeine gradually in order to reduce the risk of withdrawal effects. I hope that helps. :)