Break my caffeine addiction...again

I was doing so well—less than 40 mg (one can of soda) per day, and frequently much less, for 3 weeks.

But now, it’s crunch time, and I’m getting tired of the scattered-ness and headaches. So I’m backsliding a bit. I can take solace in the fact that I only need half a cup of coffee to get me where 2 cups used to, but still…not good.

• Saturday 4/30: a very small cup of coffee (75 mg?) and 2 cups of green tea at a Japanese restaurant before I remembered about this goal (50 mg?) for a total of ~125 mg. Not good.
• Sunday 5/1: one can of soda (35 mg)

• Monday 5/2: one can of soda (35 mg)
• Tuesday 5/3: negligible
• Wednesday 5/4: one can of soda (35 mg)
• Thursday 5/5: one can of soda (35 mg)
• Friday 5/6: negligible
• Saturday 5/7: one can of soda plus a couple ounces of coffee (50 mg?)
• Sunday 5/8 to Wednesday 5/11: one can of soda per day
• Thursday 5/12: negligible! yay!
• Friday 5/13 – Mon 5/16: one can of soda per day
• Tues 5/17: negligible
  I hope that soon I can cut back to just a couple of cups of decaf for a piddly few mg.

You know why the first couple of days didn’t hurt? Because I was taking Advil for something unrelated. Duuuuuh.

The third day was brutal. I ended up drinking 1 can of soda to beat the headaches and then needed another by the end of the day: probably just under 100 mg total.

Today, I had another 40-50 mg. Guess I’m going to be tailing off gradually after all.

For most of my adult life, I’ve been addicted to caffeine, requiring a minimum of 100-200 mg/day to avoid headaches. The pleasure has been worth the expense, so I haven’t worried about it too much.

But my doctor wants to increase my dose of a stimulant medication. I don’t think I’ll be able to tolerate the increase, but there is absolutely no way I’m going to try it without sharply decreasing my caffeine intake first.

Therefore, for the past 4 days, I’ve had very little caffeine – 1 soda (40 mg) or a couple ounces of brewed coffee (40 mg?) to top off a bad decaf blend. It has been surprisingly painless so far. If I can keep it up another week or two and I feel like I can handle it, I might get the courage to try the new medication dosage.