Don’t Try To Quit Caffeine Cold Turkey! [VIDEO]

According to myaddiction.com "the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance on earth, caffeine is used daily by an estimated 90% of Americans". I sure fall into that category.

I start my day at two or three am. The first thing I do when my feel hit the floor is turn on the coffee pot (the automatic timer broke a few months back). In usually nap for another tin minutes or so until the coffee is brewed. I have worked myself away from all of my other vices but have not been able to kick this one. I drink coffee all day usually switching to decaf around three in the afternoon.

The other problem I have is not sleeping well. I can fall asleep just fine; but staying asleep is another thing. It is rare that I sleep more than four or five hours without a lot of tossing and turning. I would love to be able to sleep for eight hours straight. I decided that the coffee is a major contributor to the problem and decided to quit cold turkey. This was not a good decision.

I had cancer about ten years ago and found myself hooked on sleeping pills, pain medication and anti-depressants (all prescribed due to the disease). I quit them all cold turkey one day despite advice to the contrary from my doctor. It was a very rough three weeks. I'll spare you the details; but will tell you that I did not sleep for weeks. That's why I refuse to take any of those drugs today (including sleeping pills). So quitting caffeine seemed to be the only way to improve my quality and quantity of sleep.

I have had no caffeine today. I got a killer headache about eleven this morning. This was followed by a very weak feeling and trouble keeping my eyes open. I ended up leaving work about 12:30 and taking an afternoon nap. I don't usually leave until at least two in the afternoon. So I did some fact checking on caffeine addiction. I learned from the caffeine addiction center  that one of the difficulties with caffeine addiction is that most people don’t think of caffeine as a drug in the same way that they think of nicotine or alcohol. In fact, caffeine consumption can cause a lack of mental alertness. That is why you find yourself reaching for more.

I can't promise you that I will beat this addiction completely. I think cold turkey may be a little extreme for this one. Maybe I'll switch to decaff a little earlier in the day and see how that affects my sleep. (yawn)