Caffeine detox

[Mrs.FullerRN 189]

Ill be starting my liquid preop diet in the next few weeks. I decided to give up caffeine/carbonation first so it wasn't all at once. Yesterday was my first full day without caffeine..I felt tired and cranky at work and then at the end of my work day had the worst headache ever..came home felt like I had the flu or was withdrawing from heroin..body aches, sweating, shivering..basically slept from 6 pm to 5 this morning. Now I feel fine. Is it possible the detox took 24 hours and now it's over? I've always heard stories of caffeine taking a week to get over. Any insight?

[Arts137 1,811]

Yep this happens. You have gone "cold turkey" so "when you find yourself in hell... keep going". I slowly cut down by adding more and more Decaf, and thankfully never got the BAD withdrawal symptoms. GOOD LUCK!

[Reigo 111]

I got a Migraine so bad that I started throwing up violently. But was better after a few days. Although at 6 weeks post op, I added regular coffee back into my diet. 1-2 cups a day

[newat52 1,613]

I always have two cups. I started before surgery too, couldn't imagine surgery and caffeine withdrawls! Not enough drugs to cover that!

I started over a month before my surgery and did my first cup as normal, the second cup was half calf. The next week both cups were half calf. The next, half calf on the first and Decaf on the second. Finally all decaf. It helped so much.

I was allowed caffeine after surgery. About 3 weeks I had a cup of defcaf and worked back up. It took a couple of months for coffee to taste good again but now I happily look forward to my two cups per day. My Water intake has always been great so no hydration issues there!

Good luck, take it slower and you will not notice it nearly as much!

[Peggy D 124]

I took the 3-month supervised diet time to wean myself off of caffeine & carbonated sodas. Like newat52, I gradually replaced regular coffee with Decaf until it was all decaf. I used a "cold-brewed" Toddy coffee maker & it took about 7 scoops to make it about once a week. It took nearly two months but I never had a caffeine withdrawal headache nor problems with staying awake mid-morning as I would before if I didn't have that coffee. As for the carbonated sodas, first I replaced diet cola with caffeine-free diet cola & diet root beer & then had only one a day instead of two, then one every other day, etc.