Decaffeination, Days 2 & 3
Well, I lasted a whole 49 hours on the cold turkey method, and that’s only because Kevin and I were being filmed for a piece for Dutch television about the economic crisis and I couldn’t put a pot of water on for tea while they filmed us. It was EXCRUCIATING!!! My friend described it as a stabbing pain behind your left eye, and I don’t know about the left eye part, but it HURT! And I was so CRANKY! And just EXHAUSTED! So I finally had a can of Coke and some tea.
It’s sobering to realize that my body is so dependent on a substance that if I try to stop using it, I have an almost unbearable physical reaction. I mean, if I’d been in it to win a large sum of money or my health depended on getting it done ASAP, I could have done it, but it just wasn’t worth being so miserable. But still, I’ve put this drug into myself for so long – a drug that is not meant to cure any ailment or ameliorate any health problems – that it feels like I can’t live without it. Scary.
So now I’m going to try the step-down method, using this 49 hour detox as a “booster” to get into it. My previous consumption was 600-800 mg per day, (with spikes to 1200 mg on “bad days” when I hadn’t gotten enough sleep). For those of you playing a long at home, that would be what the medical establishment would term “six to eight cups of coffee,” but actually is the amount in just two large Starbucks. I generally got my fix in the form of one No-Doz when I got up (200 mg), then a large Red Bull after the gym (160 mg), followed by a 20 oz Diet Coke with lunch (80 mg) and another large Red Bull (160 mg) to get through the afternoon slump. That’s 600 mg. If I was feeling cheap and got the Arizona Iced Tea No Carb energy drink (200 mg) or Rockstar No-Carb (240 mg) in place of Red Bull, that would up it. Ditto if I got a second Diet Coke, or got an iced coffee instead of the afternoon energy drink. So 600 mg was my minimum intake, with many days going over that.
Day 3, I consumed just 200 mg. And, to tell the truth, it wasn’t horrible. Granted, it was a Sunday and I didn’t have to focus on anything or get any work done, but I only felt slightly “foggy” and there was only one point in the day where I had an unavoidable compulsion to lie down and sleep (which I did). So I’m going to shoot for that as a daily intake, but also be okay with up to 300 mg on work days. Which would put me squarely in the range (200-300 mg/day) of what doctors call “moderate caffeine use.” And let me tell you, I’m fine with that...as a starting point. To halve my daily consumption (which has been going on at that level for YEARS) in 3-4 days is serious progress. So kudos, me! ;-) Now I just have to have the discipline to keep it at this level for a week or two, let my body adjust, and then cut down from there.
The crazy thing for me is realizing how deceptive so much of the talk around caffeine is, just the way it used to be with nutrition. When health and medical websites say that “moderate” consumption is “2-3 cups a day,” they mean two to three Denny’s sized cups (6-8 oz) of diner strength coffee. Just ONE small Starbucks is the limit when it comes to moderation. Get a second one or upgrade to a large and you’re well into the world of being a “heavy user.”
Seems like another avenue of nutrition where we could all use a little more education. Okay, enough preaching for one day. Next post will be something funny. Or a video of me stabbing someone on the subway...
It’s sobering to realize that my body is so dependent on a substance that if I try to stop using it, I have an almost unbearable physical reaction. I mean, if I’d been in it to win a large sum of money or my health depended on getting it done ASAP, I could have done it, but it just wasn’t worth being so miserable. But still, I’ve put this drug into myself for so long – a drug that is not meant to cure any ailment or ameliorate any health problems – that it feels like I can’t live without it. Scary.
So now I’m going to try the step-down method, using this 49 hour detox as a “booster” to get into it. My previous consumption was 600-800 mg per day, (with spikes to 1200 mg on “bad days” when I hadn’t gotten enough sleep). For those of you playing a long at home, that would be what the medical establishment would term “six to eight cups of coffee,” but actually is the amount in just two large Starbucks. I generally got my fix in the form of one No-Doz when I got up (200 mg), then a large Red Bull after the gym (160 mg), followed by a 20 oz Diet Coke with lunch (80 mg) and another large Red Bull (160 mg) to get through the afternoon slump. That’s 600 mg. If I was feeling cheap and got the Arizona Iced Tea No Carb energy drink (200 mg) or Rockstar No-Carb (240 mg) in place of Red Bull, that would up it. Ditto if I got a second Diet Coke, or got an iced coffee instead of the afternoon energy drink. So 600 mg was my minimum intake, with many days going over that.
Day 3, I consumed just 200 mg. And, to tell the truth, it wasn’t horrible. Granted, it was a Sunday and I didn’t have to focus on anything or get any work done, but I only felt slightly “foggy” and there was only one point in the day where I had an unavoidable compulsion to lie down and sleep (which I did). So I’m going to shoot for that as a daily intake, but also be okay with up to 300 mg on work days. Which would put me squarely in the range (200-300 mg/day) of what doctors call “moderate caffeine use.” And let me tell you, I’m fine with that...as a starting point. To halve my daily consumption (which has been going on at that level for YEARS) in 3-4 days is serious progress. So kudos, me! ;-) Now I just have to have the discipline to keep it at this level for a week or two, let my body adjust, and then cut down from there.
The crazy thing for me is realizing how deceptive so much of the talk around caffeine is, just the way it used to be with nutrition. When health and medical websites say that “moderate” consumption is “2-3 cups a day,” they mean two to three Denny’s sized cups (6-8 oz) of diner strength coffee. Just ONE small Starbucks is the limit when it comes to moderation. Get a second one or upgrade to a large and you’re well into the world of being a “heavy user.”
Seems like another avenue of nutrition where we could all use a little more education. Okay, enough preaching for one day. Next post will be something funny. Or a video of me stabbing someone on the subway...
posted by Sam at 11:24 PM
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