RSTY

My family has a history of high blood pressure, which on my paternal side develops into Polycystic Kidney Disease. My Father, Grandmother and her three sisters all have the disease, which sets in later on in life.

I’ve always been a caffeine drinker - since maybe the age of 10 or 11, I was regularly drinking tea and coffee which developed into a habbit of almost exclusively drinking hot, caffeinated drinks and never drinking sodas, juices or water. I would say that since the age of 14 I was consuming 6 to 8 cups of tea per day, with maybe a couple of coffees thrown in too. Essentially, my caffeine intake was very high.

I had my blood pressure taken recently and it was far too high for comfort - probably caused by too much caffeine, and maybe a little stress from time to time. Given my paternal health issues, I figured I should cut down or stop my intake of caffeine.

I made the decision to quit the caffeine cold turkey. This was a few months ago now, but I’ll document each day as I remember it all very clearly still.

Monday

The first day, Monday, was absolutely fine. I kept getting up to make a cup of tea or coffee, and even filled the kettle a few times before realising “wait, can’t do that any more!”.

Tuesday

Nothing to report really, I felt normal pretty much. Until the evening, where I could feel a very slight, dull headache making its presence felt. I went to bed as normal.

Wednesday

I woke with a headache. Nothing too bad. It certainly didn’t stop me from getting up and going to work. But work was very difficult. Throughout the day the headache worsened and being a programmer I was not productive at all. I wouldn’t say I couldn’t think straight, but I spent the day doing menial tasks that didn’t require much concentration. I found it hard to focus (visually) on things.

Thursday

The headache continued throughout all of Thursday, and my work was still affected. I went to bed with headache. I really felt like getting a fix at this point, but decided I’d stick through it unless it lasted until Monday, where by I could not afford to take any more downtime at work.

Friday

Headache gone! Great news. Friday was my first day of feeling absolutely normal again. My work was back up to speed, and I felt “free” of any symptoms.

Saturday

Body ache. This came as a surprise to me, especially given that on Friday, the before, I felt absolutely normal. I felt like I had done a lot of exercise perhaps, it was that kind of ache. My limbs were a bit stiff, and I pretty much spent the day lounging around. I felt miserable and irritable too.

Sunday

Body ache continued, but much less so than on Saturday. I had a normal day otherwise, and didn’t feel so miserable or irritable.

Monday (exactly a week after going cold-turkey)

All body ache gone. No symptoms.

Since the one week barrier elapsed, I have had no other symptoms and have been caffeine free since then. I feel absolutely great for it, and quitting allowed me to realise a number of effects that caffeine had on me during my time as a caffeine drinker.

Firstly, I was actually quite an anxious person before quitting, and I really believe that some issues I was having were solely being caused by excess caffeine intake. Such issues, and the anxeity, are now far less of a problem.

Secondly, I feel that now I am a lot less irritable than I was before. A number of people have commented on this, both work colleagues and friends.

Thirdly, and most importantly, my sleep has improved vastly. I had always marked myself as being a light sleeper and never attributed it to caffeine - I thought it was just the way I was, presumably because I can’t remember life before caffeine. I used to wake up at the slightest thing - a car in the distance, the house creaking, even people walking past on the pavement outside. Not any more! I sleep a lot deeper, feel better rested, and need less sleep to feel rested. My usual 8.5 hours is now 7 hours, which is fantastic.

A friend of mine has also just recently (in the last fortnight) given up caffeine, and has had exactly the same symptoms as I have had, although his took a full fortnight to disappear, where as I only took a week. He had the same headaches and the same body ache, which is interesting.

I must admit, I did have a cup of tea about 6 weeks after quitting. It was terrible. The caffeine sent me on a massive head-rush, I went dizzy and very sweaty. Not an enjoyable experience, and I don’t plan on doing it again.

I’d say quitting has changed my life for the better.