It's been 1 year and 7 months since I had coffee or tea. I started coffee 12 years ago and two years in I already had trouble with stress and relaxing. I started to have anxiety and panic attacks in 2020.

In 2024 I had a burnout and my level of anxiety was just through the roof, it was completely out of control. That's when I said enough and stopped caffeine. Today I can say I am back to my old self, the one who was always deeply calm inside, even when everything around me or in my life was falling apart. I'm back to being the chill, calm and grounded person who I was before ever started caffeine.

I had to switch job position and ended up at urgent care in a hospital ( against my will really but it's too long to explain). I'm doing administrative work, being on the floor with the staff answering requests from doctors and nurses.

The old me would have had some form of anxiety or at least been very stressed in that environment and spiral mentally. Im VERY surprised that I'm still calm, my mind don't go into catastrophic thinking, I naturally stay in the present moment feeling chill, yes even when working at a new job, in urgent care.

I have no desire whatsoever to go back to caffeine, even when I'm really tired or have trouble focusing. I feel like I was manic on caffeine and that my personality was gone. I also was taking very impulsive and wrong life decisions on caffeine that had bad repercussions on my life. Caffeine really made me lose myself. Now I feel like old true self again, after 10 long years. Instead of trying all sorts of therapies and supplements start with stopping drinking drugs everyday.

I thought quitting caffeine would mostly be about headaches and missing coffee.

The bigger surprise was realizing how often I used caffeine as the answer to things that probably had another cause. Bad sleep? Coffee. Skipped breakfast? Coffee. Mentally fried at 2pm? More coffee.

Once I removed it I had to actually look at sleep, meals, movement and how much I was asking from myself in a day.

What did quitting caffeine force you to fix that you had been covering up before?

OK, NGL, I'm quitting caffeine as a sort of...test bed for other things I have quit as well. Those things are bigger than a cup of coffee, so if I can't figure out caffeine...what am I doing?

I've been off caffeine now for only about 4 days. One of the biggest problems I have is that there is a voice in my head that just says "well, you can have a coffee, just a small one, think of it like tapering!" or "well...tea has less caffeine than coffee, so...really if you have a tea it's like you're cutting back" and so on. It is *unbelievable* how easy it is to hear those thoughts and want to be convinced. It's absolutely absurd how easily I can let myself by convinced by them. I haven't gone back yet, but that was through a huge amount of willpower, going for a walk far away from coffee etc. I can't imagine that going on a 30 minute walk for every craving is going to be sustainable, nor is it possible to just use my will to fight it constantly.

So, am I unique in this here? If not, what do you do to acknowledge and move past your own attempts to convince yourself that it's not a big deal?

the positives:
- no more violent mood swings
- anxiety has pretty much vanished
- overall stable and calm mood
- I fall asleep like a baby
- appetite slowly coming back (I‘m way too skinny and could use some extra weight)
- facial skin appears to be a little softer and smoother and my lips are not as dry as they used to be

the negatives (please note that these are mostly temporary withdrawal symptoms):
- constant feeling of emptiness and lethargy
- depressive episodes (I wouldn’t attribute those solely to the withdrawal because there are some aspects of my life that I‘m deeply unhappy with, e.g. my volatile romantic relationship with a fearful avoidant [24F])
- low motivation resulting in procrastination
- I have difficulty concentrating when I‘m trying to study for law school
- I sometimes wake up way too early when deep sleep (first few hours of sleep) is over; after 4-6 hours

I hope that things will stabilize soon, especially my sleep. Anyone having a similar experience?

Lately, I’ve been trying various types of tea, I’m looking for something hot to enjoy while I work. Some options have been excellent, while others turned out to be little more than hot water with only the faintest hint of some plant-based ingredient. Can you recommend anything interesting that’s worth a try?

Been off of regular coffee for a couple of weeks and decided to have a cup of decaf from home. I don’t know if I’m going crazy or not but I still feel like I feel it. I also had some sugar in it too. Does anyone else feel like this? If this is the norm I think I may be good just going 0 caffeine on everything.

Ive had a horrible day. Im nauseous, pounding headache, my eye is twitching. I hate how caffeine makes me feel. Curious, if this happens often? Now im scared to order coffee ever again.

I used to get sleepy a little after sunset, but push through it and stay up until 10ish most nights. Now, off caffeine for 3+ weeks, I find myself getting incredibly tired between 7 and 8 most nights, sometimes even earlier. I’ve had busy evenings the last week, but have been prioritizing a 9/9:30 bedtime when possible. But looking ahead, I’m wondering about just rolling with it and getting in bed the minute I start yawning.

For those of you who have been off caff for a while, was there a sleep schedule that helped you recover faster? And how long did the deep exhaustion last? I’ve heard a lot of people say 6 weeks to 8 weeks, but I know it varies a lot person to person. Did any of you try a 7pm bedtime? It feels kind of ridiculous, but I’m thinking I should give my body what it’s asking for in this situation.

I quit all caffeine 6 weeks ago. I think I've had about 3 cups of green tea intermittently on massive work days, but other than that I've been off of it... but I still crave the high and 'tunnel vision' focus from it! I'm an artist and have undiagnosed ADD and caffeine really helps me lock into a 'flow mode'.

I have been using this powder that's supposed to make the transition helpful.. it's called MTE (More Than Energy). It definitely helps, but I wonder if it's contributing to me still craving that caffeine feeling?

I know at this point it's definitely psychological over a physical addiction. Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, everyone

I'm thinking about quitting coffee altogether, but I'm not sure if it'll actually do me any good.

I should mention that I used to drink a lot of coffee; now I only have one regular cup in the morning, and occasionally a Coke Zero. Two cups of coffee give me discomfort—I noticed that a while back, about 2–3 years ago. I've been sticking to this amount for quite some time now.

In the morning, I get up, drag myself over to the coffee maker, make myself a cup, and take a shower. That’s at 6 a.m., except on weekends—then it’s later.

Do you think there’s any benefit to cutting out coffee entirely? That is, cutting out about 80 mg–100 mg?

I don’t think coffee has any effect on me in the evening anymore, since it’s been so long. What do you think?

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