Caffeine withdrawal

[In the Rain]

How long will it take the headaches to go away? I tried googling it, and only found articles with helpful advice such as- "You can avoid caffeine withdrawal by never consuming caffeine". :thumbdown:

 

Anyhow, my head is throbbing, Tylenol doesn't help, and I wonder when I'll start feeling better! Where is the pity party smilie. :tongue_smilie:

[sands31210]

For me it is usually gone by the next day. There have been a few times it has lasted for 2 days.

[jasar31629]

In the past it's only been the first day or two. But in the past I hadn't had the habit for so long :tongue_smilie: I'm hoping it won't be an issue when I need to quit someday to try for another dc :)

[Chelle in MO]

Drinking lots of water may help. Hope you feel better soon!

[ChrisB]

It took me a week to get over it.

[AngieW in Texas]

It took two weeks for the worst symptoms of caffeine withdrawal to go away. For me the worst symptom was cotton-mouth. For that whole two weeks it felt and tasted like my mouth was stuffed with cotton. Nothing would get rid of the taste. The headaches were pretty bad, but at least Advil could help with those.

 

I've been caffeine-free for 20 years except for one incident 16 years ago when I tried an Orange Crush before realizing it had caffeine. I had the shakes for several hours after that and I only had about half the can before realizing that something was wrong.

 

edited to add:

Oops. Not Orange Crush. It was Sunkist Orange.

Edited December 11, 2010 by AngieW in Texas

[WarriorMama]

I found the first two days were the worst but I had headaches for nearly a week...and I had already cut down to nearly none gradually, so it wasn't a full cold-turkey stop. I didn't expect it to last so long...

 

Rest assured it WILL go away! Hopefully sooner rather than later, for your sake. :001_smile:

[Dinsfamily]

2-3 days for me too. Sugar headaches were worse...they lasted for about 6 days.

 

Good to know that I can prevent caffeine withdrawal by avoiding caffeine altogether. I'll keep that in mind. :lol:

[Dinsfamily]

It took two weeks for the worst symptoms of caffeine withdrawal to go away. For me the worst symptom was cotton-mouth. For that whole two weeks it felt and tasted like my mouth was stuffed with cotton. Nothing would get rid of the taste. The headaches were pretty bad, but at least Advil could help with those.

 

I've been caffeine-free for 20 years except for one incident 16 years ago when I tried an Orange Crush before realizing it had caffeine. I had the shakes for several hours after that and I only had about half the can before realizing that something was wrong.

 

Orange Crush has caffeine? I had no idea! I thought all of the fruity sodas were caffeine free. Guess I shouldn't assume.

[AngieW in Texas]

You're right. Orange Crush doesn't have caffeine. It was actually Sunkist Orange.

[Ibbygirl]

It takes me a week to get past the splitting headaches and two weeks to be totally pain free. If it's any consolation, I'm a fellow caffeine addict who is trying to get off it too. I am so not looking forward to those headaches. I hope it is a comfort to you that you're not alone anyway. :) Good luck to you. :)

[Gratia271]

I found the first two days were the worst but I had headaches for nearly a week...

 

Same experience here with severe headache for several days and diminished headache for another four/five days. As someone else stated, staying hydrated helps.

[Hathersage]

My experience was the throbbing pain didn't go away after 2 weeks, So I started seeing doctors. They felt I was using the caffeine to self-medicate my atyptical migraines.

[Tammyla]

:grouphug:The headache will go away soon, and it will be worth it. I was sluggish and had a headache off and on for days.

[EKS]

You can avoid them completely by gradually eliminating caffeine. I've done it by adding more and more decaf to my coffee each day. However, when I've gone cold turkey, it's taken a week, and no medication has touched it (except codeine), and consuming caffeine again hasn't helped either...

[TheCoffeeChick]

Drinking lots of water may help. Hope you feel better soon!

:iagree:

You can avoid them completely by gradually eliminating caffeine. I've done it by adding more and more decaf to my coffee each day. However, when I've gone cold turkey, it's taken a week, and no medication has touched it (except codeine), and consuming caffeine again hasn't helped either...

 

:iagree:

 

There is a thread somewhere on here in which I was trying to stop drinking coffee - I went about a week and a half before I started drinking it again. But I had no headaches at all. I cut my caffeine intake by half each day until I was down to half a cup - then went to none the day after that. I also drank more water than I thought was humanly possible. I was seriously in the bathroom constantly, but no headaches at all.

 

I had to start drinking coffee again because of my asthma - without it I couldn't breathe. Who knew it was acting as my daily medicine? :glare:

[mytwomonkeys]

i give up caffeine every year for lent. it always seems to miserable for the first week. hang in there!!!!!

[In the Rain]

Thank you all so much for the replies! :grouphug:

 

I woke up this morning without a headache. :D Yesterday my headache didn't start until evening though.

 

I know tapering off caffeine is a better way to do it. I was only having 2 cups of green or white tea a day, so I didn't really expect there to be a problem. For medical reasons I had to go cold turkey. At the same time, I gave up gluten after two weeks of bingeing on it in preparation for a celiac biopsy. Maybe that can cause withdrawal too? :confused:

[In the Rain]

It took two weeks for the worst symptoms of caffeine withdrawal to go away. For me the worst symptom was cotton-mouth. For that whole two weeks it felt and tasted like my mouth was stuffed with cotton.

 

That is so interesting! Last night I was complaining to my husband that my mouth felt weird, and too dry. I drank a ton of water yesterday and couldn't get rid of the feeling. It was kind of like when you eat way too many sweets and are dying for a drink of water. (not that I've ever eaten too many sweets :blushing:)