July 28, 2005
Day Twenty-Three
It's not getting much better.
The physical symptoms have disappeared, but my attention span is still down. Sleep cycle seems to be less disrupted, but that's probably just because the wife and children are out of town. Still suffering from mild aphasia, forgetfulness, and slight but noticeable sluggishness.
This is a bit worrying. We're talking coffee here, not heroin or methamphetamine. Surely I should be feeling more normal by now.
A possible clue: drinking herb tea seems to help a little. But only a little; and I dislike pretty much all of the sorts of herb tea that are available around here.
At this point I'm going for a month. One more week. After that... I don't know.
Posted by douglas at July 28, 2005 02:57 PMWell, yuck!!
It seems to me that 23 days is a long time to still be experiencing caffeine withdrawal.
{{{{hugs}}}} and hopes for feeling better soon!
Posted by: Lorraine at July 28, 2005 09:04 PMwhy don't you try some Vitamax or some Spirulina? Your body lacks the caffeine it got used to... you need some fresh energy to replace it. Go for vitamins, go for energy drinks in the morning.
Go for RedBull :)
btw... http://www.redbullflugtag.ro/ ... in september that crazy contest will happen here too ;)
Posted by: rosurfer at July 28, 2005 11:36 PMHi Doug!
I spent many hours reading through your archives because I used to live in Bucharest and now live in Tirana so we have a lot in common! I was just about to go to bed when I noticed that your blog about "A Curious Trend in the Balkans" is on page 2 of the Albanian Daily News and is posted as "Opinion". Your name is given and it says it is from a weblog. You might find this interesting... or not :)
Kim
This is sort of like watching that magician sit in a block of ice for a week. How does it do it?
Posted by: Carlos at July 29, 2005 01:30 AMCoffee is a wonderful drug.
Posted by: Randy McDonald at July 29, 2005 09:53 AMCafeine withdrawal should not have such long term effects, surely? Are you sure you haven't got some semi-dormant illness going on here?
If not, just give up.
Posted by: Martin Wisse at July 29, 2005 05:33 PMWhen I go off coffee for three-ish weeks at the end of every semester, I usually find that I sleep for close to fourteen hours a day for the first week, but after that, things tend to get back to normal. Of course, having children, job, and all of those things make such an option a tad more difficult than it is for someone in my position.
All of which is to say that you have my condolences.
Posted by: Andrew Reeves at July 29, 2005 07:12 PMSome of the easily available research (web ready, no library) seems to indicate that 2 weeks is a typical outer edge for caffeine withdrawal. The usual caveat of "although longer durations have been occasionally noted" is present.
Links:
http://www.acnp.org/G4/GN401000165/CH161.html
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/09_29_04.html
I think you need to figure out if the coffee was doing bad things to you (sleep problems, stomach problems, migraines) ... the cure seems to be worse so far.
Posted by: Brian DiNunno at July 29, 2005 11:02 PM