Caffeine - My story

[SO•Sebas]

I WAS a big caffeine drinker. Anything with that magic substance in it was MY drink of choice. Coffee, Pops, Energy drinks.

1 Year ago, I was diagnosed with IBS [Irritable bowel syndrome] and I had to cut back on coffee because my body couldn't tolerate it anymore. I was left with Energy drinks and Pops.

6 Months ago, i suffered painful palpitations. I was sweating bullets, I had trouble breathing and I also was twitching pretty bad from all places on my body. I went to the hospital and they said this was caused by a rapid absorption of an Energy drink. This then was also out of the equation.

I was then left with Pops. I could drink them all day long. I woke up with them and went to sleep with a pop as well. Dark pops were my drink of choice (Pepsi, Coke, Root Beer, etc.). On a daily basis, I could drink anywhere from 1L to 2L of it easily. Then, disaster struck 1 month ago. I started having trouble sleeping, my body didn't send my the usual signals to tell me I was hungry. I was also having immense emotional breakdowns and i felt like crap. Nothing could satisfy me and the only thing that brought some "sensation" of being fine was when I drank a pop. Nothing else.

At that point I decided that I needed to stop. Altogether. NO. MORE. CAFFEINE. Here is the detailed story of what happened in the following weeks.

Please note that Caffeine has an usual "half-life" of 3-4hours and that it cumulates when you add more in your body. If you do the maths simply, it takes for example 4 hours to eliminate 50mg of caffeine out a 100mg drink. It then takes 4 more hours to eliminate 25mg of the remaining 50 and so on. It can take days for all the caffeine to exit your body If you take too much.

WEEK 1
- Day 1 thru 3 were fine. I didn't feel anything different other than an immense craving of drinking a pop. I replaced the craving with all-natural juice. This worked for a while.
- Day 4: Sleepiness starts. I began to feel sleepy all day long. The only thing I wanted to do was sleep. All day. All the time. I went to work at 10pm, ended at 6am and went to sleep to wake up at 9pm to start again.
- Day 5 to 7: Same thing.

WEEK 2
- Day 8 to 14: HEADACHES! God that was intense. I was having day-long headaches with immense pain to extremities of my body. I could feel my body started to suffer from "lack" of Caffeine and was craving for more. During week 2, i suffered from [Restless-Leg Syndrome] and was having issues sleeping because of it. This was starting to get the best of me.

WEEK 3
- Day 9 to 21: Stomach issues. I feel bloated all day long. I'm having issues passing gas and it's painful as well. I take some medication to relieve the pression. I'm starting to sleep better.

WEEK 4
- Day 21 up to now: Wait, It finally gets better. After 4 weeks i'm finally kinda back on track. Headaches are gone but i'm still having issues with my stomach. My doctor said I needed better eating habits because of all those years of drinking soda took its toll. I have to eat more fibers and I have vitamins daily.

Still think Soda is good for you? Think again.