Craving Caffeine and Sugar - i.e. Coca-Cola...

[[Wo...]]

Anyone else have these kinds of cravings during withdrawal.  I'm trying to avoid any major stimulants besides my couple of cups of black coffee in the morning.  But my body is screaming out for a candy bar or a satisfyingly huge glass of soda.  I've been depressed and trying to shake it.  Any tips about how I should get out of the fog?  I have a feeling the yearnings are my body's way of wanting energy and a bit of a buzz / release.  Maybe exercise?  I don't have the energy to lift myself out of this bed, but I bet it would help.

[[br...]]

Hi WM,

 

This is a tricky one. I myself struggle to fully stay away from sugar even though it does none of my symptoms any favors. In fact it flares up all of my sx. At present I can handle a little sugar here and there and I am doing pretty well, though still not out of the woods with my reactions to sugar and indeed wd.

 

I've noticed that once I start down the sugar eating route. I then crave even more sugar and then even more so and the more that I eat sugar the worse the following cravings, or the after cravings will become. I do crave it so badly for some reason.

 

The best thing I have found is just to avoid it totally because even if I do just have a little bit it, with me it always ends up with eating more a day or two or even an hour later.

 

In order to keep myself right I say to myself the words ''I am not healed yet''  and over a few times in my head, for the moments when I am feeling particularly weak and may give into the sugar cravings.

 

Once I am healed I will eat lots of sugar I imagine and I can't wait, but for now, I patiently and very redundantly wait until my body is fully healed before eating sugar full time.

 

All that being said, if you can handle just eating it once or twice a week and in small amounts, without major pain occurring then go for it, just be careful. One set back can lead to another and so on, that's if you do not keep on top of them.

 

Good healing.

 

b

 

 

 

 

[Guest [Lu...]]

I would do anything to be able to eat cupcakes and cookies and ice cold milk again.

[[br...]]

I would do anything to be able to eat cupcakes and cookies and ice cold milk again.

 

You will again some day, that is the best thing about all of this, it is all temporary. Keep fighting the good fight my friend.

 

 

b

[[Wo...]]

thanks guys!  Fun to look forward to it.  It's like the trophy before me.  The day when my body can handle a coke - float again. I can't wait!!

 

[Guest [Lu...]]

I would do anything to be able to eat cupcakes and cookies and ice cold milk again.

 

You will again some day, that is the best thing about all of this, it is all temporary. Keep fighting the good fight my friend.

 

 

b

 

OMG bring it on, I was thinking about you today. I was in wal mart surrounded by delicious food and it was driving me nuts that I couldn't have any of it. Back to eggs, blueberries and water lol.

[[br...]]

I would do anything to be able to eat cupcakes and cookies and ice cold milk again.

 

You will again some day, that is the best thing about all of this, it is all temporary. Keep fighting the good fight my friend.

 

 

b

 

OMG bring it on, I was thinking about you today. I was in wal mart surrounded by delicious food and it was driving me nuts that I couldn't have any of it. Back to eggs, blueberries and water lol.

 

haha, I take it the Mantra worked. ''I am not healed yet'' I used it many times bud, especially when I was feeling low and in places where there was temptation everywhere. Back then sugar was really a big no no.

 

I will look out for your success story when I come back here. I will remember you all. Each and everyone one of you, you all have a place in my story.

 

 

[[po...]]

from:  http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-withdrawal-symptoms-top-ten

 

 

Kitty • 14 hours ago

Great Website, thanks a lot! It is so helpful!

 

I drank masses of coffee every day. Mo-Fr I was up to 8 Latte Macciato per day. At weekends I had only one coffee per day and was on cold turkey every weekend. I was only lying in bed, sleeping, unable to do anything. Now I stopped caffeine for about 5 weeks. First week was hell. I was on leave so I could sleep at daytime. I slept about 12-14 hrs every day. Could not concentrate and was fully exhausted. 2nd week I was back at work. It was hard to change the habit and grab water instead of coffee every time. I drank masses of tea (without caffeine of course). I still was exhausted very early in the evening but my weekend was better. Since then I am much more balanced then before. I do not feel so bright like I felt with coffee before. But by far not so down as if I missed a coffee.

 

Once per week I drink decaf and one time I forgot that coke means caffeine. But thats fine for me. I just want to feel good. I dont want to be perfect.

 

To my big surprise I got a cold the last few weeks. I havent had this in years. I guess not only my brain, even my whole body needs to recover.

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Penelope  Kitty • 9 hours ago

Well done Kitty and thanks for your response to my comment. I agree with feeling more balanced and I actually think I am beginning to sustain longer hours. Amazing isn't it!

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Rosie • 17 hours ago

I've been drinking at least one Red Bull a day for over fifteen years. I've gone through periods when I was drinking as many as three in a day, but I've never gone very long without one a day. I just can't handle the detox symptoms. My worst are the mood changes. Depression causes me to cry at the drop of a hat, several times a day. I get so irritable that nobody wants to be around me, which actually suits me fine since they're usually doing or saying something that I get angry about. I do also get the sleepiness and lethargy, but I've never thought of it as withdrawal. That's the reason I started drinking the Red Bulls in the first place, so of course it's going to come back when I stop.

 

Right now I'm almost two weeks into going from three to one a day. My coworkers don't want to be around me. My friends think I'm upset with them for no reason, which of course is technically true, so they avoid me like the plague. I've been pulled over for speeding once but I still drive 90 mph through town and take unnecessary risks, all the while screaming at the other drivers for their stupidity. One day I screamed so much I had lost my voice by the time I got to work.

 

I can't take this! I'm stepping back up to two a day.

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Kitty  Rosie • 13 hours ago

Hi Rosie,

you are doing a real good job.

 

As it is so hard and tough to go step by step maybe you can try cold turkey. Then you have all this only one time for a few days. It will work. Tell your co-workers and friends the reason why you are so emotional. I am sure they will support you.

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Penelope • a day ago

I'm on Day 10 - cold turkey. Never thought I would make it to this point. I've suffered from everything in the list (except vomiting), some more intense than others. The headaches were the worst (no pain relievers worked) but regardless everything takes its toll after a few days and the prospect of maintaining any sense of routine goes out the window. In addition my eyesight was affected (blurry) and today I am trying to play catch up but still find it difficult to concentrate on much or for too long. Driving the car is scary! I believe some of my insomnia is due to not eating as much and waking because I am hungry (more than anything), I've had something to eat (banana) and gone back to bed. I've also found, when I have woken in the middle of the night, my bladder is full because of the amount of water I have been drinking I suppose! Now I stop drinking a couple of hours before I go to bed and make sure I empty my bladder before going to bed. It hasn't fixed the insomnia entirely but it's not as bad.

I have survived the cold turkey but my intake of caffeine beforehand was not as big as some people here have reported. I'm a 47yo female and have drunk coffee and tea from an early age and don't recall ever doing a total caffeine detox. However, I stopped drinking coffee about a year ago and since then have only had one on the rare occasion. I don't drink caffeinated sodas nor do I drink caffeinated sports drinks and I don't add sugar to my hot drinks. All I had to give up was tea but what I had noticed since giving up coffee was that my tea intake had increased and was becoming stronger to make up for my coffee habit. The days leading up to me giving caffeine up completely I was drinking about four mugs of tea in the morning just to wake up and it wasn't even touching the sides. Plus I was becoming more and more anxious and couldn't (or wouldn't) sit still long enough so I could focus on one thing at a time. I was all over the place and being very non-productive. Although I was expecting some symptoms of a withdrawal I certainly wasn't expecting the intensity of symptoms I did have - they were pretty harsh.

 

I'm glad I have given caffeine up - I can sit still for longer periods now, even if the concentration hasn't fully come back, and I am happy with what I am getting done. I'm looking forward and can see improvements each day.

 

Good luck everyone, whatever your goal may be. This is a great site, and really assisted keeping me motivated.

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[[po...]]

From:http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-allergy-top-20-symptoms

 

 

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k • 11 days ago

Every time i drink coffee I feel intense paranoia, cramps, I urinate excessively, sometimes I hallucinate and I become incapable of sleep for almost and upwards to 24 hours after intake. It's terrible.

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Ted Admin  k • 11 days ago

It sounds like you are hypersensitive to caffeine.

 

http://www.caffeineinformer.co...

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Lyn • 20 days ago

Recently I cut down my diet coke intake down from 4 to 2 cans per day. In the last two days I have had 3 cans and by the end of the 3rd my arms feel all jittery. I also get itchy when I exercise and am wondering if this also is caused from either caffiene or aspartame.

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Ralph Drees  Lyn • 3 days ago

It is definitely a side effect of Aspartame. Caffeine is safer than breast milk for a newborn, by comparison to Aspartame. Please discontinue ALL use of artificial sweeteners. In everything.

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Ruby • 24 days ago

I thought it was just fluke! Had no idea that caffeine actually effected people that differently. I can barely drink 2 cups of coffee in a day without getting at least 1-11 of those symptoms listed! Learn something new everyday!

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nikita • 25 days ago

Im recovering from my caffeine attack yesterday of dark chocolate! I knew I shouldn't jabew had it but my body wanted chocolate so bad. Ate in afternoon then felt extreme nausea then constant jitters and bursts of energy nausea on and off in quick waves and was unable to think a straight thought or concentrate twitching in hands eyes hurt. Felt like i was on a extreme high of pure nerves,anxiety, stress, energy untill finally tiredness and exhausted and very angry with everything then insane dreams. Now next morning feel exhausted!!! Sore eyes and head and upset tummy.

Caffeine is evil!!!!

[Guest [Or...]]

Ugh, yes! For some reason my body craves sugar, and it makes my anxiety worse!! Like, I will be sitting there and all of a sudden just want some chocolate or a Pepsi. Im not mentally craving it like I would a cigarette, but physically I am. Its the weirdest thing. I dont know if going head first into the worst symptoms is the best way to handle withdrawal, but my body sure wants to deal with it that way. I settle by having ONE chocolate chip a day. Just one. Uno. I want a chocolate bar.

[[Co...]]

Well if you're used to consuming lots of sugar and you try to stop you will go through withdrawal. I have to keep eating small amounts of sugar because I can only handle 1 withdrawal at a time. Sugar releases dopamine and serotonin. When u quit sugar you're brain will crave it because it wants those feel good neurotransmitters. I can't believe sugar is not classified as a drug since it acts like one.

[Guest [Lu...]]

Well if you're used to consuming lots of sugar and you try to stop you will go through withdrawal. I have to keep eating small amounts of sugar because I can only handle 1 withdrawal at a time. Sugar releases dopamine and serotonin. When u quit sugar you're brain will crave it because it wants those feel good neurotransmitters. I can't believe sugar is not classified as a drug since it acts like one.

 

So thats why I feel so much better after a couple sips of Ginger Ale! I knew there was something to it.

[[Co...]]

Lol ya I watched a show once and they compared cocaine and sugar on rats brains during an mri. The ones that got sugar had brighter brains than the ones that got cocaine. Then they put the rats in a cage and put 2 water bottles, one with cocaine and the other with sugar but previously only let them have the cocaine water. They all went to the sugar water anyway even though they were used to the cocaine solution. Pretty interesting stuff.

[Guest [Lu...]]

Lol ya I watched a show once and they compared cocaine and sugar on rats brains during an mri. The ones that got sugar had brighter brains than the ones that got cocaine. Then they put the rats in a cage and put 2 water bottles, one with cocaine and the other with sugar but previously only let them have the cocaine water. They all went to the sugar water anyway even though they were used to the cocaine solution. Pretty interesting stuff.

 

Wow that's crazy they'd pick sugar over cocaine. Pretty powerful stuff.

[[br...]]

I am just coming down from a 2 week binge/gorge on sugar. I don't know if I have just totally underestimated sugar all these years or it is because I am still at a sensitive stage of acute wd, but which ever way you look at it, this stuff is dangerous.

 

Sugar is dangerous.

 

Fair enough I am seeing some improvements with my stomach issues that have ruined me throughout benzo wd, meaning I can handle the physical issues that sugar creates better, still, the sugar I ate over these past couple of weeks sent my mind into mega overdrive, it changed me. Made me think differently. I could handle it, sure, but do I want to, nope, nope!

 

I have not had any processed sugar since Thursday, other than a small trace that is in the wholemeal bread I eat in moderation and also in some pasta yesterday. I am only just starting to get back to normal. I have a feeling it will take a good few weeks to get it totally out of my system.

 

Conclusion, my stomach can handle sugar a lot better, but I need to keep away from that stuff until I am fully healed and even then, I need to make sure I treat that stuff like it is, the dangerous drug that it should of always been classified as.

 

So many people could benefit by cutting this crap out. Healthy eating with a lot more variety here I come.

 

Eventually I want to cut out bread and anything with any traces of any sugar in.

 

b

 

 

[Guest [Lu...]]

I am just coming down from a 2 week binge/gorge on sugar. I don't know if I have just totally underestimated sugar all these years or it is because I am still at a sensitive stage of acute wd, but which ever way you look at it, this stuff is dangerous.

 

Sugar is dangerous.

 

Fair enough I am seeing some improvements with my stomach issues that have ruined me throughout benzo wd, meaning I can handle the physical issues that sugar creates better, still, the sugar I ate over these past couple of weeks sent my mind into mega overdrive, it changed me. Made me think differently.

 

I have not had any processed sugar since Thursday, other than a small trace that is in the wholemeal bread I eat in moderation and also in some pasta yesterday. I am only just starting to get back to normal. I have a feeling it will take a good few weeks to get it totally out of my system.

 

Conclusion, my stomach can handle sugar a lot better, but I need to keep away from that stuff until I am fully healed and even then, I need to make sure I treat that stuff like it is, the dangerous drug that it should of always been classified as.

 

So many people could benefit by cutting this crap out.

 

Healthy eating with a lot more variety here I come.

 

Eventually I want to cut out bread and anything with any traces of any sugar.

 

b

 

Hey b, what all were you eating w/ sugar? Desserts and stuff?

[[br...]]

Errm good question. 

 

Mainly chocolate, then stuff like pizzas, the sauce is loaded, ready meals, coca cola, some sugar in tea I was drinking.

 

What else was there, oh yeah cakes, cup cakes, haha, I forgot to tell you, I ate some smartie cup cakes, 6 of them in one day.

Not advisable, it was like I was making up for lost time or something.

 

I am glad it is out of my system now so I can concentrate on the rest of healing, getting good nutrition from good foods.

 

Luigi is that your dog? ha ha, he/she, I would say a he? he is a little beuty. I love dogs.

[Guest [Lu...]]

Errm good question. 

 

Mainly chocolate, then stuff like pizzas, the sauce is loaded, ready meals, coca cola, some sugar in tea I was drinking.

 

What else was there, oh yeah cakes, cup cakes, haha, I forgot to tell you, I ate some smartie cup cakes, 6 of them in one day.

Not advisable, it was like I was making up for lost time or something.

 

I am glad it is out of my system now so I can concentrate on the rest of healing, getting good nutrition from good foods.

 

Luigi is that your dog? ha ha, he/she, I would say a he? he is a little beuty. I love dogs.

 

Well, I'm glad you got to eat a cupcake 

 

And yeah that's my pup! His name is actually Luigi lol! Thank you, he is quite awesome.

[Guest [Or...]]

Errm good question. 

 

Mainly chocolate, then stuff like pizzas, the sauce is loaded, ready meals, coca cola, some sugar in tea I was drinking.

 

What else was there, oh yeah cakes, cup cakes, haha, I forgot to tell you, I ate some smartie cup cakes, 6 of them in one day.

Not advisable, it was like I was making up for lost time or something.

 

I am glad it is out of my system now so I can concentrate on the rest of healing, getting good nutrition from good foods.

 

Luigi is that your dog? ha ha, he/she, I would say a he? he is a little beuty. I love dogs.

 

The former fat man in me is crying out in pain. lol. Glad you enjoyed enough for all of us LOL

[[br...]]

You know what, even though I can semi tolerate sugar now, even when I can fully tolerate it, knowing what I now know. I don't want to eat it any more. I am more than happy eating it say once a week or once a month even as a sort of naughty escape.

 

Once you know you can eat it, the whole urge to eat sugar sort of fades. The whole I want what I can't have debacle.

 

Yayy puppies! You should put up some pics if you can, I know it would cheer most people up on here. Nothing better than a puppy to make you smile, did you see the vid I put up about that dog at KLM airways? Classic.