How many of us recently given up caffeine and drink mainly water now.

Nurses Stress 101

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I know this is a little off topic but in another way I might be going the withdraws for the first couple of weeks of the new upcoming semester.

I am ready to give up the soda pop. Probably the main reason why I gained nearly 20 pounds in a 9 month time frame besides fast food. I was seriously thinking about going cold turkey starting today. However, my biggest concern is the withdraws and fatigue associated with it. Has anyone here recently given up the habit cold turkey if so how long did you go through withdraws and the fatigue . I should have been thinking about this when school ended last semester. Does anyone have any success stories. I usually have one cup of coffee every morning and about 2-3 12oz-20oz size pops a day. So far today I only had a cup of coffee and that is pretty good for me so far today and I had 16 oz of water so far, which is also pretty good because I usually don't drink any water at all. I can't put this off any longer.

peaceful2100--

Good luck in trying to decrease your caffeine intake. I've been trying to do it for a while now & it is extremely difficult - headaches, nausea. Like the other poster's have said--don't go cold turkey, especially with the new semester coming up. Nursing school is stressful enough w/o having to give up caffeine!

The best advice I can give is just to try to cut down very gradually, and if you HAVE to have caffeine, just have a smaller portion than you usually would, i.e., half a can or half a glass of soda, instead of the whole thing. I'm better than I used to be; now I drink some kind of juice (grape/apple/orange) in the morning as opposed to a big glass of diet pepsi to start my day. LOL

Good luck in your upcoming semester!

Christine

(going into 2nd semester of ADN program!)

:)

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I just quit caffeine on Saturday. Had a day of headaches and very tired! Sunday wasn't too bad, had some headaches but was able to go see "Cats" with my sister and her family. Monday, still had some headaches but not tired. Yesterday I was very tired and headachey. Today I'm drowsy again. I drink more water and still have 2 caffeine-free Diet cokes a day.

Before Saturday, it was a pot of coffee and Diet Coke w/caffeine all day long, till after dinner when I switched to caffeine free Diet Coke.

I won't give up the caffeine free Diet Coke though. I absolutely love Diet Coke!

Next to go is the cigarettes and I hope that will be conquered before I start my on-the-job training for CNA at a local nursing/assisted living facility January 21st. I'm 51 and I'm tired of the affects of cigarettes on my energy level and breathing. I'm not getting enough oxygen anymore and feel too run down all the time. Sorry cigs, ya gotta go.

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Specializes in Cardiolgy.

I will admit that I am addicted to Coffee, I seem to live on the stuff especially when I am on placements. However I can just stop drinking all cafinated beverages. The only trouble is I don't wake up very quickly in the mornings.

If I start to feel a bit run down from lack of coffee when I am going without, I drink Ribena Light, as it is a lot nicer than the limescaley water we get from the taps, and it is cheap, and tastes great.

The only problem is it doesn't help headaches the same way as coffee. So I think I'll stick to that vice for a while longer:)

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I gave up drinking sodas about 2 years ago, for the first 2 weeks I had the most painful headache I have ever had. After that the pain went away and I was fine. Something really funny happened about a month after I quit, I picked up my husband's drink by mistake and it tasted horrible. Now I can't even stand the smell of cokes.

Now I am trying to get up the courage to give up the sugar in sprites. :D :D

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Hi Peaceful,

I was a serious pop drinker for years and about 2 years ago I completely gave it up. Honestly, the only way I was able to do it was to start drinking flavored seltzer water. The good thing is that seltzer water doesn't have the carbs, caffeine, etc. bad thing is that doesn't taste the greatest but sometimes you can get lucky and get good flavors. The bubbles really help. I guess it's a psychological thing. Makes you think you're drinking soda. Then I just eventually weened myself from the seltzer water. I did hear on a show once though, that selzter water is a diuretic although I had no problems of that nature while I was drinking it.

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Hi Peaceful,

I was a serious pop drinker for years and about 2 years ago I completely gave it up. Honestly, the only way I was able to do it was to start drinking flavored seltzer water. The good thing is that seltzer water doesn't have the carbs, caffeine, etc. bad thing is that doesn't taste the greatest but sometimes you can get lucky and get good flavors. The bubbles really help. I guess it's a psychological thing. Makes you think you're drinking soda. Then I just eventually weened myself from the seltzer water. I did hear on a show once though, that selzter water is a diuretic although I had no problems of that nature while I was drinking it.

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Specializes in MICU.

. . was to buy a Brita water bottle. Eight bucks at CVS and I can put the grossest tasting school water bubbler water in there and it takes just fine! Not to sound just like a commercial, but I spent so much money on bottled water, it was just ridiculous. You gotta try this guys, it works so much better.

-r

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