I am trying to do away with coffee also. I have been trying to switch to tea. I just don't enjoy tea. I have my own reasons for giving up coffee and pop. I have managed to stick to only one cup every once in a while. I think I had maybe one cup of coffee and no pop this whole week.

I have been drinking a lot of water with lemon and orange or crangrape juice. When I feel cold I go for tea or indulge in the occasional hot chocolate. I am definitely having caffeine withdrawal though. Headaches and tired when I usually am not.

I sympathize with the dairy. That has got to be even harder than kicking caffeine! I hope you are able to make the switch and I will support you however I can. Maybe I can send some tasty teas your way.

I use to drink a 12 cup pot of coffee a day!  I drank it all day and sometimes into the night.  Then, 3 1/2 years ago, I started cutting back.  I was down to about 4 cups a day of half and half (decaf - regular), when my sister - who was living with me at the time as she was recently separated from her husband - left to take her son for open heart surgery.  She had been making my coffee for me.

With her gone, I forgot to make it.  And stopped at that time!  I drank a pot of coffee for 30 years, and then within 6 months, quit.  And it was not so bad.  I still love coffee, but only drink decaf when I go out to restaurants or fancy Hotels (where the coffee is the only thing worth the price!).

I just don't enjoy tea.

I have become quite fond of tea.  At dinner, we have been making a pot of tea instead of coffee.  I have been making my own "flavors".  My favorite is brewing a pot with two bags of Constant Comment (with is a orange flavored black tea if somebody is not familiar with it) with one bag of cinnamon stick (which is just tea and cinnamon).  It's a nice sweet tea on its own, and has caffeine, so I'm not dead by the end of the day.  I really don't like pop that much, so it's not a problem.  I probably only drink a can or less a week.

I truly think that cheese will be my weakness.  I proved to myself by eating beef at the end of last year that meat has to be eliminated from my diet (felt like death for a few days).  So, that one is a cut and dry change.  But, cheese.....it's so hard to give up.  I'm sure that it will be of great benefit, but..but...it's just so good.

Any vegans out there that have a clue on how to go through cheese rehab?

I drank a pot of coffee for 30 years, and then within 6 months, quit.

That is a lot of coffee, but I probably was drinking that much between home and work.  The morning cup will be hard to give up because my husband makes it before I get up, and I drink while I'm driving to work.  At work, I have found that, though people here drink coffee, they typically only do so if I make a pot.  So, if I don't make the coffee, it probably won't get made and won't temp me.

I may be insane for trying to do both of these at once.

I too use to drink a pot of coffee, one of those 16 cup ones, a day. Then when I had my first heart attack I had to give it up along with smoking my 2 packs a day!
My bone density has gone from bad ( on the far end) to normal. Except for my hips which are now in what's called the precursor
stage of osteoporosis, osteopenia. Coffee takes calcium out of the bones.......

Soooo, I drink Peppermint tea, Orange spice tea, all those flavored ones, occassionally.

Give me cheese or else you've given me a prison sentence......

I'm allergic to dairy..I actually get a runny nose, and worse from dairy yet I keep on......how does one quit the dairy??

I just got some tofu, it's a substitute for chicken. Just have to press it between paper towels with a plate on it for about an hour
then slice it and grill it like chicken, can use marinades for it, bbq sauce, lemon juice and cilantro...it's worth a try.

Karma, I knew you had the Lupas and fibromyalgia, didn't remember or know about the RA. Do you take methotrexate too for it?
My hair is sooooooo thin from that medicine. How do you cope with the fibromyalgia? my doctor said I have it, but since I'm on
the methotrexate, and ibuprofen 800 mg, he says that's about it.

Good luck with this Karma.

I too was a serious coffee lover, and truth is, I still love it but don't indulge but in an occasional cup of decaf.

There are lots of great teas out and my favorite is Vanilla Caramel is it yummy. But I agree green tea is good too.

Wow, the dairy thing. That's HARD because I like milk. I mean really like it. I have to watch myself or I'll drink too much of it....but cheese....I don't eat it a lot, but when I want it I do. And Soy milk is, eh, for me. I can drink it, but really don't enjoy it.

Anyway, good luck and welcome to the rank of FORMER coffee addicts.

When I quit I slept for two weeks every time I got still and had a headache no amount of medication would cure.

Double post

I may be insane for trying to do both of these at once.

You are doing it right.  At my heydey, if I went without coffee, I got a headache!  But at the end, I did not suffer at all.  You have to do it gradually, and then it is actually easier.

 

Karma, I knew you had the Lupas and fibromyalgia, didn't remember or know about the RA. Do you take methotrexate too for it? My hair is sooooooo thin from that medicine. How do you cope with the fibromyalgia?

I have had RA since I was 13 (well, earlier than that, but that was when I was diagnosed).  I don't take methotrexate for it, as I had a really bad reaction to it.  I take Plaquenil for it now (which also treats flares in Lupus and Fibromyalgia) along with BP medicine (which keeps water retention at bay), Armour Thyroid (I no longer have a thyroid), 500mg of Naprosyn twice a day, as well as a SSRI (to help my brain manage pain) and Previcid to keep my stomach from getting eaten by the other drugs.  That drug cocktail seems to be managing the pain.  I am also starting some other tests for pain management as well as attending a pain management clinic this year, so I am hoping to get it under control.

When I quit I slept for two weeks every time I got still and had a headache no amount of medication would cure.

Yeah, I fear that.  I have gotten caffeine headaches just from not drinking enough caffeine.  I am hoping that drinking black tea (nothing in it) will ease me out of it, but there is no way that I can drink enough tea to make up for the caffeine difference.  I guess that is what they call withdrawal, huh?  I think my husband might want to go on a snowmobile trip for awhile- I'm sure I won't be too nice to be around.  LOL

I think my husband might want to go on a snowmobile trip for awhile- I'm sure I won't be too nice to be around.

Yeah this might be a good time.....and tell him to take your child so you can just sleep all weekend.

I did notice, once the sleepies were over, that when I woke up in the morning, I felt like I'd already had two cups of coffee! I wake up more alert and ready for the day instead of trudging to the coffee pot so it could wake me up.

Kinda like how you'd wake up as a kid.

Some mornings all I drink is water. How boring is that? haha.

I also was hungrier the first few weeks off coffee. That almost made me go back on!

Well I hope your headaches (if they come) will pass quickly!

have had RA since I was 13 (well, earlier than that, but that was when I was diagnosed). I don't take methotrexate for it, as I had a really bad reaction to it. I take Plaquenil for it now (which also treats flares in Lupus and Fibromyalgia) along with BP medicine (which keeps water retention at bay), Armour Thyroid (I no longer have a thyroid), 500mg of Naprosyn twice a day, as well as a SSRI (to help my brain manage pain) and Previcid to keep my stomach from getting eaten by the other drugs. That drug cocktail seems to be managing the pain. I am also starting some other tests for pain management as well as attending a pain management clinic this year, so I am hoping to get it under control.

The BP medicine you take, if I can ask, is that Sprirolactone? That's one of my BP meds. Just got on it in June after having a chest pain
episode. Naprosyn gave me a stomach bleed. The cymbalta helps me with some of my back pain, not enough pain relief though.
Like LW is going to have, I already have had a facet injection, do need a major spine surgery to correct problems tho.

I think you're attending a pain management clinic is somethink I should look into. Have you tried Continental Soy milk? it's really good.
Sweet, tastes like real milk.

I have a cup of coffee (black with sugar) in or near my hand all day long. Everyone accuses me of drinking too much coffee. Phooey! What they don't realize is that my stainless steel cup keeps coffee "hot" for as long as 4 hours. And will keep it warm for another 3 on top of the 4 hours. That's 7 hours. I usually only have 2 cups a day. It just looks like a lot more. Although I do drink a lot of iced tea. I go through about a gallon in a week.

as a cheese adict myself, I understand the problem. Cheese is good....comforting, filling....yum! (Can you tell I'm from near Wisconsin?)

Anyway, maybe do a gradual cutback. No soft cheeses. Allow yourself to have hard cheese as a garnish. Then you are less likely to break down and eat it en mass. Everything in monderation right? You cut back on the coffee, why kill yourself over cheese?