Monday, November 24, 2008

Withdrawal

I have given up caffeine. I'm only on day two and I've already got a wicked headache. I'm trying to get Jesse to give it up too but I don't think he'll make it. I say that because on day 1 he bought a pop* and tried to claim that someone gave it to him for free.

Why am I giving up caffeine? I don't know. I guess I just don't like the idea of being addicted to something. I've been thinking about giving up caffeine (and it's delivery method, sweet, sweet Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi) for a while now but I've been afraid of the headaches. I've tried this a few times before and the headaches always leave me helpless and whimpering and stumbling blindly into a gas station crying "A pop! A pop! My kingdom for a pop!". It's not pretty.

So I need your help. Do something to make me feel better. Scroll down and look on the right hand side. See where it says "the coolest folks on the internets"? Become one of them. Follow this blog. Artificially pump up my numbers so that I feel better about myself. Also, if you're out there reading this blog I would like to know that so that I can stop on by and say hi to you. And harass you for a pop.

*I think I became a real Minnesotan the day I gave up calling it "soda" and started using the more quaint and folksy "pop". I cried a little that day.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

i did this almost 10 years ago. it was very, very hard. the headaches lasted over a month. but it was worth it to curb an addiction and now i don't need it. good for you!

Gina said...

I did it once, too and almost died of headache. But it got better. But I'm back on the stuff again.

Tricia said...

I've done it more than once. I'm trying to do it now. Not because of the caffiene as much as to get away from all the fakeness of diet soda. :) I am from NY - it is SODA but for 10 years I lived in Cincinnati and I gave in and called it pop then too.

The Gray Gang said...

It's not worth it! I'm a Wild Cherry Pepsi Gal! I don't believe in quitting!

Anonymous said...

You can do it. It's only slightly more difficult than giving birth. And hey, i'm following you now. It seems kind of stalkerish. I was just impressed with myself for figuring out how to do it. Wheeee! It's fun being a grown-up.

Jen said...

Caffeine is (one of)my drug(s) of choice, too... delivery system is called a Keurig and it's evil. Wonderful and evil.

Now if only I had something to blame the wine and beer on.

Teddi Taylor said...

I was so proud of myself for using, but not getting addicted to caffeine for so long, because I was so sporadic about my intake, but when the hubby started working for the *bucks, it became very regular. Now I need it (sigh). I figured I should comment since I've been following your blog for a little while now on google reader, so I never show up on your actual site.

Anonymous said...

In the words of Shania Twain (umm.. I can't believe I'm quoting her!): "I ain't no quitter". At least I ain't quittin' diet coke. Oh no sir! But I am reading you here. Just so you know. :)

Sarah said...

I've been following you on Bloglines since you were carrying A!

I struck a caffeine balance by giving up artificially added caffeine. Coffee and tea are fine, because they're comforting social rituals and I can neither afford nor be bothered to make that many of them. If I'm drinking soda, I stick to root beer or Sprite, both caffeine-free. No energy drinks!

Sophie Treadmill said...

Hey sweetie! I know I've been gone forever, but I'm trying to change that! I'm going to post later today if you wanna see what I've been up to (it isn't that interesting, but you could've guessed that).

I cut down on my caffiene intake majorly, but not totally. I still HAVE to have one with meals and drink somewhere around 16 oz a day. Other than that, I drink a lot of water, so I'm proud of myself just for that.

My hat's off to you! It is an admirable goal but I haven't the cajones to totally cut out the caffeine.

I'm off to catch up on the rest of your blog. I think my whole afternoon is being spent catching up on blogs...I love the decadence of that!

dancing_lemur said...

Delurking, as requested! I've done the cold turkey caffeine thing too--it sucks. Most recently I gave up soda and switched to hot tea instead. Still the caffeine, but without the carbonation and fake sugar.

StickyKeys said...

Yay for POP! Or as I like to call it "WHAT IT'S RIGHTLY CALLED!" ahem.

Unknown said...

I followed. It's all I have though. I can't figure out why anyone would give up caffeine.

Anonymous said...

Longtime reader, first time poster here... I didn't realize there were states that used "pop" instead of "soda"! A friend of mine, an American ex-pat always used to tease us (here in Canada) about the word "pop" and said that allll Americans say "soda" - but I guess not!!

I wonder where the soda/pop border is...

Great post, I wish I were strong enough to give up caffeine, but I love *bucks too much

DreamCatcher said...

I am also a former caffeine addict. More accurately a "sodi" addict. Good old central IL. At one time I was drinking 8 cans of Mt. Dew a day. I slowly lowered that number before finally breaking the habit 2.5 years ago. I have been caffeine free but not sodi free since then. I decided to move on to caffeine free Diet Pepsi. :)

Good luck on your addiction curb. *Huggles*

Randi said...

It's worth it, I promise. I've been 4 months off Diet Coke now, and I really do feel much better than when I was on it.
You can do it!

( and that's so funny about the pop/soda thing. I always thought the folksy, country one was "soda")

Mandy said...

Excederine is great because it has the stuff to squash the headache, and also a small dose of caffiene to pull you through

Vanessa Rogers said...

And in Texas we just call everything Coke no matter what the brand actually is.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jen:
I have a link to your blog on my site. Come check it out!

After giving up caffeine through my two pregnancies (...girls) I started back again, not heavily but enough to have to drink coffee by a certain time every day or else I too would get that terrible headache.

One day I just decided that I didn't like needing something to wake me up, to give me more energy. I hated the thought of relying on something the way that I did. So I gave it up with the help of many, many Motrin.

Go fo it, it is so worth it in the end to be able to sleep in should you choose, without having to play the price of a killer headache.

You can do it!

Sadie at heyMamas.com

Tori said...

Delurking here. I'm reading through the archives. I found you through the futuregirl blog (I'm pretty sure...) Anyway, I'm really enjoying the blog and love the idea of being a foster mom someday (my husband wants to wait until our kids are grown, we are newlyweds and currently don't have any of our own yet). I am now following you on blogger :)