A Sleepy, Boring Two Weeks Ahead of Me
I’m going to spare you the gory details, and just summarize: had a few bouts of not feeling so hot, over the past month or so. A bit of nausea that showed up, and then kind of went away. Got checked out by the doctor, and it’s not a big deal – my symptoms were related to a slight bit of inflammation – so the recommendation I got was to take Ibuprofen twice a day, and to cut out all extraneous fluids.
That is: no coffee, no tea, no alcohol, no soda pop. He even went so far as to tell me to avoid decaf anything, if I could. It’s not a super hard and fast rule, and he said I could just ignore his advice and see if the Ibuprofen helps… but better safe than sorry.
So – two weeks, and I go back for another checkup. And in that time, it’s a whole lot of water and not much else for me. Which means without my coffee and alcohol, I’m going to be sleepy all the time… and all of you are going to be really boring to talk to. Huzzah.
Going without alcohol won’t be all that bad, though I have gotten used to having a beer when I get home from work. The coffee thing will be a bit harder to kick, as I’m used to sipping on coffee throughout the day. We have some pretty terrible Starbucks packets at work, so it’s not like I’m missing all that much. I guess it’s the caffeine I miss, more than the coffee.
Two weeks. But hey, at least I’ll be pretty hydrated in the meanwhile, right?
[CC photo via Tim Perdue]
Related:
Starting a New Diet
Where’s My Water?
When I first had to go without coffee, I drank a ton of water instead. Just to have something liquid to drink, I guess. I soon discovered that, though it took a little longer to kick in, the water woke me up just as well as the coffee, and there was no crash afterwards besides. I’ve been coffee-free for I don’t know how many years now and except for a very few minor occasions, I don’t miss it at all. Hope it goes well for you.
juliet (August 19, 2013 at 1:03 am)I’ve definitely been drinking a lot more water, for the same reasons you mentioned – just to have something to drink. But it’s definitely not taking the place of coffee, in terms of energy.
I’m up early most days, and will be awake for a few hours before my first cup of coffee at the office. So for me, coffee is more like turning on some loud music – added momentum that gets the brain rolling a little faster. I don’t usually crash after coffee.
Going without caffeine or alcohol isn’t all that bad. I can feel the absence of both (which I guess is a bad thing), but it’s tolerable. It’s nowhere as bad as quitting smoking, but I definitely have cravings for coffee and beer or wine.
So far, I’ve just got to make it to the two week mark. A few more days, and I’ll be halfway there. Hopefully this is all just a temporary thing, as a lifetime without coffee (and booze) seems like a sad and drowsy one.
avoision (August 20, 2013 at 6:56 am)