To give up coffee

[sweetypop]

Inspired by another thread about lack of paying attention to what people are saying.

I feel like such an ignorant rude person as lately I can't listen to anyone in my family at all. I just stare blankly and nod. It's become quite bad and I now always try and remind myself repeatedly to listen, but i still fail.

I have adhd which probably doesn't help but I never used to be this bad... But the other thread made me consider that coffee could be my problem. I need at least 3 cups in the morning to even feel human. Then one at about 2pm one after dinner. And a couple more thrown in for good luck as and when... I can literally feel my body shutting down when I need one.

Anyway the thought of giving it up has crossed my mind before but I never thought it necessary as it's not hurting anyone. But now I'm thinking it could be playing into my lack of concentration.

Anyone been brave enough to give it up? Did it make a difference? Were the side effects as bad as we think they'll be? Did you go cold Turkey?

I gave up coffee a long time ago but loved my coffeeshop routine too much to give it up. I now drink a matcha latte with soy/oat milk (it's delicious when made right), and no longer feel jittery. In fact, I discovered that coffee was the cause of my breakouts too so that's a definite bonus!

I used to drink as much as you do. I decided to do a detox and went cold turkey.
The first couple of days were horrendous, I had the worst headache and was throwing up. After that it got a bit easier but I did have a mild headache and cravings for about a month. I have now been caffeine free for 3 years. I do still crave a nice cup of tea or a coffee shop coffee but decaf does the trick and I can't tell the difference. I have found that since giving up caffeine that I sleep a lot better and need less sleep than before. Totally worth it. Good luck!

People with ADHD often self medicate with coffee, as it's a mild stimulant. The downside is that it ends up affecting your sleep quality (even if you think you are sleeping well, your sleep won't be as restoring) which, yes, will make your concentration worse.

I used to drink a lot of coffee but switched to decaf about 5 years ago. Worked wonders for stopping the jitteryness and excess sweating.

My preference is tea rather than coffee, but I did switch to decaffeinated drinks for probably a year when I was anaemic a while ago. (it interferes with the absorption of iron).
I don't recollect any side effects.
I worked in a research lab at the time - any caffeinated drinks were locked away rather than being in the kitchen, because of the impact caffeine would have on research results of patients. Made me think twice about the impact of a substance one normally thinks of as innocuous.
I've resumed drinking caffeine now (probably 10-12 cups of tea daily, occasional coffee). I did stop drinking in the evenings a while ago, in case it was impacting my sleep; it didn't seem to, but a nutritionist advised that it would take more hours to leave my system, and effectively I'd need to stop caffeine at midday.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/doctor-issues-cockroach-warning-coffee-23602734

Used to drink a lot of coffee.
When I had trouble sleeping I revised how much I drank. I now have two, max three, cups in the morning and no caffeine after 12. I like a nice strong coffee and enjoy it. Some days I only have one. It's a sign of stress if I want to drink more than three.

I started mixing my coffee with decaf to get used to the new flavour. Started with 75% normal, 25% decaf, now on 100% decaf and I have no regrets. It helped that I found good quality beans.
For me the issue with coffee was that I loved the flavour and ritual so I didn't want to stop drinking it, but I wanted to reduce caffeine intake.

Caffeine is a stimulant that actually helps a lot of people with ADHD to focus. It sounds like you need to discuss your ADHD presentation with a doctor. Your medication may need increasing and you could be craving caffeine to actually help focus.