Ask Lemmy

I went caffeine free a while ago. The first 7 days were terrible, after 7 days you normalize and are fine.

Taper out, your body and brain will get used it it in about a week or two. If you're like me life will stop having meaning as a side-effect. My longest time away from coffee was 3 months, and my mind did totally not get used to it in that time.

I have no doubt about coffee being a pretty hard (even if benevolent) drug.

How much tea do you usually drink? coffee has quite a lot more caffeine then tea. just slam a small shot of coffee.

Headaches and extreme drowsiness suggests caffeine addiction. You may want to consider decreasing your caffeine intake slowly over time. As for working without caffeine, unfortunately, that's a bit more complicated. I assume that you have difficulties with getting up in the morning, hence the need for caffeine. That might then imply that you are simply a night owl. These things are biologically hardwired into your DNA, and while night-owl-ness is known to change as you age, there's genuinely nothing that you can do to make yourself into a morning bird.

You can try dimming the lights after sunset, that might help at least a bit with going to sleep/waking up earlier, which might help lower your need for caffeine

Excedrin with caffeine. Won't help with the drowsiness, but should be suffecient to get rid of the withdrawal headache.

Wean yourself off the caffeine addiction.

Find caffeine pills. No-Doz is a popular one, but the dosage is so high you should only have one in a day.

Time release 100mg pills are your friend, if you don't take too many.

50mg pills are hard to find, but better replace a cup of coffee.

100mg pills that are not slow release or time release hit hard and crash hard, but spread them several hours apart and cut them off at noon, and it will absolutely get you through a sleepy day.

Bring your own tea into the workplace?

Tea bags are fine, but I recently discovered tea resin. It's basically a small block of concentrated tea that you dissolve into hot water. Not quite as good as fresh leaves, but more portable (dozens of servings fit in a tin the size of a USB stick) and very resilient against going bad.

I have a small selection of resins on emergency stash in my work bag, in case the coffee machine at the office is broken.

Drink water. A lot of it. It won't replace the caffeine, but it will make the day more bearable.
Maybe ask a coworker if they have any painkillers for the headache.

In the long run, weaning yourself off caffeine and getting enough sleep will make you healthier overall.

That's the neat thing, you don't.

Steal away for a quick nap and/or do some light exercise

Cocaine?

Assuming you’re not interested in quitting caffeine entirely - you can either drink tea before you go to work or try caffeine pills.

Have you put sugar in coffee? I'm very sensitive to bitter, and always had to put quite a bit of sugar in to cancel out the bitterness.

Sorry boss, I'm sick today I won't make it in

You are likely experiencing drowsiness & headaches because you're not getting enough sleep. Happens to me too when I get less than 7 hours of sleep.

Green tea has as much caffeine as coffee. Could you have sleep apnea ?

Murder

Two options.

Chocolate covered espresso beans. Taste like M&M's

Manhattan Special Espresso Soda. Diet option is available.

https://www.manhattanspecial.com/

As the other commenter said, painkillers and hydration will help

You can offset the bitterness of the coffee with milk and sugar. If you're getting headaches, it's probably just worth trying to grin and bear the coffee.

Failing that maybe something like Uber eats could do you a grocery delivery to wherever you are with some supplies

For the future, maybe try and drop your consumption a little bit, sounds like you're probably smashing it a bit, and to avoid a similar scenario perhaps keep some caffeine pills in your bag for emergencies

Buy a thermos. Make and bring your own coffee.

Hot chocolate if they got it. If you are used to hot coffee you may miss the warm feeling you get drinking it.

Others have given some simple suggestions that you should try first, but if this is a recurring issue, you could consider seeking an opinion from a doctor. If you have some untreated, underlying condition holding you back, no amount of healthy living or caffeine is going to improve things in the long run.

For example, it's possible to develop allergies late in life, which could lead to grogginess and headaches.

Either have the bitter shit and suffer for a little or don't and suffer longer.

Some over the counter painkiller to get rid of the headache if you can.

Just take a shot of the coffee in the morning to avoid the headache. I don't know how bitter it has to be for you to prefer a headache over it.

Have your pressure checked.

Enough exercise, food, hydration and sleep. Ain't no cheat codes for having energy

Make your own coffee or try caffeine pills. I had to cut back on coffee for a bit due to some stomach issues and the pills work just fine.