Withdrawal of anything would include anxiety symptoms, I imagine
this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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Except withdrawal of real world problems.
I try to withdraw from real world problems and they just start piling up, leading to even more anxiety.
Broadly speaking, anxiety is an elevated mood; the reason stimulants exacerbate anxiety is the same reason stimulants are contraindicated in people with bipolar disorder. For someone trying to achieve concentration while suffering from an anxiety disorder, a prescription medication like guanfacine might be better if possible; it has an off-label usage for anxiety disorders, and its two main usages are in treating ADHD and lowering blood pressure (neurostimulants like caffeine, by contrast, elevate your blood pressure).
Caffeine withdrawal thankfully only lasts about a week at the worst.
As in the severe symptoms last upto a week? Because I would have expected long term changes such as resistance and mild tiredness without it to last longer.
I'd expect the long term effects to be more psychological. Such as thinking you can only feel awake with caffeine
Physical dependency is only 7-10 days, but the psychological addiction can last for however long your brain decides.
Caffeine is lowkey the most normalised and profitable drug addiction in the world, and it doesn't really even do anything. The whole 'giving you energy' thing is a myth, all it does it make you tired without it. That's why caffeine legally has to be listed as a 'flavouring' on the packaging, despite nobody on earth having a clue what it's supposed to taste like
The primary effect of caffeine is to block adenosine from getting to the adenosine receptors, and that hormone is generally associated with sleepiness. So it's kind of like caffeine creates an illusion that removes our awareness of sleepiness.
However this also has a cascade of secondary effects on the central nervous system that leead to things like blood pressure changes, improved lung function, increased cortisol and adrenaline levels, etc. Taken together, these things quite objectively generally result in greater feelings of alertness and energy. And anxiety.
As others have noted one case where it can have more of a calming effect is in people with adhd. It should also be noted that overconsumption of caffeine combined with other poor lifestyle choices quickly leads to chronic fatigue system, at which point no amount of additional caffeine is going to continue being helpful and it just becomes a slog of continuing to take it for no other reason than relief from withdrawal symptoms.
One dose a day is all that should be necessary - ideally taken as early as possible. It should also be noted that for most people in industrialized countries, coffee or tea might be their most significant and pretty much only reliable source of polyphenols.
And lastly don't forget the most important reason for drinking caffeinated beverages: the pooping!
^that.
...Also worth pointing out: caffeine gets added to a lot of analgesic meds. So it’s very possible to have a background caffeine load and not even realize it, whether that’s from taking a couple of caffeine-containing painkillers or eating dark chocolate.
Correct, it has a quite similar structure to adenosine. So it can prevent you from getting more sleepy but it can't "kick out" the adenosine already bound to the receptors.
The whole 'giving you energy' thing is a myth, all it does it make you tired without it.
Absolute nonsense. I don't drink coffee or tea, and if I drink a couple cups of coffee I end up with a hundred more tabs in the browser, two programming projects started and abandoned, a hundred notes tagged and reorganized, and a bunch of unnecessary and vaguely mean comments on Reddit and Lemmy. Possibly also a sore leg or shoulder from impromptu exercise.
You need to take control of your caffeine addiction.
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If you're not already addicted, caffeine can definitely pep you up quite a lot. Not in a comfortable way, though, in my opinion
most normalised and profitable drug addiction
Found the Mormon.
Most Mormons (especially the ones living in Utah) are hopelessly addicted to caffeine. They don't drink coffee, but they do have "dirty soda shops" and diet coke. They love that shit.
Caffeine absolutely does something what are you even talking about. There are thousands of research papers of what caffeine does.
well caffeine mostly makes me pee. it's a diuretic which means it makes you pee. that's the thing it's most effective for for me. other side effects include having an easier time shitting because it increases bowel movements. apart from that it is a mild stimulant that maybe makes me a bit more creative. i've observed it a couple of times but it's inconsistent.
all it does it make you tired without it.
Maybe if you're already taking it regularly this is true, but we know that it blocks some adenosine receptors, preventing the buildup of adenosine, which is one component in making us feel sleepy.
Yes it makes you feel less sleepy/tired but it doesn’t ’give you energy’ - just tricks the body into thinking it’s less tired than it actually is
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I'll be that guy: SUGAR. Just try cutting it out of your life and tell me we're not all hopeless fiends.
If you cut out sugar completely, your brain/central nervous system/red blood cells would break down.
We definitely consume too much sugar, but caffeine is not needed for anything.
False. The liver can synthesise over 100 grams of glycose per day, enough for the brain and the rest.
It's hard and crashy to withdraw from sugars, and it's hard because it's in all processed food and wherever they can stick it, but you can absolutely do it.
But if you pull through you'll feel way better because the body upregulates the fat to atp cycle instead of using sugar, so instead of getting hungry all the time when the body needs energy (and you are supposed to eat a donut) it just uses fat from our fat cells.
And if you eat a lot of sugar, as sugar is toxic to the body, it's used up ASAP and triggers insulin spikes etc. not exactly good for you in the long run.
Now, I guess you should try to figure out a good diet around all this of course, but sugar is just a toxic drug.
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I quit smoking weed five years ago and I have no more anxiety. Food and sex aren't that great any more and everything is boring, but so what?
I've heard that the longer you spent smoking before, the longer it takes for your body to readjust to the new happy chemical levels.
Maybe it'll get better for you soon?
Well, I was only a wake-and-baker for thirty years, so maybe you're right.
I have two moods. 1 calm 2 freaking the fuck out
3
Reminds me of the case when anon found out that very cold and very spicy foods don't cancel each other out.
Pls tell me this was based on a greentext about anon shoving a hot sauce popsicle up his ass
No, I'm pretty sure it was about eating. But hey, whatever tickles your imagination...
Never change anything. Got it.
Cutting out caffeine is so fucking hard because people try and bring you cups of tea or coffee all the time and then get upset if you say no thank you
And then there's the self will power because after abiut 2 days wsuccessfully without i will want some anyway and just succumb to offers of it
And then it's present in chocolate which is even harder to go without
Or OP is neurodivergent and stimulants help their brain. As with all greentexts, autism should probably be the first suspect.
My anxiety is caused by my lack of ability to focus
My anxiety is caused by being a transwoman living in a state without Shield Laws.
I felt this last week when I switched to unsweetened tea and had no sugar/caffeine. It sucks.
One time I got a contigo, and it got me drinking purified water for a week straight. It tasted so good, I felt better. I was urinating more often.
Then suddenly around the week mark. I felt violently ill, massive headaches. I don't feel like refilling the contigo, grab a can of coke instead. It tastes funny because I haven't had one in awhile.
Headache clears up immediately and I'm back to perfect health
Mfw, I have a caffine addiction.
Can't escape the caffeine T_T
You can.
If you cut our about one half a cup of coffee a day, you can stop taking caffeine without withdrawal symptoms. You can even switch to decaf if you want to keep your habits in the same pattern.
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I did not respect drugs and now I have to suffer the consequences
If it affects your brain, it is a drug. Respect drugs.
General rule of thumb in life: if you use withdrawl symptoms as the comparator to measure the vslue of a commitment you will never empirically understand the outcome of the effort.
Moderation is the key. Cut out a bit at a time over months.
Strong coffee just makes me feel shaky and uncomfortable, with a comedown 2 or 3 hours later that makes me crave sugar. That's really all I get from it. I've done pretty much all the drugs, this just seems like a crap one. I do like a cup of tea tho.
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