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I drank coffee daily for 25+ years and quit cold turkey because my wife said she wanted to go off caff so I decided to try it with her.
I was super confused about the leg pains I got....the first few days I thought I may've pulled a hamstring, but couldn't figure out how. Finally I googled "leg pain caffeine withdrawal" and saw that its a common thing.
I've been off caffeine for about a year and overall feel better (more even energy throughout day). However I love coffee so even tho I drink decaf its just not the same as real coffee.
I've been thinking I may just make my own 1/2 caf blend with good beans....the question becomes, once I start will I just go back to my old ways? hmmm...
I didn't think about decaf as an option. I really love the ritual of coffee but it sucks me in and I tend to over do it once I start. The leg pain thing is interesting.
Every time I quit and used caffeine in a crisis, thinking that’d be it, I went right back to chasing the teeth chattering dragon.
That makes sense to me. I always feel like what goes up has to come down. Maybe I should taper off instead off hard quitting.
IIRC Most of the science shows that caffeine's perceived performance benefit is mostly just us achieving baseline again after quenching our addiction.
I've quit cold turkey a few times (I like hard starts and stops) and I wouldn't recommend it. Withdrawal symptoms can vary but I got much of the usual stuff along with sciatic pain (which was super confusing and weird).