02 April 2009
I Love You. But You're Gone.
Ever fallen in love with something and then realized it wasn't love at all?
I started drinking coffee in St. Charles, IL in 1994. It started with French Vanilla coffee at Dunkin Donuts and eventually moved to Starbucks Venti Mocha's. Last month I was drinking a Venti Mocha almost every morning, a Grande Coffee in the afternoon and then some Chai at night.
All together these drinks packed a combined 610mg of caffeine - not to mention the other stuff that is added (sugar, 2% milk and whipped cream).
The Mayo Clinic suggests that anything over 500mg can be an issue and lead to problems while using it. Not to mention the problems you can have if you try to stop...
And that's what I did recently. Eight days ago I stopped drinking caffeine of any kind. And within 24 hours I was hating life. Apparently 100mg per day can trigger withdrawal symptoms...who knew? WebMD has more on caffeine withdrawal symptoms here.
Why Stop?
I have tried stopping before, but never really had a good reason...until recently.
On the Today Show one morning they talked about how caffeine can affect people with back problems by causing swelling in the discs between the vertebrae. Interestingly enough I was diagnosed with a protruding disc last year.
I also did some reading about caffeine and the affect on SCUBA divers. Apparently it can have a negative impact on you if you're using Nitrox (Enriched Air). I'm going to Florida in a month and we'll be diving with Nitrox the whole time...
Needless to say, it's time to stop.
The problem is, I love coffee. There's nothing better than waking up early to drink coffee and work on websites.
I guess it all comes down to priorities. And right now there are other things that take priority.
Coffee: I love you. But you're gone.
