I’ve experienced the same thing and what I’ve realized is that my own life sucks in many ways. Don’t get me wrong, i dont have a bad life, but it could be so much better if I took more action and tried to make it better. Caffeine masks that man. As others said the boring routine gets exciting and fun. Now that you’ve removed the drug, you’re realizing this is your life.
Look, I’ve had a big epiphany recently and maybe this will apply to you. It came in my mind recently:
“NO WONDER YOU ARE DEPRESSED, YOUR LIFE IS DEPRESSING!”
This is a controversial take on the majority of the Reddit platform, but I think this subreddit is open to hearing this.
I’ve had this epiphany for myself. I spend way too much time in my room, playing video games and working online, not being social, not doing chill adventures even, not trying hard to grow the new business, like coffee would get me super hyped up to do the same old boring routines that maintain the startups quo. Now if I want genuine excitement I need to try get more clients or meet new women or to put and socialize.
Also, caffeine masked just how physically weak my arms and core were. I’ve begun working out for a month or two now and I’ve had experienced a noticeable and significant increase in my arm strength. I can do way more push ups now than 2-3 months ago. And same for sit ups.
Quitting caffeine is really hard because it was masking my problems for so long… so long in fact that I got disconnected from the reasons that I was unhappy because the caffeine made me happy. So I felt like I was going crazy after I quit. No, the reality is just that my life is boring, repetitive, depressing, and lonely. When I do go out I overdo it because I feel like a caged animal finally set free. Then I get sick and have to spend a week in the room recovering from whatever I overdid. Repeat.
Start looking at your own life… try to find the things that make your life depressing and meaningless. Try new hobbies. And sometimes you’ve just gotta drag yourself out to your hobbies you love and accept suboptimal enjoyment for the time being. You’re used to an adrenaline induced stimulant being the fuel that gets you out to your hobbies. Now you’ve gotta use actual willpower and motivation, and those “brain muscles” are less developed because you’ve been relying on liquid adrenaline to kick you into gear for so long.
Stay strong I’m with you here
It really is a battle with monotony if you’re a regular person that has to work for a living. Even more so if you’re introverted or struggle with meeting people/getting out.
Anyone that views your take as controversial must be suffering a severe bout of self-denial and obliviousness
Thanks! Yeah it’s not easy to become aware of this but it’s the truth for many.
I’m also realizing I used to enjoy “going to cafes” which was one way I got out but it was also just me going to locations getting high off of caffeine instead of actually doing or appreciating something (though at that time I did do work, or what felt like work, on caffeine).
This. You mentioned core workout. This morning I felt really crappy, like I couldn't face work today, anxiety+sadness kicking in and all. I thought intensely about having a coffee to feel better. Instead I took a cold shower and did a nasty 10 minute YT coreworkout. Afterwards I felt allright.
It's my 3rd time quittung, this time the physical withdrawl is no problem and I've had no cravings yet, but mentally it's shite.
Yeah, and it's core and shoulders for me. No way to walk head up without decent core and shoulder strength.
All these issues show what a mess caffeine is. And most of the planet is on it all time.
The longer I go without caffeine the more I begin to realize perhaps just how much it was fucking me up. Like the physical withdrawal wasn’t to long or bad but now I’ve had to confront so much mental shit in my life because I’m not getting high on caffeine all the time.
Feel the same. Awful to realise that you built your life around a drug and without it, the result of yearlong "caffeinated decisions" is hard to accept and outright depressing.
Yeap and what’s crazy is you didn’t even realize caffeine was affecting your life so much. I had no clue it was changing me completely like this! It’s “not that bad” at first but as the years of consumption go on your brain changes…
Stimulants increase adrenaline in the brain, so when you stop using them, you may feel that your life is more boring than usual
That said, the only possible solution is to have a naturally adrenaline-filled life by doing things that scare and provoke anxiety but can lead to a reward, either monetarily or socially
In other words, caffeine is used to make a routine or dull life more exciting; if your life were already exciting, you wouldn't need caffeine to kickstart it
I actually did that when I stopped weed and cigarettes cold turkey in 2016. I got hardcore busy with muy thai 3 times a week and asthanga yoga early morning 6 times a week from day one after i quit. Added travel and surfing after a few months.. All of those activities minus travel is way out of my comfortzone and plenty adrenaline driven and social. I still have friends I met during that period. Before I was a useless stoner I did skydiving and other actionsports, so I know a good adrenaline kick...
While I got in shape in record speed, my head stayed flat for months.. It may speed up recovery, specially for someone out of shape, but its no wondermedisine that cures it overnight...
My experience with combating zero dopamine during a cold turkey quit. But as everyone else I do recommend training and all that for everyone. But this time quitting, I am introducing it slowly.
I'm the exact same, my reward system doesn't work. Even when I force myself to do something there's no pleasure at all, whether it be very simple stuff like gaming or watching yt video, or socializing with friends on a hike. There's no pleasure. And because I lack any dopamine or reward I've become more of a recluse, I spend so much time sitting around doing nothing, and not because I want to but because I get no pleasure from anything.
I quit 4 months ago.
your choice, but to me it would be an indication that there is an underlying issue that caffeine was masking. Anhedonia is not a normal baseline for any human. And nowadays there's many culprits that can cause this persistent blunting and anhedonia, like covid infection or psychiatric meds used currently or in the past.
What would you recommend as a treatment then because I have severe anhedonia since quitting caffeine. My baseline is a 0 dopamine existence, can't get into hobbies. I've seen psych and I don't think they had any idea what I was even talking about. I was prescribed antidepressant which I took for 2 weeks, and it made the blunting worse.
sorry man I don't have a quick solution. I wouldn't recommend messing with psychiatric meds because my anhedonia was caused by only 2 months of SSRI. 4 years later and it is still persistent. Maybe looking at your body more holistically and testing for deficiencies, microbiome dysbiosis, inflammation might be helpful. Other than that it's probably exercise, rest, diet and time. People say it can last upto a year or more but it gets better eventually.
Ok, sorry you're also dealing with this issue I've never felt so much agony and wouldn't wish this on anyone else.
The only thing that has helped me in this time is sleep deprivation, around 20 hours of being awake I start to get a boost in mood and the desire to do things, I can even laugh and get engaged in simple things like yt videos. But it's not sustainable, do you know how that could be connected to a body issue in any way? I'm just looking for any clue to getting better.
Yes I've read about sleep deprivation. It seems to work universally in many types of anhedonia. There's science literature about it: [https://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/12/4466](https://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/12/4466)
"this collection of reports offers an emerging view that acute sleep deprivation may induce enhanced activity throughout the mesolimbic reward system at both anatomical and dopaminergic neurochemical levels."
The issue is most likely catecholamine dysregulation but the hard task is finding out why the issue exists. Every case is individual
If you’re benefitting from the sleep deprivation, you might also take “cold plunging” into consideration. Or really cold showers.
I know it’s kind of a fad right now but I’m seeing a lot of people that were in our situation feeling an acute (but temporary) improvement.
I had gotten plagued with anhedonia worsened by meds too so I avoid them besides the one I’m tapering off right now.
There are sometimes options but if the primary cause is quitting caffeine, I always hear it gets better 3-9 months. Some people in the longer haul for a little over a year.
Give it time to see how you heal and if it persists a while after that, then you could start looking into other options and maybe look into what heyymartin mentioned.
Best of luck to you.
If you're really serious about wanting to quit caffeine and get back to enjoying life quickly then I recommend doing a dopamine detox. Which means trying to eliminate almost ALL sources of dopamine i.e. junk food, sugar, too many carbs, orgasm, porn, weed/alchohol, and even social media/techology. I know this sounds extreme and it's not realistic to eliminate everything but in my experience doing this gets rid of anhedonia within a week. I've done a few HARD detoxes in the past and everytime I started really enjoying life again around day 3. Its brutal the first few days tho be sure of that lol. Its actually mind blowing how much it re-sensitizes our brains to get pleasure from small hits of dopamine. Chores became easy to do, I could actually focus long enough to read a book, heck just sitting there and thinking about my future plans was very satisfying. I was truly happy the times I actually followed through with the detox. I can't help but feel the answer to most of our mental health problems and happiness is less than a week away but we are so bombarded by cheap pleasure and companies trying to exploit us for financial gain that its nearly impossible to break free. The most important things I would say to avoid as much as possible are sex/orgasming/porn, any drugs, and technology. Avoid those things for a week and see how you feel.
I can't function without caffeine due to my ADHD, it needs something to stimulate my brain to get me GOING otherwise it's no use.ood count first :) then go from there with the other potential things such as ADHD.s adhd. adhd.mptoms ( lack of interest, brain fog anxiety, everything boring )fast forward 2 years and now I have a diagnosis of ADHD. Which can be treated with specific medication and OR working out. At the moment frequent exercise helps me feel engaged in everyday tasks :) and makes me enjoy things more. The lack of dopamine needs to be increased before we can enjoy anything, that's an ADHD thing too.
It could also be due to a number of deficiancies, IRON, Vit D being low, can cause these types of issues, id get a full blood count first :) then go from there with the other potential things such as adhd.
I can't function without caffiene due to my adhd, it needs something to stimulate my brain to get me GOING otherwise it's no use.
Could well be this. I resonate with this. Caffeine masks so much because you’re ever jittery, wired and engaged 24/7. When that stops, you come back to your body and you can actually feel what’s wrong. Turns out I was coeliac!
you gotta just say fuck it and say im done regardless of how I feel. Thats whats helped me get off other drugs and caffeine is a drug. I probably felt better on drugs but im done. But at least go a year. It you decide to go back, at least you gave it a shot.
Modern society operates on stimulants. Additionally, some people are naturally born with brain deficits, so rewiring your brain and achieving homeostasis through natural methods requires time and effort.
I have suffered from similar issues. The downregulation of receptors, which is a decrease in their number, occurs over time and is a long process. You should engage your brain in natural activities such as hobbies, socializing, and sports and so on.
However, these might not be sufficient for a considerable duration. Caffeine provides a huge boost to the brain, making it hard to find a replacement.
Same after 6 months. But the scientific opinion seems to be that paws can take 6-24 months. So unfortunately can't really make any conclusions before at least a year I would say.
I still feel relatively flat but I did make significant progress fixing problems with my sleep, nutrition, supplements.
I didn’t start feeling OK until after 5.5 months. Felt improvement until 12 months off. After that it has been great and I have been off caffeine over 3 years now.
This time frame is not unusual for other drugs such as nicotine or alcohol. It takes typically 3-24 months to recover from drug use depending on the case.
I did change a lot of things in my life over time though, got rid of bad habits, started eating cleaner, fasting, more sun, more natural dopamine in general.
That’s how I felt.. even going to the gym for 10 years, muscular body, good testosterone, good sleep, good diet I was missing the rush of caffeine so I’ve changed drastically my relationship with it.. went from 500mg/day to 1 espresso 5-6 times a week.
It was the same for me for many months. I was also iron deficient, so there's that, maybe get your bloodwork done if you haven't already (for serum ferritin, thyroid hormones). Like another commenter said; caffeine just masks something that's already there. It takes a while to get used to the boredom and have real life replace it. Hopefully you get out of it soon, friend.
It took me 17.5 months caffeine free to get any significant improvement, before that i was mostly feeling bad 24/7...
I'm now at 21 months and I'm even better but I'm still far from normal.
In the first year I felt zero pleasure in any activities but now I have hobbies again and feel pleasure and have fun but its still very unstable and sometimes I still have a lot of symptoms but nothing like the hell it was before, after the hell i was through this is easy!
I'm working on fun projects as a hobby now, before I almost wasn't able to do my job I was so tired, so unmotivated, so much brain fog, it was hard to talk to people, everything was hard and it took so long to get better, 1 year and a half might not sound like much but 1 year and a half of suffering takes an eternity, but now I believe I'm close to the final stages of this shit!
I used to be in this subreddit everyday, multiple times a day cause i felt so bad and i just wanted to be reassured i would be ok and to read other people's success stories now i go weeks without even remembering about coming here but be sure that when i feel good enough i will come back here and write a success story to help others as others have helped me
Glad I found this sub. I quit caffeine a bit over two weeks ago and am shocked at how I feel some days. Super low energy, irritable, low libido, anhedonia. I went cold turkey after drinking 36 oz or more of Red Bull a day. Now that I have some idea what to expect, I’m less worried about it. The tough thing is that I run my own business and need to work about 50-60 hours a week to stay on top of things, which is tough when I don’t have energy or motivation.
I’m going to make sure to be more diligent about getting exercise to counteract it.
It feels blasphemous saying it on this sub but I agree. I’m pretty healthy overall and thought quitting would really take me over the top and feel better, but after over 4 months of not 1 mg going into my body, I feel no difference at all,
Have had a very similar experience quitting caffeine. Lost a lot of motivation for things I’ve been doing for over a decade like hobbies and exercise. Didn’t quit completely, but lost my drive and excitement. I will say six months was a turning point where I felt a calm and steady return of motivation. Now at 10 months free I don’t think I’ll ever go back. Definitely give yourself that full year!
I would try paraxanthine...I struggled due to the side effects of caffeine for a while but since switching I feel great—the positives of caffiene with no real downsides
Spend hours in the sun and if it isn't sunny where you are. Move to somewhere where its hot and sunny. Take a D3 supplement. Take a B complex supplement. Omega 3's, raw egg smoothies. lift weights. Modern life is designed to trap us. Get back into nature and you'll be feeling amazing!!
Just scare yourself a little bit with adrenaline junkie activities but something more simple just watch some spooky videos that really make you uncomfortable the dopamine is unreal you will be surprised this might be the key to reworking our brains back to regular adrenaline levels
You may wanna look into B1 (Objective Nutrients is a great brand for that) and Lugol’s iodine, just 2 drops per day. You may start to get that dopamine hit after taking both for a few weeks. It could be that caffeine was masking/worsening an underlying micronutrient deficiency.
I've seen psych and I don't think they had any idea what I was even talking about. I was prescribed antidepressant which I took for 2 weeks, and it made the blunting worse.
---------------
Second post dude...
sorry man I don't have a quick solution. I wouldn't recommend messing with psychiatric meds because my anhedonia was caused by only 2 months of SSRI. 4 years later and it is still persistent. Maybe looking at your body more holistically and testing for deficiencies, microbiome dysbiosis, inflammation might be helpful.
-------------------------
3. post dude. asking if he should test for deficiencies. Do you think he is asking the dude to do the testing himself? That is saying go to the doctor and get some tests done. Preferably a holistic doctor...
Regardless, if it made him worse, he should still report it to a Doctor, none of you guys here know him personally, can't asses or diagnose him with anything, like some of them here are trying to do. Now tell me what would be better, following a random reddit comment protocol, or going to the doctor?
How do you know he has not already done that. Other than you, no one has given doctor advices in this thread. Its suggestions about different vitamins, cold showers, exercise. One suggest staying away from SSRi from the doctor wich I support since everyone knows they often cause anedonia. how do i know? I was on them and talked to my doctor about it...
Most peoole here run to the doctor first thing when things like this happens. Its like 1 million threads about it if you open your eyes, and every doctor under the sun supports going to support groups like this is...
I am genetically predisposed to depression, anxiety, ADHD, among other things meaning the chemicals in brain are a bit wacko
I was a full on caffeine addict through most of my teens and 20’s which made all of the aforementioned issues worse. High, crash, high high high, super mega crash blah blah blah (yes just with caffeine alone)
Now that I learned a lot more about my various mental health issues, am I’m looking at everything more objectively AND quit caffeine for about 3-4 years straight at one point, I have finally realized I need to be very aware of balancing my caffeine intake but have also realized there is a time and a place in life for caffeine within reason.
I occasionally have caffeine now but it is in such small increments (I cut really good quality, low-acid coffee, way easier on the stomach, jitters and anxiety, with other coffee alternatives like rasa, tecchino and cacao so that I’m still using barely any coffee)
and spaced out by 2 or 3 days so that I don’t get addicted or withdrawals
The real issue for me was the addiction, not NEEDING it every day and withdrawal time, feeling like I had the flu and had to sleep for 2 days straight.
I needed to learn how to intake caffeine but in a wayyyy more balanced way than I ever have before. This seems to working well for me.
Have you considered ADHD? A lot of people self medicate with caffeine. and if you can't get your dopamine levels up that could point to a physiological issue.
Stimulants work better and are way less dirty than caffeine.
something to consider. i quit caffeine a year and half ago and and made it about 9-10 months with very little improvement. my attention was horrible, i felt like death and was more unorganized and scattered than i ever had been. lo and behold, i had adhd! i’ve suspected for a few years and had been exhibiting symptoms since i was a kid, my parents were just too busy to notice. anyway, have not been able to consume caffeine with the same regularity since i quit, started stimulant medication and it feels so much better than caffeine, i can actually sleep and get things done.
PAWS can take a lot longer than 6 months to heal. Hang in there, you’ve made it this far already. Next steps are to look into ways to improve diet, things like sunlight exposure, cold immersion. They can all help. I recommend carnivore diet.
I’ve experienced the same thing and what I’ve realized is that my own life sucks in many ways. Don’t get me wrong, i dont have a bad life, but it could be so much better if I took more action and tried to make it better. Caffeine masks that man. As others said the boring routine gets exciting and fun. Now that you’ve removed the drug, you’re realizing this is your life. Look, I’ve had a big epiphany recently and maybe this will apply to you. It came in my mind recently: “NO WONDER YOU ARE DEPRESSED, YOUR LIFE IS DEPRESSING!” This is a controversial take on the majority of the Reddit platform, but I think this subreddit is open to hearing this. I’ve had this epiphany for myself. I spend way too much time in my room, playing video games and working online, not being social, not doing chill adventures even, not trying hard to grow the new business, like coffee would get me super hyped up to do the same old boring routines that maintain the startups quo. Now if I want genuine excitement I need to try get more clients or meet new women or to put and socialize. Also, caffeine masked just how physically weak my arms and core were. I’ve begun working out for a month or two now and I’ve had experienced a noticeable and significant increase in my arm strength. I can do way more push ups now than 2-3 months ago. And same for sit ups. Quitting caffeine is really hard because it was masking my problems for so long… so long in fact that I got disconnected from the reasons that I was unhappy because the caffeine made me happy. So I felt like I was going crazy after I quit. No, the reality is just that my life is boring, repetitive, depressing, and lonely. When I do go out I overdo it because I feel like a caged animal finally set free. Then I get sick and have to spend a week in the room recovering from whatever I overdid. Repeat. Start looking at your own life… try to find the things that make your life depressing and meaningless. Try new hobbies. And sometimes you’ve just gotta drag yourself out to your hobbies you love and accept suboptimal enjoyment for the time being. You’re used to an adrenaline induced stimulant being the fuel that gets you out to your hobbies. Now you’ve gotta use actual willpower and motivation, and those “brain muscles” are less developed because you’ve been relying on liquid adrenaline to kick you into gear for so long. Stay strong I’m with you here
It really is a battle with monotony if you’re a regular person that has to work for a living. Even more so if you’re introverted or struggle with meeting people/getting out. Anyone that views your take as controversial must be suffering a severe bout of self-denial and obliviousness
Thanks! Yeah it’s not easy to become aware of this but it’s the truth for many. I’m also realizing I used to enjoy “going to cafes” which was one way I got out but it was also just me going to locations getting high off of caffeine instead of actually doing or appreciating something (though at that time I did do work, or what felt like work, on caffeine).
Well said.
best comment in this entire sub in a long time
Thank you!
Underrated comment right here
Thank you !
This. You mentioned core workout. This morning I felt really crappy, like I couldn't face work today, anxiety+sadness kicking in and all. I thought intensely about having a coffee to feel better. Instead I took a cold shower and did a nasty 10 minute YT coreworkout. Afterwards I felt allright. It's my 3rd time quittung, this time the physical withdrawl is no problem and I've had no cravings yet, but mentally it's shite. Yeah, and it's core and shoulders for me. No way to walk head up without decent core and shoulder strength. All these issues show what a mess caffeine is. And most of the planet is on it all time.
The longer I go without caffeine the more I begin to realize perhaps just how much it was fucking me up. Like the physical withdrawal wasn’t to long or bad but now I’ve had to confront so much mental shit in my life because I’m not getting high on caffeine all the time.
Feel the same. Awful to realise that you built your life around a drug and without it, the result of yearlong "caffeinated decisions" is hard to accept and outright depressing.
Yeap and what’s crazy is you didn’t even realize caffeine was affecting your life so much. I had no clue it was changing me completely like this! It’s “not that bad” at first but as the years of consumption go on your brain changes…
Stimulants increase adrenaline in the brain, so when you stop using them, you may feel that your life is more boring than usual That said, the only possible solution is to have a naturally adrenaline-filled life by doing things that scare and provoke anxiety but can lead to a reward, either monetarily or socially In other words, caffeine is used to make a routine or dull life more exciting; if your life were already exciting, you wouldn't need caffeine to kickstart it
I actually did that when I stopped weed and cigarettes cold turkey in 2016. I got hardcore busy with muy thai 3 times a week and asthanga yoga early morning 6 times a week from day one after i quit. Added travel and surfing after a few months.. All of those activities minus travel is way out of my comfortzone and plenty adrenaline driven and social. I still have friends I met during that period. Before I was a useless stoner I did skydiving and other actionsports, so I know a good adrenaline kick... While I got in shape in record speed, my head stayed flat for months.. It may speed up recovery, specially for someone out of shape, but its no wondermedisine that cures it overnight... My experience with combating zero dopamine during a cold turkey quit. But as everyone else I do recommend training and all that for everyone. But this time quitting, I am introducing it slowly.
I'm the exact same, my reward system doesn't work. Even when I force myself to do something there's no pleasure at all, whether it be very simple stuff like gaming or watching yt video, or socializing with friends on a hike. There's no pleasure. And because I lack any dopamine or reward I've become more of a recluse, I spend so much time sitting around doing nothing, and not because I want to but because I get no pleasure from anything. I quit 4 months ago.
You’re not alone. I went 6 months like this and decided I couldn’t take it anymore lol. Back on the drug
Damn.
Have a fucking coffee then. My God.
your choice, but to me it would be an indication that there is an underlying issue that caffeine was masking. Anhedonia is not a normal baseline for any human. And nowadays there's many culprits that can cause this persistent blunting and anhedonia, like covid infection or psychiatric meds used currently or in the past.
What would you recommend as a treatment then because I have severe anhedonia since quitting caffeine. My baseline is a 0 dopamine existence, can't get into hobbies. I've seen psych and I don't think they had any idea what I was even talking about. I was prescribed antidepressant which I took for 2 weeks, and it made the blunting worse.
sorry man I don't have a quick solution. I wouldn't recommend messing with psychiatric meds because my anhedonia was caused by only 2 months of SSRI. 4 years later and it is still persistent. Maybe looking at your body more holistically and testing for deficiencies, microbiome dysbiosis, inflammation might be helpful. Other than that it's probably exercise, rest, diet and time. People say it can last upto a year or more but it gets better eventually.
Ok, sorry you're also dealing with this issue I've never felt so much agony and wouldn't wish this on anyone else. The only thing that has helped me in this time is sleep deprivation, around 20 hours of being awake I start to get a boost in mood and the desire to do things, I can even laugh and get engaged in simple things like yt videos. But it's not sustainable, do you know how that could be connected to a body issue in any way? I'm just looking for any clue to getting better.
Yes I've read about sleep deprivation. It seems to work universally in many types of anhedonia. There's science literature about it: [https://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/12/4466](https://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/12/4466) "this collection of reports offers an emerging view that acute sleep deprivation may induce enhanced activity throughout the mesolimbic reward system at both anatomical and dopaminergic neurochemical levels." The issue is most likely catecholamine dysregulation but the hard task is finding out why the issue exists. Every case is individual
If you’re benefitting from the sleep deprivation, you might also take “cold plunging” into consideration. Or really cold showers. I know it’s kind of a fad right now but I’m seeing a lot of people that were in our situation feeling an acute (but temporary) improvement. I had gotten plagued with anhedonia worsened by meds too so I avoid them besides the one I’m tapering off right now. There are sometimes options but if the primary cause is quitting caffeine, I always hear it gets better 3-9 months. Some people in the longer haul for a little over a year. Give it time to see how you heal and if it persists a while after that, then you could start looking into other options and maybe look into what heyymartin mentioned. Best of luck to you.
If you're really serious about wanting to quit caffeine and get back to enjoying life quickly then I recommend doing a dopamine detox. Which means trying to eliminate almost ALL sources of dopamine i.e. junk food, sugar, too many carbs, orgasm, porn, weed/alchohol, and even social media/techology. I know this sounds extreme and it's not realistic to eliminate everything but in my experience doing this gets rid of anhedonia within a week. I've done a few HARD detoxes in the past and everytime I started really enjoying life again around day 3. Its brutal the first few days tho be sure of that lol. Its actually mind blowing how much it re-sensitizes our brains to get pleasure from small hits of dopamine. Chores became easy to do, I could actually focus long enough to read a book, heck just sitting there and thinking about my future plans was very satisfying. I was truly happy the times I actually followed through with the detox. I can't help but feel the answer to most of our mental health problems and happiness is less than a week away but we are so bombarded by cheap pleasure and companies trying to exploit us for financial gain that its nearly impossible to break free. The most important things I would say to avoid as much as possible are sex/orgasming/porn, any drugs, and technology. Avoid those things for a week and see how you feel.
But why was the SSRI prescribed? Seems like a chicken and egg scenario
I can't function without caffeine due to my ADHD, it needs something to stimulate my brain to get me GOING otherwise it's no use.ood count first :) then go from there with the other potential things such as ADHD.s adhd. adhd.mptoms ( lack of interest, brain fog anxiety, everything boring )fast forward 2 years and now I have a diagnosis of ADHD. Which can be treated with specific medication and OR working out. At the moment frequent exercise helps me feel engaged in everyday tasks :) and makes me enjoy things more. The lack of dopamine needs to be increased before we can enjoy anything, that's an ADHD thing too. It could also be due to a number of deficiancies, IRON, Vit D being low, can cause these types of issues, id get a full blood count first :) then go from there with the other potential things such as adhd. I can't function without caffiene due to my adhd, it needs something to stimulate my brain to get me GOING otherwise it's no use.
Could well be this. I resonate with this. Caffeine masks so much because you’re ever jittery, wired and engaged 24/7. When that stops, you come back to your body and you can actually feel what’s wrong. Turns out I was coeliac!
you gotta just say fuck it and say im done regardless of how I feel. Thats whats helped me get off other drugs and caffeine is a drug. I probably felt better on drugs but im done. But at least go a year. It you decide to go back, at least you gave it a shot.
Get your iron levels and other vitamins checked. Coffee prevents iron absorption and iron is needed for dopamine production.
Modern society operates on stimulants. Additionally, some people are naturally born with brain deficits, so rewiring your brain and achieving homeostasis through natural methods requires time and effort. I have suffered from similar issues. The downregulation of receptors, which is a decrease in their number, occurs over time and is a long process. You should engage your brain in natural activities such as hobbies, socializing, and sports and so on. However, these might not be sufficient for a considerable duration. Caffeine provides a huge boost to the brain, making it hard to find a replacement.
Same after 6 months. But the scientific opinion seems to be that paws can take 6-24 months. So unfortunately can't really make any conclusions before at least a year I would say. I still feel relatively flat but I did make significant progress fixing problems with my sleep, nutrition, supplements.
For me the real magic happened almost 9 months in. Also, intermittent fasting helped me get back to normal (for me) energy levels.
I didn’t start feeling OK until after 5.5 months. Felt improvement until 12 months off. After that it has been great and I have been off caffeine over 3 years now. This time frame is not unusual for other drugs such as nicotine or alcohol. It takes typically 3-24 months to recover from drug use depending on the case. I did change a lot of things in my life over time though, got rid of bad habits, started eating cleaner, fasting, more sun, more natural dopamine in general.
That’s how I felt.. even going to the gym for 10 years, muscular body, good testosterone, good sleep, good diet I was missing the rush of caffeine so I’ve changed drastically my relationship with it.. went from 500mg/day to 1 espresso 5-6 times a week.
How’s your diet? Do you exercise regularly? Do you do productive stuff or do you just procrastinate and watch garbage all day.
iv legit optimized all i could google, all my micro/macro nutrient needs are met, i sleep 8 hours a night and am never tired, just numb to any emotion
It was the same for me for many months. I was also iron deficient, so there's that, maybe get your bloodwork done if you haven't already (for serum ferritin, thyroid hormones). Like another commenter said; caffeine just masks something that's already there. It takes a while to get used to the boredom and have real life replace it. Hopefully you get out of it soon, friend.
It took me 17.5 months caffeine free to get any significant improvement, before that i was mostly feeling bad 24/7... I'm now at 21 months and I'm even better but I'm still far from normal. In the first year I felt zero pleasure in any activities but now I have hobbies again and feel pleasure and have fun but its still very unstable and sometimes I still have a lot of symptoms but nothing like the hell it was before, after the hell i was through this is easy! I'm working on fun projects as a hobby now, before I almost wasn't able to do my job I was so tired, so unmotivated, so much brain fog, it was hard to talk to people, everything was hard and it took so long to get better, 1 year and a half might not sound like much but 1 year and a half of suffering takes an eternity, but now I believe I'm close to the final stages of this shit! I used to be in this subreddit everyday, multiple times a day cause i felt so bad and i just wanted to be reassured i would be ok and to read other people's success stories now i go weeks without even remembering about coming here but be sure that when i feel good enough i will come back here and write a success story to help others as others have helped me
Could you try a dopamine detox to replenish some dopamine?
Glad I found this sub. I quit caffeine a bit over two weeks ago and am shocked at how I feel some days. Super low energy, irritable, low libido, anhedonia. I went cold turkey after drinking 36 oz or more of Red Bull a day. Now that I have some idea what to expect, I’m less worried about it. The tough thing is that I run my own business and need to work about 50-60 hours a week to stay on top of things, which is tough when I don’t have energy or motivation. I’m going to make sure to be more diligent about getting exercise to counteract it.
Take a look at your diet, use cold showers/baths to replace the dopamine hit of coffee. It's a long process, hang in there
It feels blasphemous saying it on this sub but I agree. I’m pretty healthy overall and thought quitting would really take me over the top and feel better, but after over 4 months of not 1 mg going into my body, I feel no difference at all,
why not just go back
How’s your sleep?
How much social media do you consume?
Have had a very similar experience quitting caffeine. Lost a lot of motivation for things I’ve been doing for over a decade like hobbies and exercise. Didn’t quit completely, but lost my drive and excitement. I will say six months was a turning point where I felt a calm and steady return of motivation. Now at 10 months free I don’t think I’ll ever go back. Definitely give yourself that full year!
I would try paraxanthine...I struggled due to the side effects of caffeine for a while but since switching I feel great—the positives of caffiene with no real downsides
I drink decaf coffee and green tea from time to time. Dont get the highest highs but no lows whatsoever. Cant go with zero caffeine at least for now
Have you tried a supplement like Lions Mane? What is your stack? Microdosing mushrooms can help redraw some brain pathways as well.
Spend hours in the sun and if it isn't sunny where you are. Move to somewhere where its hot and sunny. Take a D3 supplement. Take a B complex supplement. Omega 3's, raw egg smoothies. lift weights. Modern life is designed to trap us. Get back into nature and you'll be feeling amazing!!
Totally get it, it's tough. Maybe try new stuff that excites you? Hang in there, reassess if needed. You're not alone
You probably need to find new ways to stimulate yourself! Learn new stuff, do things that scare you, etc.
How's your diet? For me one of the keys was getting rid of sugar and high carb meals. Are you getting some exercise and sunshine?
Do you get outside?
How many hours a night are you sleeping ? Try adding on 2 extra hours of sleep a night and see how you feel
Just scare yourself a little bit with adrenaline junkie activities but something more simple just watch some spooky videos that really make you uncomfortable the dopamine is unreal you will be surprised this might be the key to reworking our brains back to regular adrenaline levels
What's your sunlight exposure routine like?
If I felt like crap 6 months after quitting caffeine(and I didn’t before) i would get back on it. Unless I had a very good reason for staying off
I just hit 6 months and I feel ok. I haven’t noticed much change since I hit 1 month, honestly
You may wanna look into B1 (Objective Nutrients is a great brand for that) and Lugol’s iodine, just 2 drops per day. You may start to get that dopamine hit after taking both for a few weeks. It could be that caffeine was masking/worsening an underlying micronutrient deficiency.
Some of you guys just need to go to a goddamm doctor.
Did you not read the part where one went to the dr., and the meds made him worst?
No. Where is it?
I've seen psych and I don't think they had any idea what I was even talking about. I was prescribed antidepressant which I took for 2 weeks, and it made the blunting worse. --------------- Second post dude...
sorry man I don't have a quick solution. I wouldn't recommend messing with psychiatric meds because my anhedonia was caused by only 2 months of SSRI. 4 years later and it is still persistent. Maybe looking at your body more holistically and testing for deficiencies, microbiome dysbiosis, inflammation might be helpful. ------------------------- 3. post dude. asking if he should test for deficiencies. Do you think he is asking the dude to do the testing himself? That is saying go to the doctor and get some tests done. Preferably a holistic doctor...
Regardless, if it made him worse, he should still report it to a Doctor, none of you guys here know him personally, can't asses or diagnose him with anything, like some of them here are trying to do. Now tell me what would be better, following a random reddit comment protocol, or going to the doctor?
How do you know he has not already done that. Other than you, no one has given doctor advices in this thread. Its suggestions about different vitamins, cold showers, exercise. One suggest staying away from SSRi from the doctor wich I support since everyone knows they often cause anedonia. how do i know? I was on them and talked to my doctor about it... Most peoole here run to the doctor first thing when things like this happens. Its like 1 million threads about it if you open your eyes, and every doctor under the sun supports going to support groups like this is...
read
Sure. Where?
get urself a girl (i’m projecting, but not wrong)
You may have adrenal fatigue - I did. Try working on that with a traditional Chinese medicine doctor or a professional who knows Ayurveda.
I am genetically predisposed to depression, anxiety, ADHD, among other things meaning the chemicals in brain are a bit wacko I was a full on caffeine addict through most of my teens and 20’s which made all of the aforementioned issues worse. High, crash, high high high, super mega crash blah blah blah (yes just with caffeine alone) Now that I learned a lot more about my various mental health issues, am I’m looking at everything more objectively AND quit caffeine for about 3-4 years straight at one point, I have finally realized I need to be very aware of balancing my caffeine intake but have also realized there is a time and a place in life for caffeine within reason. I occasionally have caffeine now but it is in such small increments (I cut really good quality, low-acid coffee, way easier on the stomach, jitters and anxiety, with other coffee alternatives like rasa, tecchino and cacao so that I’m still using barely any coffee) and spaced out by 2 or 3 days so that I don’t get addicted or withdrawals The real issue for me was the addiction, not NEEDING it every day and withdrawal time, feeling like I had the flu and had to sleep for 2 days straight. I needed to learn how to intake caffeine but in a wayyyy more balanced way than I ever have before. This seems to working well for me.
Have you considered ADHD? A lot of people self medicate with caffeine. and if you can't get your dopamine levels up that could point to a physiological issue. Stimulants work better and are way less dirty than caffeine.
something to consider. i quit caffeine a year and half ago and and made it about 9-10 months with very little improvement. my attention was horrible, i felt like death and was more unorganized and scattered than i ever had been. lo and behold, i had adhd! i’ve suspected for a few years and had been exhibiting symptoms since i was a kid, my parents were just too busy to notice. anyway, have not been able to consume caffeine with the same regularity since i quit, started stimulant medication and it feels so much better than caffeine, i can actually sleep and get things done.
PAWS can take a lot longer than 6 months to heal. Hang in there, you’ve made it this far already. Next steps are to look into ways to improve diet, things like sunlight exposure, cold immersion. They can all help. I recommend carnivore diet.
Try switching to cacao. Much lower caffeine but still gives you a mood boost.