+Caffeine Withdrawal - Re: Quickie: anything else I should order?

...Willowley is right, the herbal solution for getting off coffee is Kola Nut (and this is another one I have personal experience with :::grin:::).  At three different points in my life I've had a major caffeine addiction (the worst was when I was restaurant manager working swing shifts...I was drinking around a case-- yes 24-- of diet pepsi a day, and at least a pot of coffee.  Sadly, I didn't know about Kola Nut then...so I suffered through the withdrawal with excruciating pain from the headaches (and the inevitable 'flatness' and lack of energy).  The last time I was up to 2 pots of coffee daily, I used Kola Nut (actually, I used the Brain Formula, which has Kola Nut in it...since then, I've relapsed, and used just the Kola Nut)...wow, it WORKED!  I didn't have ANY headaches, nor did I have to horrendous 'emotional flatness' (more details on the 'flatness' below)

The great thing about Kola Nut is, that it makes it super-easy to break the 'coffee cycle'...it provides the physical relief (no headaches); it helps with the inevitable 'flatness' AND it breaks the coffee/taste/habit cycle (at least it does for me).  It's FAR easier for me to wean myself off a tincture than it is to wean myself off of 'comfort coffee habit'...I just end up forgetting to take the tincture.  In the beginning, if I forgot the tincture, a lil' headache would remind me - but the more I stayed away from coffee-caffeine, the more I forgot to take the tincture.  I really believe there's something different about the 100% natural caffeine in the Kola Nut than what we get in coffee...the Kola Nut prevents the withdrawal symptoms, but does not give me the same 'buzz' as the coffee or soda, and it seems much easier to wean off of the Kola Nut (and for some reason, it seems much more gentle on the adrenals).

And of course, a bottle of Kola Nut is a heckuva lot cheaper than Starbucks every day (and it's doesn't make your breath smell like the bottom of a coffee pot).

>>>Are ya psychic, Uny?!... You are so right about my adrenals.<<< 

I've been accused of being psychic before, lol!  But methinks it's more just paying attention to every little detail & nuance, putting together puzzle pieces and not being afraid to 'jump in there'... and in this case,  having 'been there done that felt that'.  (yet the cleaner & healthier we become, the more our discernment increases...and I have developed noticeable empathic qualities over the past few years)

There's also a couple of other "assists" you might want to consider/add - those are the Adrenal Tincture and/or Cayenne (if you're not already taking the cayenne).  Cayenne gives energy by increasing circulation...and it's proven to relieve anxiety! (yay). curezone.com/upload/_N_Forums/Natural_Heali/CayenneAnxiety.doc The Adrenal formula works like the Ashwagandha (the primary herbs are all adaptogenic, like the Ashwagandha), meaning that they don't ramp up or ramp down anything, they work with your current level of stress and help your body adapt to whatever stress/hormone level you're experiencing.  Adding those might be 'over budget', if so, you could get a sample of Cayenne Tincture and give it a try (for a penny..or of course, you can use the Cayenne powder), but you'd need to take the Adrenal tincture for several days before seeing/feeling any substantial relief, so a sample of that may not be enough for you to sense it's action.

Also, if Adrenal stress is coming into play, there's the option of adding some type of herbal 'calmer' or sedative...these can also make one sleepy (which is great for getting a sound sleep at night) - but you can take smaller doses during the day to 'take the edge off'.  My favorites for 'taking the edge off' are Passionflower, Kava, and/or Wild Lettuce.  Perhaps you'd like to try a sample of them?

Caffeine/drug withdrawal and emotional/mental/physical "flatness":  Ahem, we have to deal with this honestly to be successful.  Caffeine IS an addictive drug, it's addictive qualities are no different than any other addictive stimulant.  Yet there IS a huge difference...and that is we don't view it in the same way we view an addiction to cocaine, ampthetamines, meth and other poisons, because caffeine addiction is firmly ensconced in our society.  We tend to 'understand' when someone that has been using/abusing "speed" for years/decades can't overcome their addiction in a week or two...but we think we should just be able to 'put down' the coffee in a couple of weeks, and carry on as if nothing has changed.  But just like any other addictive stimulant, successfully overcoming an addiction is NOT as simple as just going through a week or two of withdrawal!!  The better prepared one is, the higher the likelihood of success...so here's some data to help you along the way:

First things first, check out these articles:

http://chetday.com/nocoffee.html

The hidden dangers of caffeine: How coffee causes exhaustion, fatigue and addiction http://www.naturalnews.com/012352.html 

Here's some things that aren't covered as well as they should be in those articles:

--whenever we ingest virtually any type of a stimulant, it affects (increases/stimulates/alters) the level of various neurotransmitters & brain chemicals...particularly dopamine, serotonin, norepenephrine, acetylcholine, glutamate & the GABA neurons  These are primarily are emotional "feel good" neurotransmitters and norepenephrine impacts 'energy', GABA affects calmness (overstimulating GABA neurons/receptors wears out their ability to calm us). 

This is VERY important to understand...and the best "in a nutshell" way to explain this:

Normally & naturally our brain chemicals can range on a scale from 0 to 10.  Naturally, they'll never go lower than 0 and never higher than 10 - zero is major/horrible depression, and ten is best 'feel good' day you've ever had - using this example, 5-8 would be average/normal (I'll use one braine chemical: dopamine, as an example).  So we normally have this 0-10 scale...let's say the stimulant cocaine pushes dopamine to (???) 50, and a cup of coffee pushes dopamine to 12-15.  Dopamine is the major "feel good" chemical...so humans are not only full of energy when they're using cocaine (due to the stimulant properties), but everything seems totally wonderful (any one that's experienced cocaine will confirm this).  And this increase in various energy/feel good brain chemicals is primarily why cocaine is so insidiously addictive.  It's a piece of cake to get through a week or two of physical withdrawal...but after having your dopamine levels pushed/stretched to totally unatural levels for months/years, when the cocaine is gone, the "5-8 level" that USED to feel normal, now feels like the pits of "flatness hell"...and it takes MANY months (maybe even a year or more) for a normal "5-8" to FEEL normal again...and that's if they don't relapse even once in all that time.  CAFFEINE IS NO DIFFERENT IN THIS REGARD....the only difference is how far out of balance the drug caffeine pushes our brain chemicals out of balance.  When the physical wd's are over (and even during them), on some level we feel 'flat'; nothing seems wonderfully joyous or truly funny; energy levels seem to plummet or be non-existent, and we don't "feel" alert or bright/brilliant - nor do we feel 'inspired'.  But most people don't realize this, and after a couple-three weeks, they think: "I've got this beat, that coffee sure looks/smells great (and what can one cup hurt?)...so I think I'll have just one cuppa".....and that ONE friggin' cup of coffee makes us feel like ourself and 'back to normal' again...with an extra spurt of energy, too!   It's SO subtle, not like cocaine or other drugs...but the addiction is NO DIFFERENT than any other addictive drug.  (Yes, I have indeed 'been there done that'...years ago with cocaine, and several times with caffeine.  You can trust me on this one, for sure & for certain....IF you stay away from it, you WILL feel like yourself again...your natural energy and all the 'feel good' chemicals will rebalance themselves, and you'll feel MORE WONDERFUL than you've felt since you started using)....and Kola Nut makes this process SO MUCH EASIER (and much more "do-able").   Can you ever have coffee/caffeine again?  I say yes, but ONLY if you treat it like any other addictive substance - say to yourself:

a) I know I'm about to ingest an addictive drug that harms my body and totally alters my brain chemicals (that "society and the PTB" have caused me to believe is 'normal')

b) I know that when the effects wear off, there will be a rebound period when I crave more

c) I perceive this "one/two cups of coffee situation" is worth suffering through the rebound period, and I am SURE I am strong enough to not allow myself to become an addicted slave to this addictive drug again.

--stimulants artificially raise our blood sugar: a) this makes us feel less hungry (so when quitting coffee, we have a tendency to always want to snack, because our blood sugar is much lower than what we're used to feeling).  Of course, the stronger the stimulant, the more severe this is.  Amphetamine, cocaine & meth addicts are virtually always underweight because they're never hungry.  b)  What happens when our blood sugar level is increased but there's really no sugar of any kind doing it?  It messes with our insulin levels & insulin receptors drastically....the blood sugar is high, so the pancreas creates insulin to lower the blood sugar but there's no actual sugar raising the blood sugar!  So this can 'wear out' our pancreas and contribute to insulin resistivity (which causes weight GAIN, amongst other things arrrgggh).  Cayenne is very beneficial for insulin resistivity, as well (yay again :)

I've just completed another post with all kinds of coffee/caffeine information: curezone.com/forums/fm.asp be sure to check it out (particularly the pix of the spider's webs...WOW).

Bundles, you CAN get off the coffee!  You'll be MUCH healthier, and with the Kola Nut it won't be long until you start feeling MUCH better, getting more rest, and find your mind clearing and able to handle more "incoming", more-better :)

Healthiest of blessings!

Unyquity