Quitting Diet Cokes...maybe

[40Arpent]

Sincerely Ben, we are all pulling for you! Best wishes, and please don't hesitate to call out if you need some help/support.

Pete

 

[Ole Cowboy]

Sincerely Ben, we are all pulling for you! Best wishes, and please don't hesitate to call out if you need some help/support.

Pete

X2 Ben, I can identify, been down that road...

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

Pulling for ya

 

[TheDan]

The chemicals in diet sodas can, for some people, be worse than quitting many other addicting substances, both legal and illegal. I seem to fall on the bad side of the bell curve.

Dang man... Who know quitting Diet Coke would be so hard.

You can do it!

 

[karlac]

Sincerely Ben, we are all pulling for you! Best wishes, and please don't hesitate to call out if you need some help/support.

Amen, ditto...

No.
He had made a comment a few days ago about "not posting any more today", or something to that effect, & have not seen him since....

Saw that, and realized last evening hadn't seen another of his posts since then; checked his profile just a few minutes ago to see what was up, and it led right here. Miss those well reasoned responses.

 

[Dawico]

If you need anything Ben feel free to ask. Hope it gets better for you.

 

[benenglish]

Tried to make today my first with no Diet or regular Coke but certain stresses popped up. If I were feeling good, it would have been a hell of a bad day. Wound up not only drinking a coke but self-medicating otherwise and excessively, creating a certain lack of control that has resulted in me actually posting a few things today.

Tomorrow is a new day. Assuming things don't go to shit as soon as I wake up (like today), I may make my first 24 hours without a Coke tomorrow.

Fingers crossed and off to bed.

If I don't post for the next few days (except having to do with planning the big semi-annual meet-n-greet at Hicksville, something I've committed to), that's a good sign.

If it doesn't work, I'm going to do what I saw a relative do once who went cold-turkey kicking an addiction - take to my bed and just don't get out of it for a couple of weeks, treating this like I have a bad flu or something. Just lay there and be miserable but know that the symptoms will eventually fade.

 

[Dawico]

Glad to see you back on here more Ben but I guess that isn't a good thing on your end.

Keep up the fight. Stumble and get back up and keep going.

Again, best wishes on your struggles.

 

[benenglish]

Today makes 7 days without a diet Coke.

I have switched to regular Coke, a swallow each morning and each evening, to address the psychological need for the taste of Coke. I have consumed 1 liter of regular Coke over that 7 days.

The big deal, though, is that I've now (assuming I get through the night) gone a week without any of the artificial sweeteners and other chemicals in Diet Coke.

Since today is the first day I haven't had a monster headache all day, tomorrow I'm going to try to take the next step and stop the regular Coke. If I don't initially succeed, I won't let it make me crazy; 1 liter per week isn't bad. I'll just try again in another week.

Thanks for the support, folks. It's good to know there are people pulling for you.

BTW - There is a big downside. I've been shaking ever since starting this process. I can't reliably hold the 7-ring of a B-8 target at 25 yards. That's flat-out awful. I'm just hoping it gets better.

 

[Dawico]

We are definitely pulling for you Ben. Don't get discouraged if you stumble, just get back up, dust yourself off, and keep going.

We are here for you.

 

[jrbfishn]

It woll, hang in there


Sent by a idjit coffeeholic

 

[Ole Cowboy]

Hang tuff Ben, i do think you are pushing the withdrawal very hard and fast, but maybe that works for you.

After years of 2x pack a day Camel non-filters I decided to quite. Cold Turkey did not work, nor did other approaches until I took an engineering approach. I carried around a note pad and noted time, and place when I smoked.

WOW what an eye opener that was: Each morning I walked out to the car, punched in the cig lighter, started the car and let it run till the lighter popped out, lit my smoke. Got to work and lit a smoke as I walked up and in to the building.

Take away was I smoked in a very predictable pattern. I then looked at the pattern of smokes over a 30 day time frame and chose 1 incident to eliminate each week ( as it got easier, I moved to eliminate 2 incidents each week). Finally I got down to 4 smokes per day. The one driving to work, and 1 after each meal. These were a challenge, again I prioritized them with breakfast, then lunch, then the car and the last one to go was supper. That was almost 40 years ago and have never touched one since...

 

[JohnnyLoco]

Today makes 7 days without a diet Coke.

I have switched to regular Coke, a swallow each morning and each evening, to address the psychological need for the taste of Coke. I have consumed 1 liter of regular Coke over that 7 days.

The big deal, though, is that I've now (assuming I get through the night) gone a week without any of the artificial sweeteners and other chemicals in Diet Coke.

Since today is the first day I haven't had a monster headache all day, tomorrow I'm going to try to take the next step and stop the regular Coke. If I don't initially succeed, I won't let it make me crazy; 1 liter per week isn't bad. I'll just try again in another week.

Thanks for the support, folks. It's good to know there are people pulling for you.

BTW - There is a big downside. I've been shaking ever since starting this process. I can't reliably hold the 7-ring of a B-8 target at 25 yards. That's flat-out awful. I'm just hoping it gets better.

I think you found the right method in curbing the caffeine addiction. What you have done with the swig of Coke in the morning and night would be akin to someone going from coffee to green tea, you basically reduced your caffeine intake to a minimal amount which helps alleviate withdrawal symptoms. I would recommend from here drinking a little green tea, white tea, or yerba matte, which are more healthy than regular Coke and going to either a carbonated water like Topo Chico or a caffeine-free natural soda to satisfy the soda craving.

I have found that caffeine is an extremely addictive substance, possibly one of the most. You can be off of it for a long time and just a few days in a row of drinking a glass of ice tea at lunch can start the cravings once again. Crazy

 

[benenglish]

I have found that caffeine is an extremely addictive substance, ...

In the midst of all this, I ran across a couple of interviews with Alton Brown where he said that for him quitting cigarettes was nothing compared to caffeine. He also said that getting off caffeine turned him into a crazy, terrible person. I know I've been a complete ass the entire time, ready to rip people's heads off at the slightest imagined provocation. I haven't been this consistently in a bad mood for this long since my mom died. Besides, that was depression; this is just me being a bitch.

When the shakes and the mood alteration slack off, I'll begin to believe success is possible. Right now, it's still an open question.

 

[jrbfishn]

May not believe it, but at one time i was 18-20 POTS a day coffee drinker. I can assure you, caffeine withdrawels are a bitch. Even a half hour without and i was ready to start WW3.


Sent by a idjit coffeeholic

 

[Sapper740]

Hey Ben, sorry I'm late to this conversation, I just picked up on it. Do you by any chance suffer from PKU (Phenylketonuria) which affects your body's ability to metabolize phenylalanine or are you struggling with caffeine addiction? If so, this might be helpful:

http://www.wikihow.com/Quit-Caffeine

In any event, I'll be saying a prayer for you tonight.

 

[benenglish]

...Do you by any chance suffer from PKU (Phenylketonuria) which affects your body's ability to metabolize phenylalanine or are you struggling with caffeine addiction?...

In any event, I'll be saying a prayer for you tonight.

First, I appreciate the prayers. Thanks.

Second, I never heard of PKU. Reading up on it, it seems to cause children to fail to reach certain mental development marks timely. Hmmm...Now that I think on it, my Kindergarten diagnosed me as "mentally retarded" and said I'd "need lifelong care" before they kicked me out. I've always had a hard time reconciling that with being my high school valedictorian. Maybe that's another mental failing.



In all seriousness, I simply grew up where Coca-Cola was what everyone drank, all the time. I developed the habit and my body thinks that a dozen cans a day worth of caffeine is normal. It's turning out to be a real problem teaching it otherwise.

But I made it through today without a single swallow of any sort of Coke, Diet or Regular.

I feel like I've got the flu, my head is killing me, and my mood is foul, to put it charitably. But I made it through the day. I'm hitting the sack before I backslide; I'll see what happens tomorrow.

 

[jrbfishn]

I have learned to control my caffeine addiction, but I still can't learn to do without the taste of coffee. Not an easy road my friend. But it was worth the trip. Hang in there Ben, you can get it done.

from an idgit coffeeholic

 

[Sapper740]

First, I appreciate the prayers. Thanks.

Second, I never heard of PKU. Reading up on it, it seems to cause children to fail to reach certain mental development marks timely. Hmmm...Now that I think on it, my Kindergarten diagnosed me as "mentally retarded" and said I'd "need lifelong care" before they kicked me out. I've always had a hard time reconciling that with being my high school valedictorian. Maybe that's another mental failing.



In all seriousness, I simply grew up where Coca-Cola was what everyone drank, all the time. I developed the habit and my body thinks that a dozen cans a day worth of caffeine is normal. It's turning out to be a real problem teaching it otherwise.

But I made it through today without a single swallow of any sort of Coke, Diet or Regular.

I feel like I've got the flu, my head is killing me, and my mood is foul, to put it charitably. But I made it through the day. I'm hitting the sack before I backslide; I'll see what happens tomorrow.

Good on ya! You'll make it Ben, of that I have no doubt. God seems to test some of us more than others but through those travails we become better people......your sister knows how good a man you are, that's for sure! Believe it or not, Einstein's elementary school teachers thought he was mentally retarded too because of his slow responses to questions, but in his biography he explained that he always made sure he had the correct answer before answering to avoid a painful rap across his knuckles.

 

[oldguy]

Stopped cokes except for occasional fountain coke, the artificial sweeteners in diet coke was giving stomach cramps and headaches so quit cold turkey and feel better for it.