I tried to give up coffee right before finals week

I love coffee as much as any overworked, sleep-deprived college student. I didn’t drink it in high school but started drinking it religiously the summer after my freshman year of college.

There are two big coffee shops on our campus and a few coffee carts, all with local coffee and student employees. These shops got me hooked, plus coffee dates are the easiest way to keep up with friends and hang out in between classes.

Everything was fine with my coffee addiction until about a month ago. In high school, I started experiencing some vertigo. My vertigo would get worse when it was cold out or if I changed elevations, but my vertigo attacks were always a mild inconvenience rather than the crippling, can’t get out of bed kind.

My favorite mocha that I can no longer drink.

Earlier this semester, I visited my family. My dad made me coffee and as soon as I had finished the first cup, I wanted to throw up. The attack was so bad I laid in bed for hours, not moving until the dizziness passed.

In the back of my mind, I thought that coffee could be the culprit, but continued to drink it when I got back to school. Although I never had another crippling attack, the dizziness was almost constant. I did some research online and found that too much caffeine could be the cause of my dizziness. So I quit cold turkey.

Day 1

Day one without coffee was not fun. I had a headache by 11am and was sluggish in my thoughts and movements. All I wanted was caffeine. I worked out at noon and took a cold shower, which made me feel alert and awake until about 2pm, when I started to slump again, my headache returning. The upside was no dizziness.

Day 2

Day two, the headache was a little more intense. I was also ready to go to bed. I sounded like a drunk person, slurring my words and having an incredibly hard time focusing during class. I worked out again around 11am, but couldn’t get through it.

I almost craved around 3pm when I felt like I would fall asleep in class without some sort of caffeine, but instead I drank some caffeine free tea, trying to trick my brain into thinking it was coffee. It was not fooled.

I can only watch her longingly.

Day 3

Day three did not start out well AT ALL. My roommate kept me up most of the night anyway, so I was more tired that morning than I have been in a while. I had a small headache right off the bat.

The day was better than the first two in the sense that I craved coffee less, but by 7pm, my headache was so bad I allowed myself to have a cup of black tea. The caffeine helped a little and didn’t make me dizzy.

Day 4

Day four was much better than the other days. Although I was still tired and desperately needed a nap around 3pm, my headache was gone and I could focus more in class, even though I yawned the whole time.

My favorite mug I can only drink non-caffeinated beverages from.

Day 5

Day Five was so weird. I woke up feeling both tired and refreshed. I had a cup of black tea to start my morning off and had no headache.

All in all, I think this was a success. I look forward to my mostly non-caffeinated days ahead with maybe a cheat coffee here and there.