Caffeine Free{dom}

The past few months I have known I've needed to make a change.  I hardly had any energy, was having 5 migraines a week with only a few days of relief before the next one struck, frequent stomachaches, fatigue, moodiness, and many more symptoms that I'm still dealing with!  Slowly but surely things are improving and I'm working with a few doctors, started working out, and I'm cleaning up my diet.

One of the biggest and hardest changes I made was 100% cutting out caffeine.  I didn't feel I was dependent on caffeine but it turns out my body was craving it.  I would have Starbucks most days (either homemade or buying it; I'm saving money either way now) and also drink a can of Dr. Pepper most days!  I tried cutting down and was successful but would always go back to drinking one or two caffeinated drinks per day.  While drinking all of this caffeine I was taking a good amount of Advil and I was creating my own Excedrin Migraine {ibuprofen + caffeine}.  Because of the caffeine, your body can get dependent on the positive effects and cause rebound headaches/migraines.  This is what was happening to me and I didn't even realize it!

Images Courtesy of Google

So, on December 7th, I decided to not give in to the caffeine headache and officially went caffeine free and have not looked back!  December 7th, 8th, and 9th were excruciatingly painful and I was still feeling detoxing effects for the next few weeks, but it has been incredibly rewarding.  I can wake up {fairly} easily and can get through the day on my own. I don't rely on needing to stop at Starbucks when I'm out and about or worrying about having enough Dr. Pepper in the fridge during the week before the next grocery run!  Talk about saving money, too...that added $5 to every grocery run, every morning before school, or just being out and about on the weekend!

I was disappointed the first couple of weeks because my migraines weren't getting much better.  I was doing research online and found various results suggesting that caffeine can take as little as 1-2 weeks to leave your system and as long as up to a year {ain't nobody got time for that!  So with that news, I continued to stick with it, eat healthy {I hardly eat any chocolate as that has trace amounts of caffeine}, and continue walking for exercise especially when I did not have a migraine.

Images Courtesy of Google

Now that I am 84 days caffeine free (Hallelujah!) I can say that I am feeling some positive effects.  I still get migraines, but am working with a neurologist and endocrinologist (well, I am seeing an endocrinologist this week actually) to get the migraines even more in control.  The biggest changes I can see migraine wise are the lessening fear I have attached to the migraines.  If I don't have a Dr. Pepper available, I don't need to worry that a migraine will strike in the next 15 minutes.  Cutting out the caffeinated Starbucks and Dr. Pepper also means cutting out all of that sugar!  I'm sure I've replaced it with other sugars (such as Gatorade sugars) but there is SO much research out there about how bad soda is for you!  I am down to two migraines a week when they do come (so they don't last as long) and they come much less often.  The neurologist that I am working with also has given me a new daily medication to try, but my goal would be to not depend on any medication daily!

It is a truly a habit now and my body {at least I don't think...} doesn't crave caffeine.  There have been a few times I've craved something bubbly and in that case I have made sure to get caffeine free soda such as A&W rootbeer, sprite, or La Croix {yum, and p.s. for anyone who has had this, don't you feel fancy drinking it?!}.

Fancy Schmancy
Images Courtesy of Google
I hope this encourages you that you CAN be caffeine free and it is SO beneficial to you!  Comment below if you've tried going caffeine free, if you want to try, or if you are nervous to try it.  Let me know if you want to for health reasons or if you're interested in doing it for whole30, etc. :)  Can't wait to hear from you!