Recently I relapsed after going 48 days hard mode. I’m not happy about it but I became very unmotivated after the hellish withdrawals I was experiencing and just lost my control. This time I absolutely aim to kick this habit forever, no matter how tough it gets. But something that I didn’t even realize until I relapsed was that I never kicked my caffeine habit during my last reboot. Don’t know why, but it just completely slipped my mind. I’ve read that it isn’t good to be on caffeine while rebooting but I didn’t stop drinking coffee when I should have. I usually only have one cup a day but it’s enough to stimulate me. I was wondering how detrimental this is to your reboot? I’ve had terrible withdrawals the last month including intense fear and anxiety and I’m curious if the addition of the caffeine could have potentially prolonged my PMO withdrawals or even intensified them?
For me stopping my coffee helped a lot. Before, while I was drinking coffee every morning during my reboot, I would have huge panic attacks and increased heart rates in the middle of the day almost consistently. They would seem to come from nowhere and made me scared about my health both physically and mentally. Before my reboot these things never came, even though I was still drinking coffee, and I've never been a worrisome person. However, after I stopped coffee, the anxiety and that feeling of fear in the chest and stomach went down by like 80%. Caffeine is similar to a drug, so it's best to stop it during the rebooting process. Stopping coffee helped me a ton!
Thanks for the reply. I’ve literally had the exact same panic that you describe. This time I’m going to completely cut out caffeine and see if it helps, although I’m sure it will. The unshakable panic and anxiety are some of the main reasons I ended up relapsing. I also had some considerable indigestion and stomach issues that I think were brought on by the anxiety, which was worrying me and continuing the cycle. I’ve drank coffee consistently for about two years and never had this problem until I started my last reboot.
Well anything that stimulates the brain is probably going to cause a delay in your reboot or potentially conflict with your brain’s rewiring and therefore create havoc during your rebooting process. I’d avoid anything and everything that gets you “high” or gives you a “buzz”. Even caffeine apparently is bad and that’s not even a hard drug. Imagine what other substances will do...
I haven't even thought this could cause issues for a reboot. I take quite a bit of caffeine a day. Maybe 2-3 coffees. But also take 100mg of caffeine from a preworkout I take daily. Wonder what effect this will have on my revovery.
Frankly I think it’s worth a try to go without it. I know I’m going to. I’ve gone off of caffeine for a couple days before and I had severe headaches from the withdrawals, but they tend to go away after a day or two at most. If it means I’ll have an easier time during my reboot then I’m all for it. I’ll probably go back to drinking a cup a day once I’m healed but I definitely think it’s a good idea to completely obstain from stimulants like caffeine during the reboot process.
I've been thinking about caffeine a lot too. I get pretty bad panic attacks mid-day. I honestly don't think I can stop drinking coffee in the morning but may try to kick my second and third cup during the day. I haven't thought much about caffeine as it relates to relapse. I do remember plenty of times when I was jacked on caffeine and wanted to PMO to blow off some energy and time.
Yeah it’s strange, for me I notice that I get more panicked after I eat breakfast, which is usually when I have my cup of coffee. When I wake up in the morning and right before bed I’m fine. This leads me to believe the caffeine is playing a large role in my anxiety, or at least causing it to be worse. It makes sense seeing as how both you and the previous poster commented about experiencing anxiety mid-day as well. I’m thinking about trying a month with no caffeine and seeing what happens.
Yeah I’m not really looking forward to going off it honestly. I know I’m going to be a zombie for a week or so lol.
Caffeine increases your adrenal response and directly affects the nervous system, which can increase anxiety and stress levels. You brain and nervous system are the two things you’re trying to heal during a reboot so stimulating them with caffeine is probably not a good idea while on NoFap.
Hmmmm it could make sense. When I drink coffee, my mood raises and I feel a very very very very very slight buzz, I must be borrowing these emotions from somewhere?? But how much can two cups of coffee hurts? Where are you getting this idea from?