What is an addiction many people don’t realize they have?

Like A Duck@programming.dev to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 194 points –
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Caffeine, people think they aren’t addicted to caffeine and can stop any time but watch them be miserable and go right back when they try. And in the same vein adderall for those college kids who are cramming before tests

If I go 2 days without coffee, my head starts to kill me. Definitely an addiction.

I have adhd. Caffeine I definitely feel the symptoms when I stop. My adhd drug (Focalin, not aderall) I just feel the ADHD symptoms more but no headaches and such.

I've had to quit temporarily due to an injury and while it does suck at first, it's not as hard as something like nicotine. Doable if you have the motivation to quit but I eventually went back to drinking a few cups a day because the pros outweigh the cons for me.

Do you mind sharing why you went back?

Well, I was still using nicotine at the time and coffee and smoking/vaping is just a powerful combination that made it harder to quit either. Despite quitting the former because nicotine addiction and putting stuff in your lungs is not good in general, I still like the buzz of coffee. Also, being able to power through a workday on very little sleep comes in handy a lot for me.

I drink several cups a day but even if I don't I still feel the same. I'm not one of those "don't talk to me before I've had my coffee" -guys. I just drink it out of habit and because I like the taste. I don't feel like it effects me in almost any way. I can even drink a cup few hours before sleep. I guess you could say it's an addiction since I do it every day and don't want to stop but I'd still rather just consider it a habit in my case.

@Thorny_Thicket @qooqie
I could be wrong but this sounds surprisingly like the "I don't actually need it, I can quit at any time, I just don't want to" trope.
Just put of curiosity if you switched to decaff for a month or something would you notice or feel any difference?

I'm not a coffee drinker so I don't really know what it's like. (I'll do tea every now and again but nothing daily or multiple times a day)

I have the same coffee drinking habits, and someone challenged me to give it up for a week to prove I'm not addicted. I didn't have any symptoms but I was surprised to find I genuinely craved a hot drink several times a day. Hot water with lemon filled the gap until the week was over.

I love coffee for the taste! I do often get decaf.

In my case I simply don't see the need to quit. I don't see it having a negative effect on my life and I don't believe it to be particulary unhealthy either.

I had that as well. Didn't feel any real benefits/effects from it and also no abstinence symptoms but drank coffee occasionally because of taste.

Then my high blood pressure was discovered, I was put on medication and since then I feel the rush of caffeine and unfortunately the headache after withdrawal as well.

I tried cutting it out for a while to see if it was causing some anxiety (it wasn’t, it was just the world and lockdowns) but went from 2-3 large cups of chemex a day to 0 for about 8 weeks and it was frankly…. fine? I didn’t even get headaches. I count myself lucky, esp so since I am back to drinking coffee haha

Same for me. Had to quit cold turkey because of gastritis and later an operation and it was fine. Headache for a day and obviously the ritual of morning coffee was gone, but that's it.

The odd thing is I didn’t even have headache first day, though I have experienced that another time (like when travelling and not having coffee). But this time I was having no caffeine (no tea, soda, etc either) and I did t experience any change. It gave me quite a surprise

I legitimately thought I was coming down with a cold when I accidentally didn't get any caffeine for a day, lol

Oh man. I get to experience all the addict tropes with caffeine. Slurping spilled coffee from the kitchen counter (less hygienic than vodka), panic-crying when were out of beans, snarling at my love ones until they take me to Peets or Starbucks.

Every once in a while (like every 18 months) I'll taper back down to sobriety (16 oz a day for two days, then 8 ozs then 4 or zero) and wow there's a level of giving zero fucks even below the iceberg. Maybe it's negative fucks or microfractional fuck-giving. But when I'm drying out, no goth, no cynic, no edge lord can stand a chance matching the degree of fuck non-giving I manage.

I need to, ironically, pick up some caffeine pills so I can quit. Last time I quit I waited until I started feeling like shit then took part of a caffeine pill, since I couldn't find smaller ones. Only had to take the one dose and I was good.

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