By Zeinab Fakih
“You sound like someone who’s trying to quit smoking.”
If I had asked my friends what I wouldn’t be “me” without, I guarantee most of them would say coffee. I’ve had many friends over the past years tell me I have a problem; it’s pretty funny. What can I say? I’m Arab, we have a lot of coffee.
Just last night, I found a coffee-flavoured candy that I had from my trip to Lebanon. I’ve been drinking coffee since middle school and I’ve been taking my parent’s cups and dipping cookies in them since elementary school. Some kids stole their parents’ alcohol; I stole their coffee.
I’ve heard my entire life that “caffeine is a drug” and “an addiction” but I never took any of that seriously. I mean, come on, it’s coffee. I’m not smoking or drinking. I can go a day without it and be fine. But it’s insane, looking back on my week without it, how much coffee really affects you.
Just this week I learned that caffeine has the same effect on the brain as cocaine and the side effects are wild. Fatigue is an obvious one that I didn’t need to see a list for, but in case you were curious, some others include headaches, insomnia, feeling depressed or anxious, and irritability. Sounds fun doesn’t it?
So, it was Wednesday morning and I had just poured myself a cup of coffee before remembering that my apartment complex was about to cut off the water. I figured it would be the perfect day to start this experiment. And let me tell you something: It was 8 a.m. and I already felt a headache coming.
I thought to myself “I could always start tomorrow … I mean, my cup is already poured.” So, as I sat there writing this out I took my first sip of the day. My headache was gone and the sun wasn’t so irritatingly bright anymore. All was well. I’d start Thursday. I mean, I didn’t have classes or any work so it wasn’t like I’d even be seeing people to ask if I was acting differently. I think my choice to push this out one more day was a good idea. And let me tell you, I felt great.
It’s Thursday and I’ve officially started my week without coffee. It’s only day one and I want to die. I’m a naturally hyper person and I never used to think that coffee had much of an effect on me; I just liked the way it tasted … but boy was I wrong. I didn’t feel any change in how I acted or in my energy levels because, again, I’m just really hyper. But that being said, I was having the worst headaches ever and they weren’t those tiny “I can feel it coming” headaches. They felt like someone had crawled into my head and started pounding against my skull with a hammer behind my left ear. If that wasn’t bad enough, everything also seemed louder through my left ear which only seemed to amplify my headache.
I tried to just ignore it; I mean, I was in a three hour lecture I needed to focus on, but no matter how hard I tried to I just couldn’t. I was taking down the notes and hearing what my professor was saying but nothing registered. I could not tell you a single thing that happened in that class. What was also weird was that even though I was feeling completely normal besides the headaches, I was also super fidgety. I expected to feel tired but I just felt the same as every other day plus feeling like I needed to be moving at every second with zero ability to focus. As soon as 9:30 p.m. hit, I was gone.
Now, moving on to day two. This was the day I felt like the side effects of “caffeine withdrawal” truly hit me. I woke up with another pounding headache and I was also ridiculously hungry. I know coffee is an appetite suppressant but I ate a lot anyway so I never really thought it affected me. Again, I was wrong. Even though I was absolutely starving, after eating I just felt nauseous. My head hurt and I was starving. I was not having a good time.
This continued for the rest of the week. No matter how much I would eat, I would just stay hungry. I would have just finished eating and five minutes later I would go back in the kitchen to make something else because I never felt full. I guess my body was adjusting to not having caffeine but it was also strange how much sugar and candy I was craving.
I’m not a sweets person. I don’t eat sugar often — I don’t even take sugar in my coffee — but I felt like I was drawn toward candies and juices. Apparently this isn’t odd. A friend was telling me about her friend’s dad who was quitting smoking and how he would start craving candy and sugar. This has to do with the addictive factor simple sugars have along with things like coffee, smoking, and drinking. Sugars stimulate the same pleasure and reward factors in the brain as caffeine.
Day four was my last day of headaches, thank God. Days five through seven went by well other than the sugar cravings and constant hunger. I wasn’t tired and I didn’t feel nauseous after everything I ate. My mom even said I should just permanently stop drinking coffee.
But let’s be honest, I was so excited on day seven to be able to drink coffee again. And as I’m writing this, I’ve finished my first cup of the day. I’m sorry, this isn’t one of those videos where people go a week without something and never touch it again. I like being able to focus in class, not have constant headaches or feel hungry all day. I’ve taken my blood tests and I’m healthy and hydrated and my vitamins are all on track. Coffee is just my thing.