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Thread: My Doctor Thinks I Should Give Up Coffee

  1. #1
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    My Doctor Thinks I Should Give Up Coffee

    After triple bypass surgery and then a problem with my GI tract my doctor suggested I give up tobacco, alcohol and coffee. Okay, it wasn't easy but I gave up tobacco over three years ago. I did enjoy a beer now and then or a shot or two of rum, but no more. Coffee is the hard one for me to give up.

    Though there has been some progress cutting back, my consumption is down to only one cup a day:

    Cup of Coffee.jpg

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  2. #2
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    Jim,

    Life is much better without coffee.....just keep singing the mantra......

  3. #3
    After drinking a couple of pots of coffee a day for years, I just stopped one day and never went back to it. Getting off the caffeine kick is an amazing thing, I haven't had any coffee in many years and I don't miss it a bit.

  4. #4
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    I have a hard time believing 1 cup of coffee a day will effect one's health.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  5. #5
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    Starts with coffee - then goes to beer - then they add peanut butter to the list.

    I say we are all destined to die. Don't take away my extra crunchy peanut butter .
    "... for when we become in heart completely poor, we at once are the treasurers & disbursers of enormous riches."
    WQJudge

  6. #6
    I stop drinking and start drinking coffee every 2-5 years. The first two weeks is hell but after that i really do feel like a million bucks and swear ill never drink the stuff again.

    I always give in on a nice tropical vacation when i really just want to indulge. I dont take nice vacations often.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Walsh View Post
    . The first two weeks is hell but after that i really do feel like a million bucks and swear ill never drink the stuff again.

    .
    I'm curious about the ways in which you feel better. What changes? Do you sleep better? Do you feel less anxious?

  8. #8
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    about 10 years ago, my doctor told me to stop drinking coffee, so I did. A few years later, I decided I missed it, and I wasn't feeling better without it, so I started drinking it again. For the most part, I only drink one cup of caffeinated now, although some days I have a large starbux. I really like drinking coffee, so I consume a lot of decaf. I came to realize that I had a potassium deficiency, and too many cups of coffee made my heart skip beats. Now that I've changed my diet, that is no longer the case. But with my family history of heart issues, I try to avoid raising my blood pressure, and coffee definitely does that. If I had issues I couldn't change with diet, I would drop it in a minute.

  9. #9
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    Personally, I think you need a new doctor. One that isn't crazy.

    No coffee. What's the world coming to?
    Paul

  10. #10
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    I'd get a new doctor. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life!

    I've gone off coffee a few times in the last 20 years, but after a month or two, I find that, for one, I really like coffee, and two, that extra boost in the morning helps me get going, no matter how much sleep I've had. I brew straight into a 20 oz ceramic mug, make it pretty strong, and that's usually all the caffeine I have. The big health boost years ago for me was cutting out soda drinking. I might have a few a year now, but not every day.
    Jason

    "Don't get stuck on stupid." --Lt. Gen. Russel Honore


  11. #11
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    I think I drink so much coffee I've become immune to caffeine. I can have a cup or two in the evening and still sleep like a toddler. I've gone without it, but only in severe situations (Army Officer Candidate school for 60 days) and I didn't like operating from 0400 to 2200 everyday without it. I went from being in the Top 5 for peer ranking during the first 2 weeks to Bottom 10 by the end of it. I attribute that to lack of caffeine coupled with being surrounded by idiots.
    -Lud

  12. #12
    I dont think most of us realize that coffee is actaully a fairly strong stimulant. I know i did not.

    When i stop drinking coffee i have much much more energy. I wake out of bed rip roaring ready to go and i stay that way throughout the day. When i am drinking cofffe my energy level ebbs and flows throughout the day.

    The best i can describe it is when drinking coffee i have a underlying chronic case of constant fatigue. The dips in my energy level are at very specific and times throughout the day and undeniable.

    The crazy part is you could had never told me this prior to the first time i gave up coffee as i had nothing to comapre it to. Everytime I stop i am amazed all over again. The other thing i am always amazed by is the strong and poweful affect of that first cup of coffee after a couple years. It will send me through the roof bordering on a panic attack. It really feels terrible. It tasts so good though i do it anyway. Im a bit of a coffee snob and looooove good coffee.

    With all the above said i drink coffee only first thing in the morning. I make a french press and drink half to 3/4 of it. If doing site work i drink maybe 1/2-3/4 of a large black coffee. Not much when compared to what some drink. I also drink it black.

    Also i should add i can drink ten cups of coffee and go right to bed.

    Quote Originally Posted by Stephen Tashiro View Post
    I'm curious about the ways in which you feel better. What changes? Do you sleep better? Do you feel less anxious?
    Last edited by Patrick Walsh; 02-01-2017 at 8:17 AM.

  13. #13
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    Jim,

    I sympathize with your situation. If your biggest vice is coffee, then you are in pretty good shape.

    Personally I wouldn't give up coffee. I have two good cups each morning. And while I have GERD, I do not find that coffee presents any more issues than not. Many doctors would have you living on cold oatmeal (about as benign a food as I can come up with before my coffee). I take Omeprazole daily and still have the coffee. So far, no ill effects in 10 years.

    At a certain point, you have to decide for yourself what is important in your everyday life. Change the things that aren't important and adjust to the things that are important.
    Shawn

    "no trees were harmed in the creation of this message, however some electrons were temporarily inconvenienced."

    "I resent having to use my brain to do your thinking"

  14. #14
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    I gave up coffee for the last few years at work. I am much calmer and clearer without it. But still miss it at times.
    I started it up again for a few years and am now off it for the past few years.
    Theirs nothing like a good cup of black coffee, with nothing else in it, as how I always drank it.
    The only liquids I drink now is well water. But we have excellent well water.

  15. #15
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    I remember when my Grandmother's doctor would tell her to do this, that and the other thing to stay healthy. She told him to go to blazes and lived to be 99.

    I ate oatmeal, drank green tea and exercised. Ended up with bone cancer anyway. After that a healthy lifestlye doesn't have much going for it IMHO.

    Haven't had coffee in the last, oh, 15 minutes or so. Half & half or milk in mine. Given a choice of those powdered creamers I'll take it black. The list of ingredients in that powdered junk could have made Kev William's list. Plus it's always sweet. Ugh.

    -Tom

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