Labmistress.com

Here is where the American in me comes out. I consume unnatural amounts of caffeine. My brain can’t even come into focus without the first 24oz of coffee ingested in the morning. On normal days, I will drink anywhere from 48-72oz of coffee, and on the long days when I have class until 10pm, the afternoon experiences at least one small sugar-free Red Bull. What’s weird, is that I can go the weekends without even touching a drop, and I never drank coffee ever, until about nine years ago. Now it is like the life blood.

When I was in Europe last November, I freaked our friends out when I would slam 3-4 espressos in one sitting. The stuff was really strong, but it came in these tiny little cups, so I felt lacking in volume and had to make up for it. Sometimes at work, I get locked out of the conference room because someone is having a meeting in there. I’m almost like a mad dog scratching at the door with my empty cup in hand. See, the Starbucks machine is in there. If the meeting runs really long, I will finally just burst in and say, “I must have coffee in the name of safety for my co-workers.”

I know this is REALLY bad, and I shouldn’t drink this much. At the same time, I play hard all day long. There is no way I could keep up without it. I tried to go decaf for a few days, and I was irritable, sleepy and had this headache that would just not quit. I thought that was strange because I don’t get them on the weekends. Maybe one of you can explain that one. Anyway, have any of you ever given up the caffeine with great success? What was your “replacement?” Don’t say tea. I drink plenty of that too. Doesn’t work.