[mindslight]

I had a hard time reading this article as the author kept coming back to all these "day 1" anecdotes. Quitting caffeine cold turkey, I go through about 2-3 weeks of withdrawal. The first few days really aren't bad, just a bit groggy and my executive function is a lot less imperative. It's after that the real symptoms set in - extreme lethargy, nausea, and suicidal thoughts (things like "I could avoid having to get up off the couch if I were dead". Otherwise completely out of character for me, so it's very clearly the withdrawal speaking).

I think the second week is generally the worst, but I always forget until I'm there. After I'm through the withdrawal I do feel that I'm better balanced. Of course then eventually there's something in my life I just need to push through, so I start down the path of doing a little caffeine, then a little more the next day to make up for that, etc. I liken it to a high interest loan, and the only way I've found to pay off being the aforementioned cold turkey.

What really weirds me out is people who talk as if caffeine is not a psychoactive drug. You mention to a doctor that you're currently on 300mg/day of caffeine and they look at you like you have three heads for bringing this up. I don't know if it's people's own cognitive dissonance from enjoying "coffee" but programmed with "drugs are bad", or if caffeine really just affects me more than the average person, or what.