Hello, I’m new here, I’m a middle aged mom. Did several water fasts and two 5-6 days long dry fasts before.
I started 20 H ago with an idea of having a water fast. So far however it’s been a dry fast - the only thing I really want is coffee and the detox headache is literally killing me. I’ve been a heavy caffeine addict, drinking at least 6-8 cups a day, sometimes other caffeine drinks on top of this. I hope on dry fast the deox symptoms will go away quicker. I would be greatful if you could share your experiences with it ☺️
I don’t have much experience with this because I don’t drink coffee or consume caffeinated beverages currently, and have never done so to the point of physical dependence that I’m aware of, but it’s important to note that caffeine is literally a societally-normalized drug. This is why people get addicted to it and why people have withdrawal symptoms when they try to remove it. People would have overall better, more stable energy without caffeine, but tend to stay addicted because they notice poor energy when they don’t have it–because they have fostered a drug dependency.
Thanks a lot for all your comments. I’m almost 36 H into the fast (still dry) and the terrible headache is almost gone - from 7-8 to 2-3 in the pain scale. I could hardly leave the bed yesterday but today I should be able to function more less normally.
Yes, I know it’s reasonable to reduce caffeine before the fast, but for me it’s almost more difficult than the fast itself. And yes, I know I don’t need it to stay alert, I’m actually having much better focus when Im caffeine free (a few weeks after my fasts), I just love the smell and the taste - coffee literally gives me little moments of happiness. I’ll try to switch to decaf though.
I’m pretty basic (having never gone past 72 h) but I always detox caffeine during a dry fast. The withdrawal attention seems to have to fight my hunger and thirst for priority and generally it loses. I’ve never tried to taper as it doesn’t really work for me.
My general fasting protocol is to wake up, eat a huge breakfast of only fat and protein. Drink a large amount of water and as much caffeine as I think I need (usually energy drinks) and then begin my dry fast at like 6 a.m. So Day 1 is usually a piece of cake and Day 2 generally is when I start to suffer around noon but at that point I’m past 24 hours without water so the thirst competes for attention and generally speaking I’m pretty awful at work anyway. By the time I go to bed on day 2 I usually just pass out and have crazy vivid dreams. The last 24 hours is usually just thirst issues and a dull headache that’s easy to ignore.
Ideally you would want to wean off of caffeine before dry fasting because it dehydrates the body terribly. I’d suggest doing a water fast until you can go without caffeine, or easing into a dry fast with lots of hydration first