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Comment by throwaway0071 | Hacker News Reader

I have a fairly unhealthy lifestyle. When I started getting panic attacks, trembling, palpitations, skin rashes, walking up 5x during the night, feeling exhausted all day, etc, I stopped taking caffeine... And did not change a single other thing.

It took me over a month to few "normal" again.

First week: headaches, back pain, vomiting, nausea, cramps, etc.

Second week: feeling like shit. Had no energy for anything.

Third week: a resemblance of being normal again.

Fourth week: feeling like I was at 60% of my previous energy levels and thinking "this sucks but if this is the new normal, I can get used to it".

Second month: energy levels are back, never feel sleepy again, focus is back completely, etc. I'm even thinking about gym, running, etc.

So this is my data point. From 3-4 expressos and of caffeinated sodas to zero.

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> "His research suggested that withdrawals began within 12–24 hours after stopping caffeine intake and could last as long as nine days"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine_dependence

This could be explained by regression towards the mean. When your health problems reached an extreme they were very likely to eventually get better. This might have happened regardless of any changes to your lifestyle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean

It really is a very fascinating phenomenon. My friend who works as a psychologist have noticed that the most "successful" work is to always accept crisis patients immediately. If they have to queue for 2 months before getting clinical help, they have often improved by themselves, and it is therefore harder to reduce their problems further.

I'm having a hard time figuring out your point for this specific situation. Are you saying the list of symptoms I described would eventually go away by itself?

(I'm not op).

It's not that there's a regression-to-mean force that eliminates abnormal symptoms. It's more that the symptoms have some underlying cause that will fix itself over time.

If you start some intervention (such as stopping caffeine) at the same time you are naturally getting better, then you nay false attribute your getting better to the intervention rather than to its real cause: our bodies tend to bounch back from illness.

Did those expressos and sodas have sugar?

Sodas.. of course? Expressos, no.

I didn't stop taking sugar. I only dropped coffee and stopped taking caffeinated sodas... I didn't stop taking sodas.

Then, if you cut out sugars completely you'll discover a new height of energy. Probably after a few days of withdrawal.

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