35 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
35 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
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layout: post
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title: "Skulls and icepicks — Caffeine headaches suck"
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date: 2018-01-18
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---
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Photo by [Lexi Ruskell](https://unsplash.com/photos/rnAsJ38qio8?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/search/photos/coffee?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText)I like my coffee. Love it, in fact. Its one of my favourite flavours, even though I have a dominant sweet tooth. And I like it the same way I like my women — strong, dark and too hot for you. Milk in coffee is a *sin*![1] Don’t even mention the horror that is decaf…
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I *don’t *like it trying to kill me by hammering my skull apart for neglecting it.[2] It has become a crutch on which I am dependent without even realising…
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Turns out I’m thoroughly addicted to caffeine.
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Should have seen that one coming, considering how often I joked about that idea. But it took me several hours of experiencing it to realise I was even in caffeine withdrawal. Partly because its impossible to think straight while in its grip, but mostly because I didn’t *think* I was truly addicted. And yet how wrong I was. All I had to do was skip drinking coffee for one day, and I essentially ceased to function.
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Let me describe a caffeine headache to you as a sort of public service announcement.
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At first a dull throb behind the eyes. I figured “Oh, I just need a screen break”. Nope. The throb built and built until it felt like someone was driving a knife into my eyesockets and twisting it joyfully. Then it graduated to someone hammering the inside of my forehead with an icepick. I’m exaggerating, but not much.
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Half a can of Monster later — I know, I know, I should have made coffee instead but I was in no state to handle boiling water — and I am right as rain as if nothing ever happened.
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I’m going to have to go cold turkey on the stuff eventually.
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Not permanently — I enjoy my coffee too damn much for that— but for a time to break the addiction, reset the dependency. Definitely should ditch the energy drinks though, much as I love them for the instant boost.[3] I don’t like the idea of *having to *have caffeine to keep me functional. But for now that is my newly discovered reality.
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So the ultimate lesson I learnt today was everything in moderation.
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That includes moderation itself, mind! Life’s no good if you avoid all things that might be bad for you. But caffeine addiction and subsequent skull-imploding withdrawal is not worth it.
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[1] I’m kidding, of course. Drink yours whatever way you like — just don’t give it to *me *you filthy heathen!
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[2] This applies equally as well to the women as to the caffeine.
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[3] A side effect of my ridiculously fast metabolism is that sugar and caffeine both have an exaggerated energising effect on me. Part of that is psychological, but only part.
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