Diet drinks withdrawal!

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rachelmackinnon
rachelmackinnon Posts: 5 Member
in Getting Started
When will the migraines, mood swings, tiredness end?

Ok so being brutally honest. Up until last week diet coke and diet irnbru have been my only source of fluids for as long as I can remember.

Weekly I'll buy, a box of cans and a pack of big bottles of diet coke from Costco. And around 4 big bottles of diet irnbru. With the exception of a few cans my husband would drink, this is what I'd consume in a week.

I have awful acne and I'm over weight. Decided taking small steps would be the best option.

Last week I decided that before I start to criticise what I eat or join the gym, that I had to ditch the diet drinks.

So instead I bought lots of bottled water from Costco. And i started the bootea detox. I have also started to eat breakfast in the morning. Surprisingly I have came to like milk after despising it since I was a child.

It's been 7 hellish days. Although the migraines are not as instense as the first few days and I no longer want to live in darkness. Throughout the day I am still experiencing mild head aches and tiredness.

Anyone know any tips to get me over this quicker?



Replies

  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
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    my guess it's the caffeine. drink some coffee or wean yourself off the diet coke.
  • FatMoojor
    FatMoojor Posts: 483 Member
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    I think the more important question is why are you doing a detox?

    There is no reason to remove diet drinks from your diet. By all means reduce down the amount you drink and add some water but there isn't any actual reason to not drink diet drinks.

    Detox's have no actual effect apart from making your go to the bathroom a lot and lose some water weight. You body already detoxes itself perfectly well.
  • Soopatt
    Soopatt Posts: 563 Member
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    moyer566 wrote: »
    my guess it's the caffeine. drink some coffee or wean yourself off the diet coke.

    +1

    Caffeine is a real thing - I get killer headaches when I skip my coffee. It is not about diet drinks being of the devil or anything, but just that you might have to slowly reduce your caffeine dependency.

    I heard someone tell of how they diluted their drinks for a while and cut back over a period of two weeks down to none.

    On the other hand, you might be close to through it and in that case, it wont last.
  • TheopolisAmbroiseIII
    TheopolisAmbroiseIII Posts: 197 Member
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    Unless diet drinks make you want to eat chips and other snack foods, as they do for me, there's zero reason to cut them out entirely, no matter what the "detox" people claim. Aspartame, Ace-K, Sucralose and all other artificial sweeteners are harmless in the dosage you can get from drinking diet drinks. People claim they're toxic, or that high doses are dangerous, but in all honesty, you'd die of hyponatremia (water poisoning), or even just burst, before you'd get anywhere near a harmful dose of artificial sweeteners.

    Any substance that claims to be a "detox" is just water, at best, and a harmful laxative / diruetic at worst. The key to weight loss isn't teas or pills or powders or machines. It's eating what you eat now, but less of it.
  • SeptemberSun_1333
    SeptemberSun_1333 Posts: 2,742 Member
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    Caffeine headaches are awful! I gave up coffee in July because it felt like it was taking over my life, lol! I drink diet soda maybe twice a week now, where use to it'd be all day. Drink a cup of tea with a bit of sugar in the mornings to help with the headaches. Interestingly enough, my dental hygienist told me they are seeing so much tooth decay from diet drinks (the acidity) that she'd rather people drink sugared beverages and do proper care.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
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    Aside from the probable caffeine withdrawal, I'd look carefully at what's in that bootea. There's a strong possibility that something in there is contributing to triggering the migraine and mood swings.

    My advice - ditch the "detox" and allow yourself to enjoy a couple cans a day of diet Coke. You'll be finding much more success at calorie reduction. You can do your small steps there and make it even easier on yourself. See how much you're really eating and then cut back by 500 calories a day. As you adjust, you can tweak your food choices to increase satiety and to better meet nutritional needs. (Calories are all that matter for loss, but nutrition is important for overall health).

    Keep drinking your water. Instead of buying bottled water, get a fun reusable bottle and, if you want, a filter. You'll save a ton of money that way (and keep the plastic out of the landfill!)
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    I was on much more diet soda for years (decades) and kicked my addiction (mostly) in September.

    I don't understand the idea of the bootea detox, so won't comment on that. however, milk has calories while diet soda does not have calories. If the goal is to lose weight, then this approach doesn't make as much sense.

    The reason I quit (not really, but quit drinking it daily) diet soda was because I plan to spend a week hiking soon and it won't be available in the wilderness. Rather than dealing with the withdrawal symptoms in the wilderness while hiking and being grumpy, I wanted to go ahead and get past it earlier.

    Here's what I did: I spent a week tracking what I drank to get a more accurate measurement of how much I was drinking. I also tried to drink less than usual, but it was difficult to measure the change. The second week, I had no diet soda at all. If I had a craving, I would fulfill it with water or iced tea. I just challenged myself to see how long I could go without having any diet soda at all. It wasn't easy, but that lasted for 2-3 weeks. I allowed myself coffee on occasion during that time as well.

    Since then, I'll drink diet soda every few days, but I don't feel like I must have it several times per day anymore.
  • TheopolisAmbroiseIII
    TheopolisAmbroiseIII Posts: 197 Member
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    midwesterner85 wrote: »
    The reason I quit (not really, but quit drinking it daily) diet soda was because I plan to spend a week hiking soon and it won't be available in the wilderness. Rather than dealing with the withdrawal symptoms in the wilderness while hiking and being grumpy, I wanted to go ahead and get past it earlier.

    I bring caffeine capsules with me anywhere I go, especially camping/hiking, for just this reason. Couple grams of capsules equals a case of soda. Sometimes I can go cold turkey just fine. Sometimes I'm on my back in a dark room with a headache. Better to be prepared.
  • rachelmackinnon
    rachelmackinnon Posts: 5 Member
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    hello! Thanks for all the replies.

    The reason I need to give up the diet drinks is because the doctor thinks it's the main cause of me being anaemic. Also blames how bad my acne is on them as well. So she's asked that I completely cut them out.
    The tea was bought to just try help me drink more water. But yes all its caused is extreme stomach cramps.

    I think I going to go out and buy some normal tetley tea instead. The caffeine level are quite low but might take the edge of the head aches but not interfere with iron levels.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    TheopolisAmbroiseIII wrote: »
    midwesterner85 wrote: »
    The reason I quit (not really, but quit drinking it daily) diet soda was because I plan to spend a week hiking soon and it won't be available in the wilderness. Rather than dealing with the withdrawal symptoms in the wilderness while hiking and being grumpy, I wanted to go ahead and get past it earlier.

    I bring caffeine capsules with me anywhere I go, especially camping/hiking, for just this reason. Couple grams of capsules equals a case of soda. Sometimes I can go cold turkey just fine. Sometimes I'm on my back in a dark room with a headache. Better to be prepared.

    We are going to have some instant coffee because it is easier to carry and it gives me a boost.
  • steph2strong
    steph2strong Posts: 426 Member
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    Diet drinks do not cause you to be anemic in any way. Caffeine in high doses can potentially inhibit absorption of iron, so if you drink non-caffeinated diet drinks than there should be no issue. I like to drink crystal light to curb a sugar craving. However it really isn't healthy to only subsist off diet soda, and there are other things in soda that are bad for your, teeth, gut and health than just the sweetener. Drinking more water is incredibly beneficial for your body (and skin). I like to drink sparkling water like perrier. I gave up caffeine 2 years ago, and overall I just feel a lot better with out relying on it as a stimulant.
  • Tedebearduff
    Tedebearduff Posts: 1,155 Member
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    rachelmackinnon wrote: »
    When will the migraines, mood swings, tiredness end?

    Ok so being brutally honest. Up until last week diet coke and diet irnbru have been my only source of fluids for as long as I can remember.

    Weekly I'll buy, a box of cans and a pack of big bottles of diet coke from Costco. And around 4 big bottles of diet irnbru. With the exception of a few cans my husband would drink, this is what I'd consume in a week.

    I have awful acne and I'm over weight. Decided taking small steps would be the best option.

    Last week I decided that before I start to criticise what I eat or join the gym, that I had to ditch the diet drinks.

    So instead I bought lots of bottled water from Costco. And i started the bootea detox. I have also started to eat breakfast in the morning. Surprisingly I have came to like milk after despising it since I was a child.

    It's been 7 hellish days. Although the migraines are not as instense as the first few days and I no longer want to live in darkness. Throughout the day I am still experiencing mild head aches and tiredness.

    Anyone know any tips to get me over this quicker?



    You aren't experience any withdrawals from not having pop lol, it's all fabricated by your mind. You think you're going through a withdraw so you are... if you understand this and get your mindset right you'll be fine. Once you realize it's all made up in your head you'll start to feel better more or less.

  • nancybuss
    nancybuss Posts: 1,461 Member
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    I agree on the caffeine to help. Stopping large amounts of caffeine all at once is killer! Hang in there! Or get a little and wean for sure.
    If this doesn't help the iron absorption in time, keep looking for the cause! after years of borderline I had a different doc insist on upper and lower gi looking for a 'bleed' instead what they found was I have Celiac's disease. I have / had none of the 'normal' intestinal issues and thought they had the records mixed up when they first said it. Then the blood work to back it up was Extremely high numbers. huh... would have never guessed.

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    I get headaches if I've gone too long without caffeine. BUT, this withdrawal does not last a whole week. The caffeine withdrawal is gone in a couple days...........

    I would take a look at what is in the bootea detox stuff.
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
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    Extreme stomach cramps from drinking a laxative is an expected outcome.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    rachelmackinnon wrote: »
    hello! Thanks for all the replies.

    The reason I need to give up the diet drinks is because the doctor thinks it's the main cause of me being anaemic. Also blames how bad my acne is on them as well. So she's asked that I completely cut them out.
    The tea was bought to just try help me drink more water. But yes all its caused is extreme stomach cramps.

    I think I going to go out and buy some normal tetley tea instead. The caffeine level are quite low but might take the edge of the head aches but not interfere with iron levels.

    Yah no...for the anemia and diet coke...I drink it and I have hemochromatosis...which is high iron...that is due to the fact i don't cycle hardly at all...and I love red meat and leafy greens.

    and bootea can apparently interfere with BC pills...if you are experiencing stomach cramps and on the pill...use a backup method.

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