I've never understood this. Three cups of coffee described as addicted? I regularly drink 8 to 10 cups of coffee a day, and yet when I decide to go without for a week or two, as I do once or twice a year [EDIT: typo corrected - did say "week" - obviously wrong - sorry], I seem to feel no real effects. I just like the coffee, so I return to drinking it.

Am I that weird?

I find that going off caffeine is best done all at once, rather than by cutting back. That just spreads the misery out. However, by going cold turkey, I find that I'm essentially fine on the third day, actually feel noticeably better by the fourth or fifth day. I've done this about 10 times in the last eight years, for various reasons, but the main reason I continue doing it is that the effects of caffeine rapidly dwindle to "normal" for me over a period of weeks or months, and the only way to get the pick-up effect again, that I've found, is to drop it entirely and start over. It's fortunate that this is so easy. :)

Here's a tip if you would like to quit but can't because the withdrawal is awful.

Wait until you get food poisoning or the flu. You'll probably take some time off work and you'll probably (and should) be under the care of a doctor. You might as well throw in the awfulness that is withdrawal and get it over with.

I turned the hell of "how old was that yogurt I just ate?" into an opportunity to quit my 6 cup a day habit. I'm a little nuts in that I kept some coffee by my bedside and every time I was about to yarf I took a gulp...

I haven't had coffee since, but I did have to be careful not to replace it with some other caffeine source.

As bad as it is, it's totally true - I was a serious caffeine junky for a long time and it took me a while to kick the bean.

These days I stick to water and Chamomile when I want a hot drink as the Doc told me my excessive caffeine consumption was making a stomach problem I have worse and the dentist could tell I was drinking too much Coke just by looking at my teeth.

When I first gave it up I was suffering from serious headaches for about a week afterwards and constant cravings.

Been caffeine-free for 4 years now. So far it's been the smartest move I ever made.

I'm not a health nut, but I steer clear of caffeine religiously. With even a trace of it in me, I can't sleep, can't think, can't concentrate.

I find that if I can stay physically active I don't miss caffeine. For example, when I go on vacation I typically don't drink coffee. But I'm usually at the beach, or have a lot of other stuff going on and I really don't miss it. If I stop coffee during a normal work week, I get the headaches, fatigue, etc.

I used to be up to around 2 2-liters of mountain dew a day... stopping from that was terrible. I was tired all the time and kept getting headaches. The solution to this was to drink a ton of water.

The last time I even attempted to have any soda I was utterly disgusted by the taste. I dunno, seems like a good choice I made

"Caffeinated products are not recommended for people who are prone to panic attacks or those who suffer from anxiety."

Goddamnit.

My mom used to suffer headaches on days we ran out of coffee at home, so I vowed never to touch the stuff. That reminds me, I need some more to get through these integration tests ...

I take Adderall and drink a boat load of coffee, so I make it a point to 'withdraw' for 1-2 days a week to avoid dependence. I find that it works well to avoid side effects.

this answers some questions (not being sarcastic)