I have recently been working on reducing caffeine intake. My intake increased in the summer, as I started going into the office more frequently. I really enjoy the taste and smell of coffee. I don’t have a coffee machine at home, but in the office I would drink at first one coffee a day, then two per day. I also usually have at least one cup of black tea per day, or more.
This is not a new issue for me. I realized that high caffeine consumption causes anxiety for me already during undergrad, more than 15 years ago. It was then when I started buying coffee regularly on campus and I noticed that if I had more than a small cup of coffee, such as a medium Starbucks coffee, I would get shaky hands, increased heart rate, and paranoid thoughts. Sort of like from THC.
Also as I got older, I noticed that if I consume a lot of caffeine for several days in a row, then I will get brain fog and a sense of derealization. Recently this happened to me again, in the fall, and I was able to realize that it was due to the two cups of coffee per day. The brain fog was quite bad. I had a feeling that I was an observer in the world, that I could not really participate, and that maybe all of the events have already happened in the past. It’s difficult to describe this strange sensation. But because I felt such depersonalization / derealization, I had a lot of motivation to reduce caffeine intake, as I was feeling quite out of it.
So here are my suggestions, based on what worked for me, and what didn’t in the past.
Caffeine intake is a continuous variable.
Just because high caffeine consumption causes negative symptoms, it doesn’t mean that the optimal intake would be 0 mg per day. Personally I find that some caffeine daily is better for me than no caffeine at all, as coffee actually reduces my OCD symptoms (intrusive thoughts), but I can’t have more than a total of one cup of coffee per day. Otherwise I get a mood / motivation crash, brain fog.
What didn’t work at all
Going to 0 caffeine consumption and ending up with very exacerbated intrusive thoughts. This never improved for me even after weeks of being caffeine free, and I did not find benefits of zero caffeine consumption.
Trying to replace my drinks with stuff suggested on the internet also did not work. This includes things like chamomile tea, dandelion root “coffee” drinks, mint tea, or water. I do not like the taste of any of those. I don’t like plain water, and if you are going to completely get rid of the drinks that you do enjoy, it will feel miserable. I don’t like water or pop, and I don’t drink juices. I have been drinking black tea since about 5 years old, and coffee since a bit later on. Tea and coffee are the only tastes that I like, especially with something creamy such as soy milk or oat milk. Neither chamomile tea nor mint tea nor dandelion root drinks taste anything similar at all and they do not combine well with soy milk, so I just felt miserable drinking them and an important enjoyable part of my day was gone.
What worked for me
When I actually figured out what I am willing to drink and what I enjoy, I was able to cut down on caffeine. Now I usually drink one cup of coffee after breakfast, which I make using a pour-over filter with 1.5 teaspoons of regular ground coffee and 1.5 teaspoons of decaf coffee. Later on in the day I make some tea where I combine loose leaf rooibos tea and loose leaf black tea, so the amount of caffeine is reduced, as rooibos is caffeine free. Sometimes I have an additional cup of coffee later on in the day, but I use mostly decaf, and maybe one teaspoon of regular coffee. After 5pm I don’t consume any caffeine, I usually drink rooibos tea with some soy milk.
I suggest first stocking up on the ingredients and having a plan of what you will drink instead of regular tea/coffee, only then proceeding with caffeine intake reduction. I purchased a lot of loose leaf rooibos, so now when I want a hot cup of tea, I add about one teaspoon of rooibos, and around 0.5 teaspoons of black / puerh tea, to add the bitterness that I enjoy. I also keep a bag of ground decaf coffee.
Notes of a Neuropsychiatry Amateur 