thesov's Journal, 08 July 2010

I'd guess the headache is more likely related to the cigs than anything else. I quit my 1 pack a day habit just over a yr & a half ago & the method I used was pretty close to cold turkey - I basically weaned myself by cutting my smoking in half just about each day over a 1 week period. There's a reason they recommend doing it over several weeks...I had the worst headaches at first & couldn't figure out why. Then I bought some Nicorette & the first time I tried it, that took care of the headache. I only needed to use 1-2 pieces a day for the first week or so & then I was done with it. I'm a coffee-drinker too (2 x 16 oz/day) & "went off" it for a couple weeks by switching to decaf not long ago & no caffeine headaches. However, decaf is pretty gross so I'm back on. I figure it's the only caffeine I drink at all so it's a luxury I'm allowing myself to keep. :) Not on Medifast myself but sounds like you're hanging in there. I've read that it takes 21 days for anything to become habit & I buy that, I'm 6 wks into my lifestyle changes & many things are becoming second nature that I didn't picture myself doing 6 weeks ago. Good luck!! 

Thanks for sharing your experience and congrats on staying quit! In my case, I suspect it might be caffeine over nicotine because I am still getting some nicotine using the e-ni/e-cig, but have not had any caffeine at all... and the Excedrin (with its caffeine content) seems to have cleared it right up. On a related note, I came across an interesting blog entry which supports the contention that I've always held, that coffee and cigarettes go hand-in-hand (duh); but I really noticed this during the the handful of times I've quit smoking, I also quit drinking coffee: http://www.quitsmokingpro.com/2005/12/quit-smoking-and-coffee-caffeine.html In the end it's all good, and the strictness of Medifast seem like it'll be very helpful in kicking the caffeine and nicotine addictions. Good luck to you as well! 

Interesting, it didn't post the whole link to the blog entry... let's try it this way: http://tinyurl.com/2cafgen 

I can not relate to the caffeine or nicotine part but I can tell you that I am sure that the headache has something to "also" do with the fact that you are doing Medifast. It is one of the most sure things to show you that your body is adjusting and your body is letting you know that it is pissed off....seriously. You are depriving it of the 100grams of carbs that it needs a day to function and it has to turn to fat so that creates one killer headache. I have felt that headache atleast 5 times because everything I screw up and eat more than I should I have to start over and the headache never fails to come back. Good thing is that it will be over soon AND it is a tell-tell sign that you are losing weight and getting into the "fat-burning" mode. 

Thanks for the insight; I didn't realize that even was such a thing as sugar/carb withdrawal!