Battling my addiction.....

When you think about "addiction" a few things come to mind; drugs, gambling, sex. I have always been proud to say that I have never done any drugs in my entire life. These days that seems like a life time of accomplishments compared to the amount of people who have either experimented or used drugs for a period of time in their life. I never realized, until this week, that I do in fact have a drug addiction. The problem with my "drug" of choice, is that it is perfectly legal to consume as much of it as I would like. You see it everywhere, and for the change in your pocket it can be yours. No one looks at you wrong for doing it, whether you are in public or the privacy of your home. It has absolutely no harmful effect on anyone around you, no matter how close they may sit. It does care what your age is. My addiction comes in the form of Dr. Pepper. This seems silly enough, right? That you ask, why not just stop?

After a recent trip to the doctor, I found that my extremely high intake of caffeine seems to be the likely culprit of some unwanted cysts. Though the pain is minimum from the cysts, the pain caused by the lack of caffeine in my body is earth shattering. The first few days were not so bad. I took a trip to the store, to check out the soda isle. I knew that water is not really an option for my taste buds and Sprite is caffeine free. After a little investigating, I found that I can drink Sprite Zero or Diet 7-Up and have some taste with out caffeine or calories. I was actually very excited about the no calories. (It will help out along with the treadmill, to slimming down some) I knew that stopping "cold turkey" was not going to work. I have experienced the caffeine withdrawal headaches before and knew this was not fun. So my plan; try to cut back to two a day for a bit, then one a day, then none. Here we are on day five and the temptation to give up is pounding in my head, literally. Yesterday I tried out the "one" theory. I started my day with one 16 ounce bottle. It took me all day to drink it, and was pretty gross by the end, but I was savoring it. After a long day, I finally arrived home around 9:45 last night, still only one soda. The headache had gotten so bad that the lights from the cars around my on my drive from Alamance County to Raleigh had me wishing for solid darkness. The only thing I could think was God please get me home where I can hide in the darkness. I could have stopped at any point and bought a drink, but I can't bring my self to break my promises now. I will not buy any extra, I have a certain amount here to help with the weaning process. When I finally made it home last night, I grab a big glass of Dr. Pepper, three Ibuprofen and went straight to bed. I could even think to look at my computer to check my email. Unfortunately, the headache is still lingering, but I am fighting to kick this crazy addiction. My only guess is that the amount in my system is so low compared to the last 8 years or so, that even one or two a day is not enough to ease the withdrawal pain. Who ever knew, that something with "doctor" in it's name, could be so bad?