My MO the moment I realize I'm sick is to immediately cut out as much milk and dairy products from my diet as possible, to reduce phlegm. This means no cereal for breakfast, not ice cream in the evenings...and no creamer in coffee. And, since I need flavored creamer to make my coffee drinkable, the logical conclusion is no coffee. But this leaves me with the question of how to get the caffeine that I need.
For a day or two, I tried drinking black tea, and it worked to a degree, but I was still left with headaches in the afternoon. While visiting friends over the weekend, I gave up and drank coffee in the mornings, partially because it was already made and partially because I was tired of my head hurting all afternoon and evening. To make the best of a bad situation, I limited myself to less than half a cup, reasoning that such a small amount of cream wouldn't be detrimental to my throat and cough. I was delighted to find that, somehow, a quarter cup of coffee was all the caffeine I required for those days. The headaches hadn't been pointless pain after all.
On January 2, I decided to take a risk. I had been drinking so little caffeine lately; what would happen if I just didn't have any that day? A little concerned about the four-hour drive home from my friends' house ahead of me, I reassured myself that I could always stop somewhere and grab a latte or coffee someplace if needed.
I cherished a sense of accomplishment that night as I lay in bed and claimed my first completely caffeine-free, headache-free day in years.
For the next week, I stayed strong, resisting the chuckling coffee pot in our kitchen as it brewed for my roommates and the swirl and grind of the espresso machines at work. I stayed away from black and green teas (that wasn't hard, as a matter of fact. I much prefer herbal teas anyway), and I did not even have a sip of my favorite drink of hot apple juice and chai. Yesterday, with my stomach grumbling in the middle of the afternoon, I thought I would have a tiny, decaf, pumpkin spice latte, the only latte I will willingly drink, to tide me over until dinner. It was only as I finished the last bit of the 8 ounce drink that I remembered I had automatically pushed the button for regular espresso instead of decaf. My streak was ended.
But a new one starts today.
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| And that cough I gave up dairy for? It turned into pneumonia. But at least I know I tried. |
