Overcoming addiction to energy drinks?

Anyone have any tips?
I drink between 2-4 red bulls a day. I know there are a million reasons why they are awful for my health, not to mention my wallet. But I can't seem to resist having my fix.

If you've had success in quitting an energy drink addiction, please share some specifics as to what helped.

Caffeine addiction is very hard to cure. If you completely stop suddenly use of it, you might get hellish headaches and other symptoms.

I would advice to very slowly reduce amount of energy drinks, and maybe move towards coffee&tea, both have less caffeine than energy drinks. They are also lot healthier, specially tea.

But stopping the use of caffeine is very hard, so I wish you good luck

Energy drinks should be banned, caffeine is very dangerous if taken too much.

Ive been there.
I started my only drinking sugar free drinks, then weened myself away from them completely. Now I just use them for long drives, but only sugar free.

Just be strong and stop, they aren't heroine, you'll be over it shortly after. A caffeine addiction isn't very hard to break, you'll probably get a headache or two.

Just stop buying them.

I tried to stop drinking cans of Monster. The first day I had a really bad headache, hot and cold shakes and I was really tired. This lasted for about a week, then suddenly stopped. It's a weird feeling, but manageable

I used to drink about 10 cups of coffee a day. Crazy, I know. But the best way (for me) to quit caffeine is a slow, controlled reduction. Make a plan. On the first day, have a coffee at the time you'd have one of the Red Bulls. Do that for several days. Then replace another one with coffee for a few days, so you're drinking 2 coffees and 2 Red Bulls a day. Once you get to the point where you're drinking 4 coffees, start replacing one with 1/2 caffeine and 1/2 decaf. Work your way down.

That's just my suggestion and it would work best for me. Good luck!

reply to post by SilentKoala


I been there as well.

I used to drink 910ml Cans 1-2x a day, that's 4x the recommended intake.

One day my hands and fingers started to shake and i could "hear" my heart beat.. like a big "thud" outside.

I visited the doctor that evening, she said my blood might have high sugar and caffeine content(she asked if a drank anything), she said if i was an old man i would have suffered heart attack because the effect i had is similar to a minor heart attack.


I still drink, once in a while, 1-2 a week. But no longer addicted. Health knocked some sense into me.

Trust me, drink in moderate. Or get diabetes and worse, heart attack and other problems.

reply to post by SilentKoala


Why exactly is is to bad for your health? The sugars not that great for you, but you can go sugar free. If your problem is money, you can get 90 caffeine pills for less than 5 dollars at Walmart.

Originally posted by Thebel


Energy drinks should be banned, caffeine is very dangerous if taken too much.

You should be banned. That's an ignorant opinion. There is nothing wrong with energy drinks, aside from the amount sugar in some, these drinks are often time good for your health. Most of these drinks don't even have as much caffeine as a strong cup of coffee. People seem to have all these assumptions of energy drinks, but have very little data to prove that they are at all unhealthy.

I have never touched an energy drink in my life .No desire.
It has so much crap in it . I am however,a snooty tea drinker . Loose leaf brewed.
That has more caffeine than coffee so....
I drink maybe one big cup a day,during cold weather now . I love it with sugar and milk .

I went on a diet that allows NO caffeine ,sugar or milk .And I just did it cold turkey .
You feel sick ,you turn a bit green around the gills ....
The first two weeks were hell . I didn't get headaches tho ,but you probably will.
Yours is a lot more caffeine and sugar than my tea,but if you really want to quit ,you need to just do it .
If you wanted to wean off if ,I would go from four a day ,to two a day. Do that for a week .
Then do one a say,for a week,then just stop . It's the only way .
Long term this stuff will affect your heart and blood pressure . If you smoke,that compounds it times three .

But do know,once you stop feeling terrible,you feel great . My craving for sugar went completely away ,as sugar cravings are a side affect . I wanted candy all the time.

Just try . Keep us apprised of your progress here. Maybe do a QUITTING RED BULL DIARY thread,and we can comment and urge you on to victory

Sorry,double post

reply to post by spiderbadarse


It is you who are ignorant and should check the facts .Energy drinks have a year DEATH RATS ,aka,they kill people on a yearly basis .
It's documented ,and numerous energy drink cos have been sued for wrongful deaths.
Monster has as much caffeine as SEVEN cups of coffee .

I've never heard of two cups of coffee killing anyone ,but two Monsters have .

www.lawyersandsettlements.com...

Red Bull has been connected to deaths in both the USA,Canada ,and banned in parts of Europe .

rense.com...

www.nytimes.com...

Quit RedBull the same way I quit smoking cigarettes . . . Like a boss.

The urges can be incredibly strong for the first few days and you can substitute your RedBull for something like a Kombucha which smells just as strong and tastes just as outlandish.

After the first few days you just have to resist temptation when you walk by them in a store.

You also might feel tired due to your chemistry returning to a more normal state so I suggest you spend a some time preparing so that you can preempt any issues weariness may cause in your life.


I am two weeks clean from cigarettes and took my week vacation to keep my human interactions to a minimum while being constantly irritated.

Anyways good luck.

reply to post by FriedBabelBroccoli


Yes,but kombucha is GOOD for you
Also detoxs your liver ,which isn't a bad idea in this case .

All the alternatives people are going to recommend are going to suck. They are going to suck because you seek energy and by cutting down your caffeine for healthier alternatives you are not going to get that synthetic energy boost that you and now your body craves.

If you drink 4 standard small Redbulls a day then it is really not that much caffeine. That is less than you would consume with a couple strong coffee beverages, and with the vitamin B and Niacin your getting, it really is not all that bad.

You could switch to drinking a high caffeinated beverage such as Cocaine Energy which is equal to 3.5 Redbulls! That is what I drink... I used to down a 4 pack of Redbull a day, now I just consume a single Cocaine in the morning and I am good for the day on most days.

If you really want to get off your energy drink habit, then take a trip to the doctor. Find out what the underlying issue is for your lack of energy. Sometimes people consume energy drinks because their body craves them due to some hormonal/testosterone type issues which leave you without energy and moody. So if you get that problem fixed then you will no longer have such low energy and will not rely on these drinks as much.

Well thanks for the suggestions guys I think it was just hard to quit while stressed with school but now that summer is here it should be easier.

reply to post by SilentKoala

I drink between 2-4 red bulls a day

Just add up the price of those, per day, then per month. That should be enough to convince you.