Baseline / taper / calendar

Caffeine Dependence Headache-Preventing Weaner

Cold turkey is what gives you the headache. Work out what you're actually on, pick a pace, and get a step-down schedule you can put in your calendar.

What you're actually on

everything else hangs off this

How do you want to work it out?

Everything with caffeine in it, on a normal week

How you want to come off it

slower is easier

Where you're headed

Pace

Start on

Wake up

In bed by

Doses a day

Doses are front-loaded on purpose: most of the day's caffeine early, so the cuts come out of the afternoon first. Better sleep, and a shorter gap before the next morning's dose.

Fine print & limits

Last dose before bed

Round doses to

Snap to target within

Step shape

Hold at the end

First dose after waking

Even: same mg off every step — 25% from 400 mg is 400 → 300 → 200 → 100 → 0. Tapered: the percentage comes off whatever's left, so late steps get tiny and the tail runs long. Hold is days at your target before you call it done — worth keeping, since that's when a rebound headache would show.

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The schedule

what to have, when

Put it in your calendar

only if you want it there

What to add

Alert

Name it

If withdrawal turns up anyway

Timing. Starts 12–24 hours after a missed dose, worst at 20–51 hours, gone within two to nine days.
Not just headache. Tiredness, low mood, poor concentration, irritability, achiness.
What to do. Go back to the last level that felt fine, hold a few extra days, then halve the next drop.
See someone for a headache that's sudden and severe, the worst you've had, or comes with fever, stiff neck, confusion, weakness, vision changes or a rash — and for anything that outlasts the taper.

// Not medical advice. This is a calculator doing arithmetic on numbers you typed in. It is not medical advice, a diagnosis, or a treatment plan, and it doesn't replace a clinician who knows your history. Use it at your own risk.

The caffeine figures are published averages, not measurements of your cup — real content swings a long way with bean, roast, brew and pour. So does how you handle it: metabolism differs several-fold between people.

Talk to a doctor or pharmacist first if you're pregnant, trying, or breastfeeding; have a heart rhythm problem, high blood pressure, an anxiety disorder, reflux, seizures or migraine; take any prescription medication; get caffeine in a medication you take; or are under 18.

Also here: the Caffeine Planner ↗

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