He looks like a pretty normal guy, right? Like, if you saw him on the street you'd think, "that guy has it all together. What a healthy looking dude. He probably doesn't have any chemical dependencies." Or something.
AND YOU'D BE WRONG. You see, during the last couple of months, Matthew finally kicked a drug habit. A habit he's had for going on five years--an addiction, in fact, that he didn't know he had, and since quitting cold turkey and experiencing withdrawal symptoms one might liken to that of an addict coming off of meth or heroine, our quality of life has increased exponentially. Confused? OK, before you go thinking my husband just came off hard drugs or something, allow me to explain.
Matthew works out. Duh. And he takes various protein and workout drinks daily, and he has, for the past five years, taken one particular workout drink that's supposed to give you a blast of energy before pumping iron or whatever. Thing is, over the years he's upped his intake of it to a dangerous amount, since you tend to develop tolerance for energy drinks if you have them a lot. For pretty much as long as I've known him, Matthew has been somewhat lethargic throughout the day, tired all the time, and often irritable. More so than a normal person, and he thought for a while that he might have some sort of immune disorder, and even went to the doctor about his symptoms. It took a hippie "wellness" doctor here in town to finally figure it out, though. He asked Matthew to list all the supplements and workout drinks he's taking, and figure out their ingredients, as well.
Long story short, between the workout drinks, a cup or two of coffee a day, and occasional Rockstar or 5 Hour Energy drinks, Matthew was consuming the equivalent of 17-20 cups of coffee per day. PER DAY. And I thought my two little cups of half-caff joe per day addiction was intense.
Matthew decided to quit caffeine cold turkey, and if I ever doubted that caffeine was a "drug" before, I don't doubt it now. Poor guy experienced a week and a half of extreme fatigue, cold sweats, nausea and intense vomiting, and a migraine that lasted throughout that entire time. He had to use my migraine medicine, and was taking around three naps per day because he just couldn't make it through a day without them. It was CRAZY, y'all.
But like I said, our quality of life has skyrocketed since Matthew kicked the caffeine. He has been so pleasant, it's unnerving. Every time I ask him how long this new and improved husband of mine will last, he says "I'm caffeine free, baby. I'm ___ weeks sober. I'm a new man."
And he is! And I like it.
The moral of the story is this: watch what you put in your body, and pay attention to how it may be affecting you. Moderation in everything. 17 to 20 cups of coffee a day is excessive, obviously, but even lesser extremes of things can be really unhealthy, and so can lack of attention to detail when it comes to what you're consuming. So, take that and run with it. Happy Wednesday!