Hang in there Jo, you'll get through it I'm sure. Depending on how many cups a day even just cutting back one a day would help. My brother had 6 cups a day and went cold turkey and had horrific headaches for about a week but he's doing fine now. He's also on decaff. Feels so much better for it too.

I remember when I worked in Sydney and had to catch a train, an hour trip and on the way I'd pass a bread factory and a coffee factory. By the time I got to my destination I was starving lol and really hanging out for a coffee. I used to grab a coffee and a sausage and bacon sandwich before starting work.

Now if they could only make the smell of baking bread or roasting coffee into a perfume ..

oh sonia, combine the two and you'd smell fabulous!
luckily our bread machine tends to tick away in the afternoons here, so i don't associate the two too strongly. but they are the best smells!

I've only just got my sense of smell back after suffering from bad sinus for a few years and the smell to me is like winning the lottery. I have to admit if people saw me sniffing the spices and herbs in the pantry they'd probably have me committed. It's amazing just how different things are when you lose your sense of smell.

smells are great things - i love how they can effect your mood. i'm not sure about wanted to smell like bread and coffee though; people would then be unsure whether they wanted to eat you, drink you or smell you!

i didn't realise sinus problems could affect your sense of smell so badly - how did you manage to get it back again?

People love vanilla perfume though

I agree that breaking yourself of a caffeine addiction is probably a wise idea!

The only way I get my sense of smell back is if I go on a course of prednisone which is a rather heavy duty drug. Just in the process now of weaning off it now - have to drop at 1 mg a week otherwise bad side effects.

It was rather strange because when I got it back I was able to smell the perfume I wear for the first time - just as well I liked it

i would vanilla scent my car or WC, but i don't know anyone who would wear it...

i'm more of a jean-paul gaultier or gucci perfume fan myself.

Has anyone had experience with Reiki? Either as practitioner or patient?

I've kicked the coffee habit a couple of times. (I drink it now though, but only 2 cups a day.) Withdrawal wasn't terrible, but it did seem to last a long time---maybe 2 weeks of mild headaches and general drowsiness.

Yes, but only briefly.
I went on a short 'alternative therapies' course and we covered a different therapy each week. I was the 'guinea pig' for reiki. It did seem to have an effect - mainly a feeling of heat, yet when I felt the practising student's hands, they were very cold!

What worried me was when the teacher said that, as a practitioner, you have to welcome this ability into you, but guard against inviting in anything negative. That sounds a bit worrying, doesn't it? I prefer to think that we all have inherant abilities that we may not yet understand.

When my Dad was dying in hospital I tried it on him - with my Mum helping. My brother thought it was silly, until I tried it on him. He thought I was actually touching him - which I wasn't. His wife had to convince him and then he was quite impressed. A friend of mine is a practioner. I haven't seen her for many years, but she took it up when it really helped her with MS.

I thought I might start a thread on alternative therapies, so, as you have brought this up, I probably will.