My name is Simone and I’m a Diet Coke addict ….

For at least 10 years I have been drinking a couple of cans of Diet Coke a day, one after lunch and one with my evening meal.  I’ve thought about cutting back a few times but it’s never really happened, I’ve always slipped back to my two can a day habit.

On Sunday we found ourselves out of the fizzy brown stuff and I made an executive (and rather spur of the moment) decision not to buy anymore when we did the weekly shop.  How hard could going cold turkey be I thought?  I am still drinking tea and coffee after all, so I don’t need to worry about caffeine withdrawal.

How wrong I was!  The first day wasn’t too bad, but after our evening meal we were both strangely quiet and subdued, you usually can’t shut me up, yet on Sunday night I could not be bothered to make conversation.

Day 2 however, day 2 was ridiculously hard.  Just after lunch I developed a weird headache, I could not concentrate on anything, I had the strangest taste in my mouth, my body ached and I felt sick.  It was so awful that I took to my bed!

This is ludicrous I thought, how can a soft drink cause this many physical symptoms?  It was as bad as when I gave up smoking.  It can’t be the caffeine so I guess it must be the artificial sweetener aspartame, or some other hidden ingredient, that my body is craving.  Although I felt lousy, it did spur me on to keep going though.

Day 3, I woke up and had much milder symptoms, but I still had that distracted feeling and felt pretty spaced out.  It is now day 4 and I am pleased to say I’m feeling much better.

Now that the physical symptoms are subsiding I’ve still got to deal with the mental addiction.  I find myself thinking of Diet Coke and reaching for a nice cold can as I pass the fridge.  But, I’m going to stay strong because these withdrawal symptoms have really surprised me and I don’t want to have to go through it all again.

Wish me luck!