Headaches, Irritation in a Week Without Coffee

Jan. 11, 2007 — -- Eighty percent of Americans drink coffee, at least occasionally, but could you go a week without your morning cup?

In its "Week Without" series, "Good Morning America" asked one woman to go a week without her java.

Tracy Ebeling prides herself on doing it all: She stays home full time with her two small children and runs her suburban Atlanta home.

But this housewife harbors a secret: an addiction to coffee.

"Every night, once I get my kids ready for bed, I head to my pantry and I … get my coffee beans, my coffee filter," Ebeling said. "I set up my coffee pot so that every morning I can get up and have my coffee ready and waiting for me before I have to get my kids off to school."

Ebeling started drinking coffee to help her study all night long. The habit has evolved into something she needs to keep her going during the day -- a coffee addiction that adds up to a pot or more of coffee a day.

"Without my coffee, I just don't feel quite right," she said. "I'm hard core. … It's definitely my vice."

Ebeling is in good company. The United States is undeniably in love with coffee with the average American drinking 3.1 cups a day.

"I'm pretty sure I'll have a headache from not drinking coffee for a week," she said about her new project. "That's probably what I dread the most."

But, Ebeling said, she had an incentive to quit coffee. She wants to show her husband how strong she can be.

"He thinks he's going to have a really crabby wife on his hands, and he may," she said.

Armed with a video camera, Ebeling documented a week without her vice.

Day 1 wasn't much fun.

"My family is here. They all drink coffee. I made coffee," she said. "Even my husband who is a noncoffee drinker most of the time is partaking. Thanks, honey."

Day 2 was even worse in the morning and in the evening.

"My 1-year-old son was up twice last night so I really could have used a cup of coffee this morning," she said.

"I'm folding laundry and yes, I have a headache," she said that night. "I didn't think I would feel this sluggish just from not having coffee."