I gave up coffee six months ago. It was ridiculously difficult (I felt like I'd been hit by a bus for an entire week. Day five of no-coffee was worst than drug-free childbirth.)

I was pretty strict with myself. I drank caffeinated coffee less than a dozen times in my six months without coffee. Each time was glorious.

My calcium levels did rise into the normal zone but I was still taking supplements (a lot of supplements) every day.

And then I saw my new endocrinologist. I was referred to her last year but there was a six-month wait (#goCanada). She ran extensive tests and I've learned more from her in two weeks than I did in two years with my previous endo.

The tests uncovered varying degrees of certain vitamin and mineral deficiencies but the most notable one was my Vitamin D level (spoiler alert: it's very low.) Vitmain D deficiency affects your bodies ability to absorb calcium. So I've been taking my 87 calcium supplements every day (slight exaggeration) but because my Vitamin D level is so low, my body can't absorb it. I've basically just been swallowing money. And I've been doing it for two years. Awesome.

This is good news, though. Now we have a new plan. My supplement routine has been completely changed. I'm taking fewer pills every day (which is a huge relief) and my pill schedule is less structured because calcium was always the most finicky aspect of my routine (calcium can't be taken within four hours of thyroid hormones and within two hours of iron; I take thyroid hormones at 7am and 7pm daily; I take iron at lunch because it's easier on my stomach to take it with food and I can guarantee I'm taking it with Vitamin C to support absorption; it's best to take calcium in doses of 500 - 600 mg or less so I was supposed to take calcium four times daily, which was not possible based on the above. Math is hard.)

And! It's GREAT news because it means I can drink coffee. I'm going to keep my coffee intake to a minimum because I never want to go through withdrawal again the way I did when I gave it up last year. But I am going to enjoy it in moderation.