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Avoiding Caffeine = No Headache
I am a former migraine sufferer who was plagued for 27 years
with chronic, right-sided migraine attacks. Five years ago,
I discovered what was causing my migraines, I eliminated
the trigger, and I have been free of migraines and drugs ever
since. I am writing you, to share my discovery in the hopes
that it will help legions of headache sufferers.
In 2008, I was co-authoring a blog. In a post one day, I
mentioned that I had migraines. Two of the readers of our blog
commented on the post, telling me that the only way they had
gotten rid of their own migraine headaches was to eliminate
caffeine completely from their diet. Not only did I not believe
that I consumed enough caffeine to make a difference, I was
in the habit of having one cup of coffee in the morning that
was made of half strength caffeine (half-caf ). Then, I would
have a glass of iced tea for lunch, and sometimes, chocolate in
the evening. Not only did I believe that caffeine in such small
amounts could cause a problem, but I believed for many years
that the caffeine must have been helping me because it was in
the very headache medications, which my doctors prescribed.
In fact, for years, even with the blessing of my doctors, when I
would get a migraine, I would drink a cup of coffee to try to
abort the attack. It never worked of course, but at the time, I
believed the attack may have been worse without it.
Adhering to my reader’s advice, I decided to wean myself off
of a habit that I had my entire adult life except when I was
pregnant, during which time I did not drink caffeine and
during which time I, incidentally, did not have headaches.
I was told that the lack of headache was a natural benefit of
the pregnancy.
I first reduced my cup of half-caf in the morning to quartercaf. The day after I began this reduction, I had a withdrawal
headache that lasted me a solid week. The following week,
when I switched to full decaf, again, I had a headache for a
week. Next came the tea. I reduced it twice with an extended
headache resulting each time. At that point, there was no
doubt in my mind as to how profoundly the small amounts
of caffeine were affecting me. The last to go was chocolate and
again, a headache. Once my system was cleaned, I was cured.
reader mail
I am 55 years old now and I have been through menopause in
the past 3 years. Had this discovery occurred simultaneously
with menopause, I might question which was responsible.
However, the discovery preceded menopause and I am certain
that the cause was attributable to the caffeine. – Lisa T.
“Caffeine has long been a controversial topic in
the headache world. Due to the very large diversity
of patient profiles and headache types, which we
currently classify into about 200 categories, it is
certainly conceivable that certain patients have an
exquisite sensitivity to the drug, while others have no
sensitivity whatsoever.
Many headache remedies incorporate caffeine and
many patients report aborting headaches with an
anti-inflammatory and a simple cup of coffee. There
are case reports of caffeine being useful in treating
hypnic headaches as well as caffeine withdrawal
headaches. On the other hand, caffeine is a common
ingredient in the combination medications which
cause medication overuse headaches. It is a question
of the setting in which caffeine is used, or abused.
In my experience, many patients have quit caffeine
at my request and a few have noted reduction in
headaches but most patients have noted no change.
The only logical conclusion is that some people have
a sensitivity to caffeine, but this is not a generalization
which should dogmatically be applied to all migraine
patients. It is certainly reasonable, however, for
patients with refractory headaches to taper off caffeine
gradually to see if they might benefit.
Remember, many people will use caffeine as a
stimulant because of daytime sleepiness which might
arise from undersleeping, insomnia, or sleep apnea, so
another important question is to ask why people are
using caffeine and seek the underlying cause, which
might be the key to their headache problems.”
www.headaches.org
Edmund Messina, MD
The Michigan Headache Clinic
East Lansing, MI
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National Headache Foundation
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