Caffeine withdrawal and migraines
When it comes to migraines, caffeine is a strange drug. The headache associated with a migraine must be triggered. This trigger can come in many forms: certain foods, weather conditions, lighting. One of the triggers is excessive caffeine consumption. And yet, the pain of migraines can also be reduced by ingesting caffeine. Talk about your two-way streets!
The number one cause of caffeine-related migraines is caffeine withdrawal. The good news is that it presents two methods of using caffeine to prevent migraines. The first method is the least difficult in theory, but probably the most difficult in practice: reduce the amount of caffeine you ingest. If you don’t get a lot of caffeine, you won’t have many withdrawal symptoms. Sounds easy because all you have to do is cut back on the caffeine. But saying you’re going to cut down on caffeine and going ahead with it are two different things.
There is another method and although it sounds more difficult, in practice it is probably much easier than reducing it completely. The second method is to ensure that withdrawal never becomes a problem. You can do this by timing your caffeine intake over time. If you ingest a certain amount of caffeine at specific intervals throughout the day, your body will be satisfied and keep migraines at bay.
Some migraine sufferers have been tempted to quit smoking and abstain completely from caffeine. This sounds like a very good idea. But let’s be real, abstinence always sounds better than it actually is. Theoretically, there is absolutely no downside to the abstinence program; it’s only when you start applying it to the real world that you run into trouble. For one thing, caffeine is addictive. The more you get, the more you want. And many times this urgency is too overwhelming.
An even bigger hurdle is that it’s nearly impossible to completely abstain from caffeine unless you’re detail-oriented to the point of psychosis. If you plan to abstain from caffeine as a way to avoid migraines, you’ll need to do more than just give up coffee or soda. Caffeine is everywhere in today’s society. You’ll need to keep a close eye on the ingredients in chocolate candies, pain relievers, and diet pills. And that is just the beginning. You can also add things like spirits, energy drinks, and even pudding to the list!
By now, you may be rethinking the whole idea of tracking your intake. The schedule seems more difficult, but consider this: would you rather track how often you ingest caffeine throughout the day, or track the thousands of caffeine-containing products?
The caffeine infusion method simply means that you keep track of how often and how much caffeine you put into your body. Once you figure out how much you need and when you need it, your migraines should become a memory. As long as, of course, you’ve determined that caffeine is your migraine trigger. There are some tips to make this process easier.
First, if your primary caffeine delivery system is coffee, you’re in for bad news. Determining how much caffeine you are consuming in a single cup of coffee is nearly impossible, and in this method you really want to be precise. Therefore, calculating caffeine numbers is easier if you get your caffeine through soft drinks or caffeine tablets. Which one you prefer is up to you. Some people don’t like soft drinks, so the tablet is a better way to go.
On the other hand, most people probably prefer to take their caffeine along with some refreshing liquid. Whichever medium you choose, here’s what to do next. Keep a small journal in which you write down when and how much caffeine you had, along with information about any headaches you had; things like the time of day, how long the headache lasted, how severe it was, etc. This information will be your guide in determining when and how often you need that caffeine to keep migraines away.