Caffeine Withdrawal and Migraines
Taking in too much caffeine has been found to cause migraines.
On the other hand taking in just enough caffeine has been found
to successfully prevent migraines. What's the deal?
Caffeine withdrawal is the primary cause of caffeine-related
migraines. Therefore, using caffeine as a preventative method in
migraine relief can be done in two ways. The first is the
easiest, and paradoxically also the most difficult. Simply limit
your ingestion of caffeine to zero. No caffeine, no caffeine
withdrawal.
Get it? The second method involves a little work, but it does
work. All that is required is to take in enough caffeine over
intervals that occur close enough together to ensure that you
don't go into withdrawal. Both methods have their advantages and
their disadvantages, both require certain sacrifices, but more
importantly both work to keep caffeine withdrawal at bay which
keeps migraines at bay.
You would think that complete abstinence from caffeine would
thoroughly rid yourself of migraine headaches. And yet this is
not always the case. In theory, it works just fine, but as a
relief program it suffers the same fate as sexual abstinence:
Not everybody is capable of sticking with the program; the urges
are just too strong to deny. Another problem is that the all too
easy intake of caffeine without realizing you are doing it.
Complete and total caffeine abstinence requires educating
yourself on all available sources of caffeine.
It's not nearly enough just to give up coffee and Mountain Dew.
In order to successfully avoid caffeine you have to be aware of
all the sources of caffeine. If you are going to take the route
of giving up caffeine altogether, for instance, you'll have to
be prepared to give up or use alternative non-caffeinated
versions of: tea, chocolate, liqueur, pudding, pain-relief
medications, energy drinks, diet pills, stay-away pills.
So perhaps, then, the route of maintaining caffeine intake
appeals to you. The advantage here is that you don't have to
print out a twenty-page list of all the products in the world
that contains caffeine. You just merely need exert control over
when you take in caffeine and how much you ingest. Once you
establish that control, however, you can practically kiss your
migraine goodbye.
This method involves the process of making sure you receive
doses of caffeine It works best if you set out a pattern whereby
you can intake the caffeine at regular intervals. Now don't get
all excited about stopping by Starbucks throughout the day or
going to the coffeemaker. Coffee and tea rely on caffeine
infusion methods and therefore aren't the best method of
ingestion in this particular method.
Because of the diffusion, your caffeine amount varies
significantly from cup to cup. Ideally, you should purchase
either caffeine tablets or soda. Using these gives you much more
precision over controlling the amount of caffeine you are
actually taking in.
You can find caffeine tablets that contain 100 mg or 200 mg per
dose. Save yourself a little money by purchasing generic rather
than brand name tablets. As for soda, the amount of caffeine
varies somewhat with Mountain Dew on the high end, though if you
want to take the trouble to search them out you can also find
higher-dosage soft drinks specifically designed to you a jolt.
For instance, Jolt Cola!
Interesting, isn't it? In the rest of this article, you'll
discover even more insider stuff about the topic - and it is
simple and easy to follow.
The following caffeine amounts are found in 12oz servings of
these soft drinks:
Mountain Dew: 55 mg of caffeine.
Coca-Cola: 34 mg of caffeine
Diet Coke: 45 mg of caffeine
Pepsi Cola: 38 mg of caffeine
Once you have decided how you are going to go about ingesting
the caffeine, the next thing to do is make sure you keep a
detailed journal of your dosing.
Keep an accurate record of the date and time you take the dose,
the amount of the dose, how you ingested the dose (tablet, soft
drink, medication, etc.), the time of dose and the amount of
dose, etc. Also note any headaches you get and be sure to
include such information as date, duration of headache,
severity, etc.
If you don't see a change immediately, try altering it a little
by either changing the times you ingest the caffeine or the
amount. And make sure you keep to the regimen once you've found
one that words.
It's hard to cover such a vast topic in one short article, but
we've done our best! Hope you found this information helpful.
We plan to constantly keep adding new articles about related
issues in the weeks ahead. Please keep dropping by often to get
the latest information - and if you have a few minutes to spare,
browse around our site and check out the other articles.
Migraine
Headache Prevention