Caffeine 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 a caffeine migraine headache. And yet this is not always the case. In theory, it works just fine, but as a migraine relief program, it suffers the same fate as sexual abstinence: Not everybody is capable of sticking with the program.

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-awake pills.

So perhaps, the route of limiting 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 to 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. Caffeine restriction works best if you set out a pattern that you can intake the caffeine at regular intervals. 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 for your tastes. For instance, Jolt Cola!

The following caffeine amounts are found in 12oz servings of these soft drinks:

1. Mountain Dew: 55 mg of caffeine
2. Coca-Cola: 34 mg of caffeine
3. Diet Coke: 45 mg of caffeine
4. 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 caffeine intake. Keep an accurate record of the date and time you take the caffeine, 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.