Dealing With Headaches

Caffeine withdrawal is a major trigger for those of us with killer migraines. The best way to get rid of the frequency and intensity of these incapacitating migraines is to cut back on your caffeine consumption. This can be scary, because cutting back means you put yourself right in the line of fire for pain. However, this is a temporary pain and after a few days goes away. By gradually cutting down, you will go through a minimum of pain. This is the road to take for those of us who still want to drink tea (or whatever) and yet have a more healthy life in the long-term.

Problems With High Caffeine Consumption

One of the other reasons I discovered I had to cut back on my caffeine consumption was that other areas of my health was being greatly effected. Those main reasons were sleep problems and tummy troubles. Lack of sleep combined with an upset stomach makes your entire life miserable.

Other problems include an inability to concentrate, sudden and rather unpredictable bouts of irritablity (if you see people diving for cover when you enter a building, you know you have these swings or a scorpion riding on your unknowing head), high blood pressure, birth defects, heart problems (because of the high blood pressure), osteosprosis, dehydration (ironically enough) and miscarridges. There is some schools of thought that high caffeine consumption (over 500 mgs a day) will make you prone to some cancers and fibrocystic breast disease, but the jury is still out on that.

The Tips

Going cold turkey is incredibly painful and not recommended unless you have a serious health issue that any ammounts of caffeine can aggravate. The thing I did was to consciously cut down gradually AND keep at it (that’s the hard part).

• Are there kinds of caffeine that don’t aggravate your stomach so much? For example, I had to drop Coke and Pepsi, but stuck with tea.
• If your painkiller has caffeine, take only one pill instead of two — that might be all you need.
• Remember that decaffeinated coffee and decaf tea usually contain traces of caffeine (and in America, the decaf tea is VILE. If you are in England, you are in luck.
• No caffeine one hour before bed the first week. Two hours before bed the next week. Three hours the next and keep at that. Go to four if you can.
• Drink (or, with chocolate, eat) your caffeine mindfully. Don’t gulp! Savor it. Bring your full attention to every drop or morsel. It’s like a meditation, and tends to make your daily decreasing quota taste better.
• Drink a glass of water (at least 6 oz) between cups of caffeinated beverages.

Here’s some other advice from an herbal “coffee” company, so keep in mind they’ll try to sell you stuff. I have been able to substitute some herbal teas for my evening teas, but still need real black tea in the morning.

Hope this helps.