I also suffer from migraines and I was also afraid of caffeine, but I found that it helps me actually. As most people with migraines I have a diary, I know that when I drink coffee right after I start feeling a migraine it usually stops the migraine very fast. So for you reading with migraines, give coffee a try.
Micro-Dosing Caffeine
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Re: Micro-Dosing Caffeine
#22I follow the science, 2-3 cups of coffee a day is what was found to reduce mortality so that's what I drink. The amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee actually varies significantly, 70-140 mg, but at least 3 cups is most likely still below the FDA's recommended maximum of 400mg.
And I get headaches in the morning sometimes, coffee + aspirin has been very helpful.
Re: Micro-Dosing Caffeine
#23I attempted withdrawals the other day, going down from my usual of 8-10 cups down to 2-3 cups and the withdrawal symptoms are nightmares.
Establishing an appropriate relationship with caffeine is hard! It's hard to have confidence over the right course of action.
The studies seem likely that it is neuro-protective. However it appears to make you stress sensitive, particularly to mental stress. As someone who is prone to mental!/emotional stress but values anything that preserves mental function, what is the appropriate course of action?
I've decided to scale down to the typical healthy dose of 3 cups and see how this impacts me.
Re: Micro-Dosing Caffeine
#24I follow the science, 2-3 cups of coffee a day is what was found to reduce mortality so that's what I drink. The amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee actually varies significantly, 70-140 mg, but at least 3 cups is most likely still below the FDA's recommended maximum of 400mg. And I get headaches in the morning sometimes, coffee + aspirin has been very helpful.
I think anymore than 3 cups and you'll still have caffeine in your blood system at night, which doesn't seem healthy. I think it's easy to fall into a pattern of increased caffeine use through the circular pattern of drinking too much and getting terrible sleep, then ramping up the dosage the next day in order to feel awake.
I think it's important for people to recognize this little quirk and not to spiral into a pit of its tasty dark magic.
Re: Micro-Dosing Caffeine
#25I attempted withdrawals the other day, going down from my usual of 8-10 cups down to 2-3 cups and the withdrawal symptoms are nightmares. Establishing an appropriate relationship with caffeine is hard! It's hard to have confidence over the right course of action. The studies seem likely that it is neuro-protective. However it appears to make you stress sensitive, particularly to mental stress. As someone who is prone…
Are you going straight from 8-10 cups a day to 2-3? It might help to taper the dose over time, say doing seven cups for a few days, then six, etc.
Re: Micro-Dosing Caffeine
#26"So I went and got a can of Coke and drank it during work. As this was essentially my first caffeine experience, I was highly sensitive and became instantly wired. "
Well, that shows how large the difference in response to caffeine can be between individuals. Unfortunately, caffeine has very little effect on me, I can drink several cups of espresso coffee last thing at night and it has no apparent effect on my sleep.
I remember when studying using five or more heaped teaspoons of Moccona instant coffee per cup to help stay awake and it was pretty useless even though the coffee was so strong it was just about undrinkable. I also had the same lack of response with super strong brewed coffee.
The writer makes the point that caffeine can trigger migraines and I've also heard this often over the years. This seems somewhat paradoxical because many migraine medications contain caffeine and have done so for a better part of a century. For example ergotamine—the principal migraine medication before sumatriptan became popular—was usually compounded with caffeine and occasionally diphenhydramine in the ratio of 1/100/20mg respectively. So a migraine tablet had the equivalent amount caffeine of a treasonably strong cup of coffee.
Same goes for other headache medications, caffeine is often mixed with paracetamol/acetaminophen in the ratio of 100/500mg or about 100/325mg for aspirin.
I've often wondered why if caffeine promotes migraine then why is it used in migraine medications? The only reason I can think of is that for most people caffeine actually helps relieve their migraine. Presumably, caffeine works synergistically with the main ingredient.
Re: Micro-Dosing Caffeine
#27"So I went and got a can of Coke and drank it during work. As this was essentially my first caffeine experience, I was highly sensitive and became instantly wired. " Well, that shows how large the difference in response to caffeine can be between individuals. Unfortunately, caffeine has very little effect on me, I can drink several cups of espresso coffee last thing at night and it has no apparent effect on my sleep.…
Based on what my doctors told me, migraines can be triggered by blood vessels constricting and dilating. Caffeine causes the same kind of motion, meaning it can cause migraines but also reverse them, which is why they are both a trigger and remedy.
Re: Micro-Dosing Caffeine
#28> wired [...] withdrawals [..] I’d love to hear how other people manage their caffeine intake (even if it is complete dependence). Or the polar opposite: I sometimes wonder if I have a caffeine in sensitivity, and whether there's a good way to objectively measure my experience versus the average. The suspicion comes from how some folks (like in this blog) will talk about how they very clearly perceive being "wired" o…
I think ADHD is linked to caffeine insensitivity. I experimented with caffeine at uni, but never noticed any effect. I would drink a 33 cl coke, containing some 30 mg caffeine. Some 10 years ago I tried caffeine tablets in the mornings. They might have been 100 mg. I would take a tablet 30 min before work. That time, it would take the edge off my morning sleepiness which I’ve suffered from my whole life. But instead…
Insensitivity to caffeine is pretty common. As I said in my post, I'm insensitive to it but then I've regularly consumed large quantities of it almost every day since I was a kid (I've always drunk very strong tea and coffee without milk or sugar), so I'd expect to be desensitized.
Perhaps there is an ADHD connection but that desensitization also occurs to those who don't have it. Caffeine is just like any other psychotropic drug, it doesn't take long to develop a tolerance.
BTW, 30mg caffeine is hardly enough to get one off the starting block, a strong cup of coffee can have three to five times that amount.
Re: Micro-Dosing Caffeine
#29"So I went and got a can of Coke and drank it during work. As this was essentially my first caffeine experience, I was highly sensitive and became instantly wired. " Well, that shows how large the difference in response to caffeine can be between individuals. Unfortunately, caffeine has very little effect on me, I can drink several cups of espresso coffee last thing at night and it has no apparent effect on my sleep.…
Based on what my doctors told me, migraines can be triggered by blood vessels constricting and dilating. Caffeine causes the same kind of motion, meaning it can cause migraines but also reverse them, which is why they are both a trigger and remedy.
That makes sense, ergotamine is a strong vascoconstrictor so that's why it works, it's constrictive effects would offset the dilative effects of the caffeine.
Re: Micro-Dosing Caffeine
#30I find it quite trivial to phase out caffeine - you just taper it down over a week or so and done. First by reducing cups then by switching to tea. Zero withdrawal.
But it makes me happy so I see no need to tbh