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Caffeine Headache

By: jacobson Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Caffeine is one of the most consumed substances of all times. Through the years, people have consciously and unconsciously taken caffeine in the form of coffee, tea, softdrinks and other colas.
Caffeine intake has rapidly become popular that every now and then, critics and health experts have constantly warned about it. A number of health professionals insist that the substance can do harm to the body.

Caffeine headaches
Caffeine has been found to cause headaches and the claims that the substances causes addiction is linked to this assertion. The idea that what is called as 'weekend headaches' are caused by caffeine is linked to the addiction allegation against the substance.
Experts believe that weekend headaches come as office buffs, who become used to consuming cups and glasses of coffee and sodas everyday in the morning and during breaks, suddenly stop taking caffeine during weekends. Usually, workers sleep and take rest during weekends, so they are not drinking coffee or sodas to be awake.

Rebound Headaches
Rebound headaches are usually daily occurrences, beginning early in the morning. Rebound headaches can lead to other problems including anxiety, depression, irritability and sleeplessness.
Medications
Migraine medications work to raise serotonin levels to ease pain. However, when too much medication is ingested something happens to the serotonin levels, which causes the chemical to lose its effectiveness. Research has shown that serotonin levels are lower when you take too much pain medication and then they rise slightly after the headaches gets better and you stop taking the medication.

1. Caffeine-containing analgesics (Anacin, Excedrin, etc.). Caffeine, a primary ingredient in many headache medicines, can relieve migraine pain temporarily. However, taking medicine containing caffeine every day -- as well as drinking caffeine-loaded beverages such as coffee or soft drinks -- can lead to more frequent and severe headaches.

When it comes to migraines, caffeine is one strange drug. The headache associated with a migraine needs to be triggered. This trigger can come in many forms: certain foods, weather conditions, lighting. One of the triggers is too much caffeine consumption. And yet the pain of migraines can also be lessened by ingesting caffeine. Talk about your two way streets!

The number one cause of migraines that are related to caffeine consumption is caffeine withdrawal. The good news is that this presents two methods of using caffeine to actually prevent migraines. The first method is the least difficult in theory, but probably the most difficult in practice: reducing the amount of caffeine you take in. If you don’t take in a lot of caffeine, you don’t suffer much in the way of withdrawal symptoms.