Another piece of the puzzle fell in place for me yesterday, as I watched a podcast of Dr. Richard Lipton, professor of Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, explaining the difference between Migraine & headache. Thanks to Marijke Durning, R.N. of Help My Hurt for posting the podcast in The Difference between Migraine and Headache. I recommend the podcast as a general explanation of what a migraine is and what sets it aside from an "ordinary" headache. You might ask your skeptical or uninformed friends and family members to watch it.
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The new idea for me had to do with Dr. Lipton's explanation of the role of caffeine. I already knew that:
1. caffeine is a vaso-constrictor and so can help treat a migraine attack in progress, by constricting the dilated and inflamed blood vessels around the brain - in fact there are several migraine medications that contain caffeine, such as Cafergot; and
2. caffeine withdrawal can trigger migraine attacks (I have experienced this first hand in a too rapid attempt to get caffeine out of my system).
It is also common for some migraineurs to have smooth sailing during the week, only to be beached by migraines on the weekend, our supposed "time off." This happens to me frequently. Since migraine triggers are "stackable," we often have to analyze what may be in the stack to figure out what actually triggered the migraine. Explanations for the weekend migraine include:
1. stress let-down - perhaps the body's reaction to a drop in the stress hormones we produce to function during the work week;
2. change in sleep pattern - a trigger for many migraineurs who find we need to keep our bed-times and waking times as regular as possible to avoid migraines;
3. change in eating patterns on the weekend - if you eat much later than usual, your body may interpret it as missing a meal! (I have found that I need to get up and feed myself on a Saturday morning to avoid a migraine. No waiting for Danny to get up and cook one of his weekend breakfast feasts - I can't enjoy my Oeufs beurre noir if I've already gotten a migraine waiting for him to get up!); and
4. I suspect that if you take medications and supplements at the same time in the morning five days a week and then vary that time on the weekend, this too messes with your migraineur's sensitive brain.
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But here's the new idea (you've probably guessed it by now) - if you have a cup of coffee at 6:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, and you sleep in until 9 on Saturday, what do you wake up into? Caffeine withdrawal! If your brain is habituated to caffeine at a particular time and doesn't get it, the addictive little critter (i.e. your brain) starts screaming for its cup of Joe while you're still sleeping! Add this factor to the others discussed above and you're in for a weekend of pain!
I'm not sure what the solution is here - I know, I know, get up at the same time every day. I'm still very resistant to the idea, although I have to confess I can't sleep past about 8:00 on weekends any more. Perhaps an IV caffeine drip at 7 a.m. - nah - no sleeping in that way! Cut out morning caffeine entirely - radical notion!
Dr. Lipton recommends limiting caffeine to one cup per day, and using more to treat migraines when they arise. I am going to give this a try. And I will have my one cup per day after lunch! If you decide to try is as well, a word of advice. To avoid withdrawal migraines, cut your caffeine back very gradually. If you have 3 cups in the morning, cut back to 2 1/2 for at least 3 or 4 days. Then cut back to 2... You get the picture.
Happy Mother's Day all you moms out there! I am about to be served my breakfast in bed. (I got up at 8 and had toast and coffee. This one is for the ritual of it.) Wishing everyone a pain free day.
- Megan Caffeine addict, heading back on the wagon. Trying not to repeat yesterday's weekend migraine! Dorothy Musgrave
Visitors' Comments:
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eoraptor1: Sometimes a migraine feels like a thunderstorm in my head. There's that flash of light and a headache that builds, resonating like thunder. Fortunately, there are many homeopathic methods you can use
andrewj219: WHO (World Health Organization) believed in 2003 which 303 zillion people globally experienced regular migraine headaches. A 2004 post suggested that we now have almost 20 million migraine attacks happening every single day.
rhooda: A new research on May 27, 2011, suggested that wearing tinted lenses can reduce the Migraine Pain that is practiced by the Migraine patients. These lenses normalize the activity of the Brain.
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docbrok: Headache and migraine patients do not have to suffer with their headaches. Unfortunately the medical route provides medications that give temporary relief and in many times sedates the patient so much they can’t function properly. Our approach is to find the cause of patient’s headaches, address the cause without drugs, and get the patient back [...]
AndrewKarvert112: Dr. Jim Thompson, D. C., Saratoga chiropractor, provides safe and quick relief to individuals suffering from migraine headache pain. The doctor uses a "whole body" approach that addresses the immediate pain as well as the triggers for the headaches through chiropractic care and alternative therapies.
Natural and Safe Home Cures for Migraines
There are many good home cures for migraines to alleviate the pain and discomfort related to migraine headaches. A number of folk have found relief using these methods and have been successful in stopping migraine pain naturally. Home cures for migraines are commonly times over looked. When the general public experience migraine headache discomfort,...
Millions of Americans suffer from migraine. It is a neurological condition where you will experience an intense headache on one or both sides of the head and often radiates from the eye. Migraine is a very disabling disease, you will experience pounding pain, vomiting and nausea. Some when having migraine attacks cannot get out of bed and cannot work at all or go on their daily routine....
Headache is a condition of pain in the head sometimes neck or upper back pain may also be interpreted as a headache. Most people with headaches can feel much better by making lifestyle changes, learning ways to relax, and occasionally by taking medications. There are two types of headaches: primary headaches and secondary headaches. Primary headache accounts for about 90% of all headaches. There...
Doctors give migraineurs medications to reduce the frequency or duration of their headaches, and some to stop the pain when they feel a headache coming on. Sometimes, though, the pain is resistant and heavy-duty pain medications are needed.
Non-prescription NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, help a lot of people relieve their migraine pain, but when they are not enough doctors may...
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