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Title: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by CHAIN on Sep 6th, 2006, 7:24pm I have been informed all my life that something that could cause my episodes is Caffeine. However I have read some of the messages and they all include coffe to prevent the episodes. I am confused....I am in the middle of 3-4 episodes a day of CH and I wanted some input. Should I drink coffee before the episode or is this going to make it worse??? Thank you for your input!!! Ciao |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by BB on Sep 6th, 2006, 7:49pm Hello and welcome Caffeine is a natural brain stimulant and vasoconstrictor. When you drink coffee, it constrics the blood vessels in the brain as well as in the body, but more in the brain. If you drink TOO MUCH coffee, the blood vessels stay constricted for too long reducing blood flow to the brain but then they will have to eventually relax, and then they tend to rebound ie swell instead of just going back to normal size, this causes increased pressure in the brain as well as sudden surge of blood flow, which can cause headaches. But thats normal headaches we are talking about. CH is not your normal everyday headache. Its caused by a malfunction hypothalamus where for some unknown reasons it starts to produce an abnormal amount of serotonin, histamines and other chemicals called neurotransmittors. These chemicals cause the blood vessels inside the brain to swell up to TWENTY times the normal size, leading to excruciate pain. Plus the largest blood vessel , the carotid, when swollen up too big will squash the trigeminal nerve next to it producing intense nerve pain plus other symptoms like droopy eyelid and teary eye. So in cluster headache, one needs to vasoconstrict as quickly as possible to stop the attack, pure 02, imitrex, caffeine etc all do this. Thats why they are used as abortive treatments. One needs to take them really quickly and early though as if the blood vessels have swollen to a certain degree its too late, nothing will work and the attack will continue until the hypothalamus decides to vasoconstrict by itself. It seems to take the hypothalamus more than 1 hour mostly to realise whats its doing to the body to cause this terrible pain and to do something about it. So if you have CH, caffeine is your friend, but beware of rebound if you use too much or too late. Hope this helps. Painfree wishes to you. Annette |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by maffumatt on Sep 6th, 2006, 7:51pm Coffee is my friend. |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by E-Double on Sep 6th, 2006, 7:58pm on 09/06/06 at 19:51:39, maffumatt wrote:
yuppers |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by pattik on Sep 6th, 2006, 7:58pm on 09/06/06 at 19:51:39, maffumatt wrote:
Yep, me too. :) I try to keep my caffeine consumption fairly low when not in a headache cycle so that when I really need it, I wont need too much to get the job done. Coffee and ice are my two first lines of defense. |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by Jonny on Sep 6th, 2006, 8:05pm Buy a Red Bull drink and slam it down when you feel one coming....that will tell you if its going to help or not. |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by brewcrew on Sep 6th, 2006, 8:08pm I've gotten to the point where I don't trust people who don't drink coffee. ;;D |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by MJ on Sep 6th, 2006, 8:15pm Caffeine and or allmost any safer stimulant is good, seems to kick the hypo thingy into gear as well as what BB says. Outside of a CH cycle caffeine overdose can cause headaches as well as withdrawal headaches but not CH. |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by georgej on Sep 7th, 2006, 12:49am on 09/06/06 at 19:51:39, maffumatt wrote:
Oh yes, indeed. George |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by bothofus on Sep 7th, 2006, 4:59am Annette, I have never seen cluster headaches explained like that, I guess I mean in layman's terms. I am going to try to remember that the next time somebody looks at me with a yeah it's just a headache look. Hello again Chain, coffee I guess like anything can be overused, but I personally have never had an attack caused by it. Unless it takes 3 hrs later for it to happen. Hmmmmmmmmmm Carl |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by big_guy on Sep 7th, 2006, 5:14am Coffee and ice packs to the head help me keep the early morning shadows from becoming full blown CH Big Guy |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by chopmyheadoff on Sep 7th, 2006, 7:50am i think your being confused by the fact that caffine is a trigger for MIGRANE, not CH !!! as is cheese etc etc as said above any vasoconstrictor is our friend !! |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by BigCoffinHunter on Sep 7th, 2006, 7:57am I will happily take a caffeine rebound over a CH. I usually drink large amounts of coffee anyway, so a little more doesn't affect me too much in a negative way. |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by MoverDave on Sep 7th, 2006, 2:41pm I don't know where you live, but here in N.O. we have something called "Cool Brew" that is a highly concentrated coffee usually used to make iced coffee. I would think a few shots of this would give you a nice boost of caffine asap. I also wonder if you dissolved a few No-Doze if that my help. I was actually drinking an iced coffee when a cluster hit today. Oh, the irony. |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by BlueMeanie on Sep 7th, 2006, 2:46pm People who DON'T get Clusters, DON'T have a clue. You'll learn to ignore their advice. ;;D |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by sandie99 on Sep 7th, 2006, 3:05pm on 09/06/06 at 20:05:33, Jonny wrote:
That's my advice as well. I also drink it ice cold. Caffeine is my friend. PFwishes, Sanna |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by CHAIN on Sep 8th, 2006, 9:04am GUYS THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!. YESTERDAY HAD MY FIRST COFFEE IN YEARS AND SO FAR SO GOOD. I AM HAVING ONE RIGHT NOW AND I JUST WANTED TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR INPUT. KEEP STRONG!!!!!! |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by brewcrew on Sep 8th, 2006, 9:09am on 09/08/06 at 09:04:42, CHAIN wrote:
Keep strong, brew strong! Bottoms up! |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by Guiseppi on Sep 8th, 2006, 9:34am I resent the implication that my hypothalumus is of less then average intelligence! Chain, I made an incorrect assumption that coffee was causing my hedaaches when I first started getting them in the 80's cuz they always hit at about 9:00am, about half an hour after finishing my morning coffee! What everyone else said about advice from migrainers, "thank you for your kind advice"..then back away slowly!!!! Guiseppi |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by BB on Sep 9th, 2006, 1:15am on 09/08/06 at 09:34:20, Guiseppi wrote:
Sorry Guiseppi for my warped sense of humour, :P , above post modified now. Cheers Annette |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by Jobette on Sep 9th, 2006, 4:54am :DWhen I read BB's reply I thought, Finially someone who knows what is really going on. That was some good reading, but back to the issue. :oBring on the STRONG coffee before, during, and after an attack. When I said before, I mean when I smell the beast. :-[ Oh yeah, for future reference coffee and cigarettes are always bad for you and cause every thing wrong in your body. [smiley=laugh.gif] |
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Title: Re: NEED AN ANSWER ASAP PLEASE! Post by zanychef on Sep 11th, 2006, 6:36am never a day without a gsllon of the stuff even if i am mainly pf now |
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