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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2002 >> Question on caffeine & antecdote
        
(Message started by: dtruett on Aug 11^th, 2002, 4:01am)

Title: Question on caffeine & antecdote
Post by dtruett on Aug 11^th, 2002, 4:01am

??? I'm new to the site, and it is a godsend. I've suffered for 17 years, and been diagnosed as chronic, although some prophylaxes have worked for a time. Good med story; In 1995 my neurologist prescribed simultaneously Prozac (SSRI) and Nardil (MAOI). Eight year olds playing doctor know this is contraindicated. Got Serotonnin Syndrome and in a coma for 8 days. Depression, 2 years of disability, and a divorce later, there was a malpractice settlement for peanuts due to California's sucky (can I say that?) malpractice laws.
Anyway, my point in writing is that I sense a weak correlation between too much coffee (really no such thing) and ch. Anyone find the same. Also, how about nitrates. I have given up my daily CostCo hot dog and it is killing me. Please tell me it is unnecessary. Thanks folks! Call me: afraid to go to bed at 2:00 for fear of the REM cycle

Title: Re: Question on caffeine & antecdote
Post by gills on Aug 11^th, 2002, 4:36am

Hi dtruett.

I also find a very weak correlation between caffeine (coffee) and ch.

I drink about 6 to 8 cups a day. I have since cut this down over the last 2 weeks to 1 cup every 2 or 3 days, just in case it helped.

I am over the worst of my cluster and probably are coming off the cluster for another year or so. I dont however put this down to a decrease in coffee as this cluster has lasted 6 or 7 weeks already and they usually last about that period, maybe a little longer.

One point that is interesting is that when I wake up at 3am in excruciating agonising pain, I have found myself drinking 3 or 4 very strong hot cups of coffee to take my mind off of it. I find that by this time (It takes me about 3 or 4 coffees in time before I come out of an attack.) This mental diversion seems to help. Sound stupid, doesnt it. (come to think of it, it doesnt help very much but anything is worthwhile!)

My answer is no, I dont think there is much of a correlation between caffeine and ch.

Get better
Gills

Title: Re: Question on caffeine & antecdote
Post by oringkid on Aug 12^th, 2002, 8:03am

I would say no, as I find that coffee helps get rid of my CH's. If I drink a hot black cup of coffee at the first sign, many times it will abort it and if it doesn't abort it is soothing to have the hot liquid hit that side of the inside of my mouth. I know there are others here who also feel that coffee actually is a help and not a hindrance.

Sherry

Title: Re: Question on caffeine & antecdote
Post by Ted on Aug 12^th, 2002, 8:30am

Coffee has been a double-edged sword for me. For the first several years coffee would help abort the attack or at least lessen it. For the next several years it would sometimes trigger attacks or crank it up a notch-or-so and not help, although all I could do is cut back to 2-3 cups per day from 10-12. About a year ago it started helping during an attack again (which had the added benefit of letting me jack up my coffee intake again. Yeehaa!) and the past couple of months it will do any of the following: Trigger, exacerbate a shadow or attack or abort a shadow or attack. I've been concentrating on subtle differences in attacks to determine which attacks it'll help and which ones it'll hurt.

Title: Re: Question on caffeine & antecdote
Post by Cry-or-die on Aug 12^th, 2002, 11:38am

I don't think coffee is a trigger at all for me, it neither hastens nor aborts attacks. I drink coffee every day, I tried cutting back on all kinds of stuff and here is what I found. Coffee has no effect on ch. Alcohol is definately a trigger. Processed meats are triggers. Canned spaghetti sauce is a trigger. MSG is a trigger. What do all these things have in common? ??? I dunno. Nitrates and preservatives? ??? I avoid all processed food when I am having my ch's...and while it doesn't prevent them from coming, it does reduce the # and intensity of the attacks...as well as my new drug protocols seem to be working much better than usual. (Verapamil and Migranol nasal spray)
I've managed to avoid most of them in the last 2 weeks.
Sorry 'bout the processed costco mystery meat on a bun dood, a good idea to forsake those :( :-/ for the time being anyways.

You're right...these people and this board is a godsend...thanks DJ ;)

Cry-or-die

Title: Re: Question on caffeine & antecdote
Post by Ueli on Aug 12^th, 2002, 12:57pm

Cry-or-die,

The answer to your question is simple: You'll have to go far to find some preprocessed food that isn't liberally laced with MSG. :'(
I only go shopping armed with a loupe, to search the small print for this nerve poison.

As for coffee, I get the first nightly attack about 5 hours after the last (of many) coffees. However, if I sip a coffee while sucking the nightly oxygen, I somehow skip the next attack.

PFNADs
Ueli

Title: Re: Question on caffeine & antecdote
Post by KaseyD on Aug 17^th, 2002, 10:28am

As far as the caffeine goes - and I'm not a heavy coffee drinker - it has actually helped the CH for me. Drink a cup as fast as I can and it makes a 9 go to a 7 or 6.

As far as nitrates and other processed food - no difference at all for me. If I'm cycling, I'm cycling - if I'm not, I'm not.

Title: Re: Question on caffeine & antecdote
Post by kim on Aug 17^th, 2002, 8:47pm

caffeine is a natural analgesic. It also acts as a vaso constrictor. It helps my clusters (for 25 years and counting!). If taken at onset of cluster, can abort an attack. For some reason, soft drinks containing caffeine and an assortment of other caffeine loaded products do not work. It is the Hot Fresh Strong COFFEE that has stayed my best friend all these years and I cling to it STILL.

As for the Nitrates, well I can't definitively comment on their relationship to ch. I will tell ya that they are veddy bad for ya.
PS: But I still luv my Hot dogs with sour crout and mustard.

the pint (i mean point) is: I don't know. :D

Title: Re: Question on caffeine & antecdote
Post by dtruett on Aug 18^th, 2002, 9:07pm

:)Thank you for all of your replies. I haven't given up coffee, as I don't think I can anyway. I am on a killer dose of Neurontin-7200 mg. per day. One of the side effects is lethargy, and when I get home from a hard day of teaching third graders, it is either total collapse (like Schwarzenneger in Kindergarten Cop) or caffeinate myself to do work. Easy choice. From your answers, the next time I get anything over a 6, I'm going to try hot black coffee ??? Haven't had a CH for 3 nights, so of course they're gone for good! :-/ Yeah, right :o Thanks again.
Don Truett ;D

Title: Re: Question on caffeine & antecdote
Post by BobG on Aug 19^th, 2002, 12:06am

Nobody has mentioned caffeine as in Cafergot, Caffertine and Ercaf (and other meds).
These meds are caffeine and ergotamine, both of which cause vasoconstriction of arteries and veins that supply blood to the head.
Caffeine and ergotamine is used to prevent and to treat vascular headaches

dtruett.............
hate to see you give up your daily trip to Costco.
A man should never be deprived of his weiner.

Title: Re: Question on caffeine & antecdote
Post by oringkid on Aug 19^th, 2002, 4:17pm

Going back to what Kim said. I also have found that soft drinks with caffeine do not have the same effect as the coffee.

Makes me wonder if it is the caffeine or the heat in the mouth?...

hmmm...

Sherry

Title: Re: Question on caffeine & antecdote
Post by BobG on Aug 19^th, 2002, 6:06pm

That's a good thought Sherry.
Some use heat for relief and some use cold.

I'm one of those that uses ice packs to relieve the pain. When the pain gets so bad that it is in the jaw/teeth I often bite on an ice cube for relief.