how to get rid of the caffeine headache??

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ChantalD75
ChantalD75 Posts: 680 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have stopped drinking coffee on and off for a few months. The days I don't drink it I get a wicked headache that wont go away even if I take advil. I don't like the taste of coffee anymore... not sure what happened... since I got the flu 2x I just can't drink the stuff... I pour myself a cup only to dump it out. But now I suffer from these headaches... sometimes I will drink a coke just to get rid of that darn headache. Any other options out there?? :sick:

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  • melizerd
    melizerd Posts: 870 Member
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    If you go cold turkey the headache will go away in a day or two, but if you go back and forth you're just getting a rebound headache from the lack of caffeine on those days.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    Time is really the only way to cure a caffeine withdrawal headache. I've tried - many times - to eliminate caffeine from my life and every single time, I can't take the headaches -- I cave and drink an energy drink, coffee, etc.
  • aehartley
    aehartley Posts: 269 Member
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    naprosen and water
  • maggieschuck
    maggieschuck Posts: 174
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    Lots and lots of water. Take walks, drink water, or drink a few sips of a soda when you first start getting the symptoms. You can also get with drawls from sugar so make sure if you do soda is like Zero Cal.
  • ChantalD75
    ChantalD75 Posts: 680 Member
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    Today is the first time I haven't given up on the headache... I want to stop the caffeine. I upped my water today... but still feeling it. Hopefully it will go away in a day or two... :)
  • jkuhn71
    jkuhn71 Posts: 199
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    Sounds like it could be caffeine withdrawal. Due to health reasons, my husband had to give up caffeine. He went 'cold-turkey' and was pretty sick for about a week. And unfortunately, he didn't JUST have the headaches that wouldn't go away. He thought he had the flu because he was also completely run down and achey. But the doctor said he didn't - that it was just the caffeine withdrawal!
  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
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    drink water and take a pill.
    i stopped cold turkey..i work third shift and drank whole pots during the night..i never had headaches when i stopped.
  • ChantalD75
    ChantalD75 Posts: 680 Member
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    Sounds like it could be caffeine withdrawal. Due to health reasons, my husband had to give up caffeine. He went 'cold-turkey' and was pretty sick for about a week. And unfortunately, he didn't JUST have the headaches that wouldn't go away. He thought he had the flu because he was also completely run down and achey. But the doctor said he didn't - that it was just the caffeine withdrawal!

    oh no... that'a a long time... I feel run down today but that can be a combination of being tired and late of caffeine!!!
  • penguinCAO
    penguinCAO Posts: 1
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    Try eating an apple instead of drinking caffeine. I went off caffeine that way after I graduated college and didn't need the caffeine to stay awake. Hope it works for you.
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
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    yep, only ways to get rid of the head ache are to consume the caffine or ride it out for a week. When I was pregnant I managed to avoid it by weaning off of it slowly.
  • vanlaura
    vanlaura Posts: 26
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    I agree with what everyone has said, LOTS of water and stay strong!

    I have an addiction to the caffeine in cola and I was stupid because the beginning of this year I gave it up for over a month and was drinking nothing but water! I felt great. BUT I fell back into the coke habit and now I'm going to have to go through the headaches again!

    I know where you are coming from, they are terrible, they make me want to not even move !

    Sorry I couldn't suggest a miracle cure but Good Luck! It's possible! Just keep persisting :)
  • lovejoydavid
    lovejoydavid Posts: 395 Member
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    Caffeine is used to help with all forms of headaches, simply because its vasoconstrictive properties are general, and many headaches are caused (or aggravated) by some kind of cerebralvascular vasodilation. Unfortunately, in the immediate post caffeine state, there is inadequate antagonism of the adenosine receptor (you have been beating down adenosine receptors for the entire course of your coffee drinking, and they have compensated by becoming much more active), and the receptors are causing a great deal of increased dilation of blood vessels in the head (and elsewhere). That is simply there job, and we use that property for many of cardiac stress test. I don't know of much you can do about that, and actually, it is counter-intuitive to think that increased fluids would help, as increased blood volume would seem to me to be an aggravating factor? Of course, dehydration can set off barorecptors that lead to vasoconstriction as well (which might help the pain, but is a poor idea in general), personally I would stick to adequate hydration and look to keeping a strict restriction of sodium and increasing potassium (decreased BP would be your best response, I think).
  • shannonsnail
    shannonsnail Posts: 99 Member
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    question - I used Excedrin to deal with my caffeine headache yesterday - is that just going to keep me addicted to caffeine or is it a small enough amount that it is not comparable to tea and soda?
  • Bootzey
    Bootzey Posts: 274 Member
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    I found cranberry juice to be helpful
  • lovejoydavid
    lovejoydavid Posts: 395 Member
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    question - I used Excedrin to deal with my caffeine headache yesterday - is that just going to keep me addicted to caffeine or is it a small enough amount that it is not comparable to tea and soda?

    Not all excedrin has caffeine, but if the product did have caffeine in it, look to the dose. If it is much smaller than the assumed dose you were getting from a coffee habit, than you can say that you are titrating yourself off from caffeine. Frankly, that is the smartest way to do it anyway.
  • catcrazy
    catcrazy Posts: 1,740 Member
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    wean yourself down...1 coke, 1/2 a coke, 1/4 coke etc...and if you fancy coke after that try and get caffeine free...I actually prefer the caffeine free and so do my kids

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