Guest Author - Joyce N. Eldridge, M.Ed.

You walk into the one doctor’s office because of chronic headaches and you are asked—“do you drink caffeine?” You think about your busy life, how tired you are all the time, and how you must have your daily dose of coffee or energy drink and you immediately answer “yes, doesn’t everybody in today’s busy world?” The doctor simply says, “stop drinking caffeine” and sends you on your way. You walk into another doctors office complaining about your headaches and he prescribes a medication that contains caffeine among other ingredients. Are you confused? You are not alone. Not many people actually know how much their daily caffeine fix is costing them. Even worse, headache sufferers are caught in the caffeine crunch and may not even know it.

Caffeine can be both friend and foe to headache sufferers. Have you ever wondered how much caffeine you were drinking? What about all of the hidden caffeine in your favorite foods, especially if you are a chocolate lover. Before you get excited about drinking only caffeine-free drinks and hating chocolate, slow down. Many popular caffeine-free beverages, especially soda, still have a little bit of caffeine in them.

So, what is caffeine and why are the effects of this tasteless, odorless, colorless substance important to headache sufferers. Caffeine is a stimulant—it affects the central nervous system (CNS) by ‘perking’ you up, it also improves muscle coordination. Within thirty minutes of its consumption, you feel alert and ready to take on the world, especially if you have ingested a large dose. However, just as fast as it energizes you, it can cause you to become irritable and sluggish within a couple of hours.

Caffeine is a diuretic; it also constricts blood vessels and may even cause high blood pressure. Worst of all, it can be addictive! The average caffeine drinker ingests about 200-300 mg of caffeine per day, that’s like drinking two to three cups of coffee. When a person drinks more than the average, they risk developing unpleasant side effects such as an even worse headache than usual, anxiety, sleep disturbance and addiction.. So why, you ask, would you take it to get rid of a headache?

The same reasons that caffeine is bad for you personally may be good for you medically. Historically, Coca-Cola soda was created to treat headaches! For migraine headache sufferers, medication is prescribed to shrink blood vessels and get them back to normal before the nerves around the vessels are irritated getting this process accomplished can ease the head pain associated with migraines. Research suggests that caffeine added to regularly prescribed pain relievers (OTC and prescription) increase the effectiveness in treating headaches by nearly 40%. It is believed that caffeine added to pain relievers makes the medicine work faster, hence less medication consumption and a decreased chance for addiction.

It is important to note that while some people swear by drinking coffee, soda or an energy drink to cure their headache, this myth does not take the place of consulting with a medical professional. Headache sufferers should always consult their physician to determine if the benefits of taking pain medication containing caffeine outweigh the risks and side effects.

For a comprehensive list of beverages that contain caffeine, see the links below. Be sure to consider the size of the beverage (i.e.—8 oz= 1 cup) and the number of milligrams (mg) each cup contains. So, while you may drink “only one soda a day” what really matters is how big (or how many ounces) that one soda is. For example, Mt. Dew contains 55 mg per 12 oz. serving; however, most people drink either a 20 oz or 24 oz soda.

The take-away from this article—it’s all in the numbers or rather the ounces!