I’ve got the flu, and one of the symptoms is an upset stomach. When I woke up midday, my head was pounding – I’m guessing due at least in part to caffeine withdrawal. Since I’m also dealing with menstrual cramps, I tried taking a couple of ibuprofen. They came right back up, so I’m not going to try that again.
Will an icepack work? I’ve never actually seen one, other than in “get well soon” cards. And if not an icepack, is there anything I can do for a headache that doesn’t involve putting something in my stomach?
Things that have worked in the past for me when the sinus pressure gets like that are standing in a hot, steamy shower; sip at cups of cinnamon tea; try some mentholated rub like Vicks.
If you can send someone out, there are melt-on-the-tongue headache pills available OTC now, including Excedrin with acetaminophen and caffeine. They’re horribly expensive and come in packages of eight or so, peppermint flavor (maybe others, now) and dissolve into slightly bitter, grainy mush kind of like an antacid tablet. A few saltine crackers beforehand might help, too.
I know this isn’t my typical suggestion, it almost a folk remedy for nausea, but it WORKS! Its called Emetrol. I buy it at the grocery store. Take a teaspoon as often as necessary. It will get you through the hard part.
It doesn’t work for long, but long enough for a dose of tylenol to get through your tummy.
Oooh, yeah, I second that. Great stuff. My dad once explained to me in great detail why it could not possibly work, but it does. I even used it a few times during chemo.
Unfortunately, there was no one to send to the drugstore, so I couldn’t try either of the OTC recommendations. I’m intrigued by this emetrol stuff – when you say you get it at the supermarket – whereabouts? In the produce dept.? With the peanut butter? In the snack food aisle? (Yup, I’m feeling better – I’m making jokes about food. Don’t want to eat it or anything, but can contemplate it in the abstract. This is incredible progress.)
My main thought was to use cold to contract the blood vessels – but that doesn’t make sense, wouldn’t I want to use heat to expand them? I’d still be curious about the answer to that – but my stomach has settled to the point where I’m keeping down a couple of aspirin-with-caffeine pills, and the headache seems to be ebbing somewhat.
twickster, glad to hear you’re feeling better.
To answer your question, If your head ache is from muscle tension, then heat would bring more blood to the area, thus more O[sub]2[/sub] to those muscles thus relaxing them. If your headache is due to any of the many inside the skull causes, you’ll want to constrict the vessels.
Think of the skull as a box with a latching lid. If you put too much stuff in the box, the lid won’t latch. So taking stuff out is the only way to latch the box.
The skull contains 3 things, cerebral-spinal fluid, brain and blood. If it gets too full, you get a headache; something has to be removed or the lid comes off.
Lesee… brain…nooo… messy and conter-productive, in the long run.
CSF?.. it can be removed safely, but not in a do-it-yourself setting, that leaves blood.
Poking a hole is a bad choice, so reducing the size of the vessels is safest and accomplishes the desired result.
So, the answer is yes. Heat or cold, depending upon why you have a headache.
picnurse, thanks very much for your clear and helpful answer! Usually my headaches are due to tension, which is why I was thinking heat. I’m pretty sure this one was mostly about caffeine withdrawal, since I usually am sipping Diet Dr Pepper throughout the day, and on Tuesday I was drinking only water (and couldn’t keep that down, but let’s not go there).
So – for the future – caffeine withdrawal headache – heat or cold?
I vote cold. My boss was taken off caffiene and had headaches. The doc said the best fix was a brain freeze, or ice cream headache. Because cold constricts the blood vessels that caffiene used to.
Maybe I missed something, but why aren’t you sipping a caffeinated soda to get rid of the headache, if it’s due to withdrawal? I always had better luck with that staying down during an upset stomach, as opposed to pills.
Caffeine is a vasodilator. It relaxes the smooth muscle that line the blood vessels. So cold would be the answer.
Now, about caffeine withdrawal. One must maintain a fairly high blood level of caffeine to withdraw from. Usually those who suffer from withdrawal drink anywhere from 3 to 10 cups of coffee per day.
An average cup of coffee has between 90-120 milligrams of caffeine. Most caffeinated sodas have between 10-50 milligrams. Also, caffeine stays in the system for a while, its half-life is 6 hours. (half-life, for those who don’t know, is the time it takes to metabolize 1/2 of the substance being addressed.
I don’t think you maintain a high enough blood level to be withdrawing. Your headache more likely was from :
A. Fever, similar mechanism to caffeine. (apply cold.)
B. A normal increase in intracranial pressure due to vomiting. Again, apply cold.
C. Sinus congestion. Even if you can breathe through your nose, your sinuses can be completely loculated, causing pressure. This one is a little more complicated. The sinuses are, like the skull, closed chambers, so pressure becomes an issue. There are some blood vessels passing through them so constricting them may help, so cold… but, the bigger problem is the mucus drainage, that isn’t. Heat will help liquify the thick mucus and facilitate drainage… so heat. Meaning cher3’s suggestion of alternating heet and cold is correct for sinus headaches.
D. (least likely) Migraine or other intracranial disturbance, causing an abnormal increase in intracranial pressure, that leades to extreme headache, nausea, projectile vomiting, photophobia ( sensitivity to light) even unconsciousness and seizures. If migraines are known to be a problem, then treat them with cold, it can help… maybe… a little.
But, BUT, a “FIRST, WORST HEADACHE IS A 911 CALL!”
Ok, that’s today’s lesson in Practical Anatomy and Physiology read pages… oh, sorry, no homework…
Tea shuld be OK for the caffiene. Ginger will help with nausea. Good old Alka-seltzer should be OK on a queasy stomach, or indeed, one of those Excedrin Quick-dissolve tablets, likeemilyforce mentioned.
picnurse – thanks again for your extremely clear and helpful explanation. So you think I should go ahead and return the “do-it-yourself” trepanning kit and go for icepacks next time?
I live alone – and if you think I’m letting my cat get anywhere near my butt with a suppository, think again!
Much better, Moody Bastard, thanks – I’m back at work, and unlike yesterday, not really feeling as though I deserve a major price for being vertical and dressed.
(Yup, I’m feeling better – I’m making jokes about food. Don’t want to eat it or anything, but can contemplate it in the abstract. This is incredible progress.)
