My neurologist, whom I visited for the first time since moving into the Boston area, says we cannot effectively treat my migraines unless I cut way way back on the caffeine. :eek:
: weighs options :
Lessee here–no caffeine, or 2-3 days of crippling, debilitating pain per week.
: still weighing options :
[grudging concession]Well, I guess I will forego my morning trip to 7-11[/gc]
Harumph.
And let’s face it. I need to cut coffee out all the way. I think if I try to have just a little bit of coffee (instead of cutting it all the way out), I’ll fall all the way off the wagon, and my neurologist will have to send me to the Betty Ford clinic or something.
Anyhow, I cut way back on my coffee consumption today. Result? A bad headache. :mad:
That’s caffeine withdrawal for you. But at least caffeine headaches go away; that makes them better than migraines. Hang on and your body will adjust. Hang on…
Are you dropping coffee altogether, or switching to decaf? If you’re dropping it, save the money you’re not spending at 7-11 and treat yourself to something.
I’m going to drop it all together. Decaf just seems like a cruel joke to me. And besides, I’m sure I would start out at some point saying, “Well, just a splash of leaded in the ol’ decaf won’t hurt anything.” Next stop: Betty Ford Clinic.
I have migranes too. If I was told that they would go away if I quit drinking coffee, I’d probably still drink the coffee. Migranes suck, but I wouldn’t even be able to function without my morning espresso.
I get migraines, too, and was told by my internist to cut down on my caffeine intake, but it was hard. He seemed to think cutting out caffeine would solve my problems, but it didn’t.
When I finally saw a neurologist for what had become near-crippling migraines, he put me on Topomax. It worked wonders, and I can still have my cuppa java.
My neurologists told me that, due to my experimentation with going off caffeine for months at a time, they could rule it out as a migraine trigger. However, they wanted me to try to cut it out so that I could use it as a “rescue medication” to help reduce the severity of a migraine when I had one.
The problem is, I get addicted to caffeine (with a withdrawal headache and everything) at a “dose” as low as one can of cola per day. So when I use caffeine during a migraine, I have to get myself off the stuff again…
My neurologist is taking me off of caffeine and putting my on Topomax. I have so far resisted going on topomax since a doctor first suggested it a couple of years ago, on the grounds that the Topomax discussion groups I found on-line are emphatic about “Dopomax’s” cognitive side effects (which I cannot afford, as I am a college professor). We’ll see how it works out. Have you suffered from the Dopomax effect yet?
I had a little bit of the cognitive effects (searching for words), but it wasn’t too bad. I also got the odd numbness and tingling in my hands and feet.
Both effects went away after a while. I’ve been taking it for about 8 years now, and have no side effects at all.
It’s been a life saver. It’s cut the severity and frequency of the migraines.
My migraines went from 1-2 crippling migraines a week to one every six weeks or so. If I do get one, it’s not nearly as bad as they used to be (save the occasional break-though killer), and I don’t get nearly as many as I used to.