Why Coffee is Causing Your Migraine?

The discovery of the coffee bean is steeped in legend and lore, with the most enduring tale tracing its roots back to the ancient highlands of Ethiopia. According to this legend, a humble goat herder named Kaldi noticed his goats frolicking with unusual vigour after consuming the red and yellow berries of a certain shrub. Intrigued by this phenomenon, Kaldi decided to sample these berries himself and experienced a similar energizing effect.

Kaldi reported his findings to the abbot of a local monastery, who was struggling to stay awake during long hours of evening prayer. The abbot made a drink with the cherries and found that it kept him awake. This sparked the beginning of coffee's journey, as knowledge of its energizing effects spread among the monks and eventually beyond into the world.

To understand the benefit and harm of caffeine we first have to understand a few basic things about how it reacts with our bodies. Let's break this topic into a few key concepts

Caffeine or Coffee has its effects by sticking to receptors in the brain called adenosine receptors, think about this as butter pasted all over a keyboard . Adenosine receptors have many functions but one of them is to promote sleep by slowing down the activity of the brain so we can rest. By blocking these receptors caffeine stops us from being tired and prevents the onset and quality of sleep.

Caffeine not only prevents sleep but also affects sleep patterns. It reduces the amount of stage 1 and 2 sleep and can decrease slow-wave sleep, which is crucial for physical recovery and memory.

Caffeine can also affect your body clock, called circadian clock by delaying melatonin secretion, a hormone essential for initiating sleep.

This delay can disrupt the natural sleep-wake cycle, leading to difficulties in falling asleep and maintaining sleep quality and good quality sleep in migraine patients are especially important.

In addition to sleep caffeine also activates a key hormone regulatory pathway called the HPA axis. If you have been doing my migraine course, Beyond Migraine, see the link in the description, you will be very familiar with this pathway.

By blocking receptors of the HPA axis caffeine increases the activity of dopamine, epinephrine(adrenaline) and cortisol, hormones that activate the body and brain and keep it stimulated.

This is major problem if we have migraines because disruption of these hormones has many implications on our health, metabolism, immune function as well as sex hormones such as testosterone, oestrogen and progesterone.

While many of these effects can be beneficial in limited amounts we should remember that caffeine is in effect a very powerful drug and therefore should always be taken earlier on in the day so that your body has enough time to clear out the caffeine before bed time. The maximum daily limit for caffeine is 200mg/day, the equivalent of one large coffee.

In my online course we revise why the HPA axis, cortisol and sleep is crucial for migraine management. If you have migraines there are likely already existing dysfunctions in the HPA axis and this is why further disruption of these crucial hormonal pathways with caffeine should be avoided at all costs.

Now I know going without your morning pick me up fills you with absolute dread but by eliminating caffeine you can make a significant difference in your migraine frequency and intensity and in some cases eliminate them all together.

There is one exception to this rule of abstinence. The only time caffeine is recommended is during an actual migraine attack. You see the same effects that make caffeine a no no for migraine patients also seem to be the same effects that help us recover from them once a migraine has started. You see all the stimulant effects we talked about also enhances the pain relieving effects of your migraine medications and also blocks pain pathways in the brain.

This means it can be used as an emergency drug for migraine only while you are actually having a migraine and should not be used as a long term strategy to manage your migraines. Just one shot of espresso or 150-200mg of caffeine can make a big difference in the migraine attack phase. Think of it as a plaster we can use once you are already injured.

Now what if you have been drinking coffee by the gallon for many years. How do you come off of this addictive drug without the nasty withdrawals?

You can do this in two ways, gradually cutting down to one cup in the morning and extending this to one cup every two days after a week and then once every three days after that. Once you reach three days you should be able to go without any caffeine because the withdrawal symptoms from caffeine lasts about 3 days.

Or if you want to go cold turkey I suggest you take your last cup on a Thursday morning, this means you will have withdrawals on a Saturday and Sunday but should be clear without symptoms ready for work by the Monday

While withdrawing from Coffee is not an easy thing to do, it is essential if we want to manage migraine effectively in the long term.

Solving your migraine could be as simple as switching up your morning beverage.

Now let's continue to explore elements of Migraine Management and strategies you could employ to help resolve your migraine

If you are interested in learning all about how migraine works and how you can manage this dreadful condition see the link in the description or head to www.beyondmigraine.co.uk for more information.

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