ok i confused, Is caffeine recommended for migraines. I believe its Carolyn Bernstein The Migraine Brain book that recommends it?
I did not read the Migranie Brain but Heal your Headache tells your to stay away from it. I know personally I cannot have it. Makes me very sick. Big trigger for me.
Teri.
Caffeine, like painkillers, can relieve migraine in the short term but long term can cause rebound. This means in the short term it constricts the blood vessels in the brain causing migraine pain and so makes you feel better, however in the long term it can cause the vessels to expand more and more in between times which ultimately makes the pain worse and the migraines can then become chronic. Therefore migraine doctors tend to advise migraineurs to avoid caffeine and painkillers altogether to prevent or stop the rebound effect.