I miss coffee 
So, I have a question for those of you that drink organic, decaf coffee: Do you have to consistently drink it everyday in order to avoid a rebound effect? Or because it is decaf, can you just drink it every once in a while?
Thanks, in advance, for your reply.
-GlassPawn
Hi Glasspawn,
I cannot even drink decaf and when I had a crack at some organic stuff at the local herbal cafe, it made me feeel much more ill than the regular decaf stuff. Don’t be fooled by the word organic. It can be worse for a migraineur. My GF cannot drink organic milk without turning into the Hindenburg but does great on the store bought stuff. Go figure.
I drink organic decaf regularly - but it uses the swiss water method not chemical decaffination. I do occasionally have decaf when out and about (prob not water filtered) and it doesn’t make a noticeable difference to my symptoms
i drink naturally decafinnated with water coffee just about every day - i’m not sick every every day i got for long spells i don’t think it’s a trigger.
I miss my iced tea and chcolate and a lot of other things though.
i wish i could not deal with pollen - can’t control the air borne stuff
chris
Glass Pawn - are you trying to avoid caffeine withdrawal?? Or, are you trying to avoid triggering MAV symptoms?? Wasn’t clear on your question. I’ve found purely by accident that I can tolerate decaf and even small amounts of regular coffee around midday with food but probably not on a regular basis and probably not if my trigger threshold has already been overwhelmed. I’ve gotten stuck in situations where the beverage choice was a citrus drink, sugary soda, ice cold water, or warm decaf or regular coffee on a freezing cold day. Took the decaf coffee and took extra topamax as a hedge with no real catastrophic results.
Gail
P.S. I’ve never tried the Swiss water processed coffees to see if that would help since I’m not completely convinced that it’s caffeine but coffee instead that is my problem.
Miniandelsa,
I haven’t had any caffeinated beverages in some time. In the past, caffeinated black tea aggravated my MAV symptoms. I’m not sure if caffeinated coffee would also aggravate my symptoms since I stopped drinking it when I began Verapamil and my MAV diet regiman. I’m asssuming caffeine is the culprit for me, so that’s why I was wondering if anyone tried the organic decaf version of coffee.
I’ve never tried that type of coffee before and was concerned about whether I would need to drink it everyday (in order to prevent any sort of rebound effect from skipping it for a day) or if I could drink it every now and then and still be okay.
in theory you should be OK to drink it occasionally as the amount of caffeine left is v v small. But if you’re really sensitive then it might be a problem. I guess the only way you’ll know is to try…
Various types of decaf coffee can be a bit iffy for me. However, enough decaf to flavor a cup of milk, kind of like I had when I was a kid, has posed no prob.
I was told by the neurologist that even decaf has some caffeine, so I don’t even have that. I miss coffee too. I drink a lot of redbush tea.
— Begin quote from “modwolf”
I drink a lot of redbush tea.
— End quote
I find a little vanilla improves that considerably.
for those in oz T2 sells a very decent vanilla redbush tea
The earl grey redbush with bergamot is also nice.
I love redbush, particularly Dragonfly Redbush with Vanilla.
However, I recently read that tannins can trigger migraines, although this is difficult to prove as they tend to be in foods and drink containing tyramine, another migraine trigger.
Redbush has tannin in it. Not as much as regular tea but a significant amount none the less. So I’ve now stopped drinking it and drink organic pure peppermint tea now - not as nice.
Sorry to put a spanner in the works! But worth knowing perhaps for some of us. I’m someone who is really struggling to find what triggers me food and drinkwise, other than red wine I have no idea. So I am on an ever restricitve diet to see if I get a bit better. If and when my meds kick in and I feel stable I’ll slowly reintroduce stuff.
D I xx
I have to say that I followed Dr S advice and drink decaf…usually about two mugs . I did try the Redbush but I hated it . I followed Dr B’s give up all caffeine for some while but not much happened. Dr S feels it is too draconian. I have heard that coffee decaffinated via fresh water system is available form health shops and is much better.
This diet connection seems valid with some people but for others like me who have constant symptoms it seems to make no odds . So I follow Dr S’s no choc, coffee, citrus and cheese diet.