I used to regularly get headaches on Sundays. I thought it was from sleeping in. I eventually figured out it was because I drank coffee at work, and not on weekends, and it was a weekly caffeine withdrawal effect.
> Caffeine withdrawal symptom (and the cure isn't more caffeine ;) )
I don't know about that, actually. Caffeine is the active ingredient in (low-power, over-the-counter) migraine medication, because it has anti-inflammatory properties. People who have chronic headaches may be unintentionally self-medicating with caffeine; for them, the caffeine withdrawal period becomes concurrent with their regular headaches returning.
More anecdotally, when I don't drink caffeine (and I do go off it for months at a time), I get headaches on and off, about once per week or so. When I do drink caffeine, though, I literally never get headaches.
It was my understanding that it is included because many people taking headache pills don't actually realize that they are caffeine addicts and don't recognize the withdrawal symptoms for what they are. This makes the pills more effective in making that class of headaches go away by eliminating the withdrawal symptoms, sort of how heroin is an effective cure for heroin withdrawal.
> It was my understanding that it is included because many people taking headache pills don't actually realize that they are caffeine addicts and don't recognize the withdrawal symptoms for what they are.
Many things about the OTC drug market in America are rather disturbing. 26k people per year are hospitalized from acetaminophen poisoning, and about two die every day. It's the scumminess of the pharma industry, with less adult supervision.
As with many things, all the suggested reasons apply, in different proportions for different people. The caffeine may help with vasodilation-related symptoms. It also may help with any other caffeine-withdrawal symptoms, if present. And it may create a slight new dependence – as with the other painkiller ingredients, which can contribute to 'rebound headaches' with persistent use. Adding an addictive yet legal substance to your product is rarely bad for repeat business.
No, it's because it's a vasoconstrictor. As a person who is both a caffeine addict and a past sufferer of angina pectoralis, I can testify that the headaches caused by caffeine withdrawal and the headaches caused by nitroclycerine (a vasodilator) are one and the same.
Vasodilation is not necessarily chemically induced, but it is a common-enough proximate cause of headaches (and some other forms of pain) that using a mild vasoconstrictor in addition to an analgesic is more likely to make a general-purpose pain reliever work effectively.
I had headaches usually about three or so days per week. Sodas and tea were my sources of caffeine. One day I decided to quit. I had three days of headache and a week of jaw soreness (another symptom of withdrawal). Since then I have been mostly headache free now. I missed chai tea, but I found a decaf mix the other day so I'm set.
Is the pain localized? Because you might be getting low-grade migraines.
I used to regularly get stress-induced migraines (before I regularly drank anything caffeinated). Then I started drinking 2 cups of tea or coffee per day, which completely cleared up the issue.
Of course, if I go "off schedule," I get a headache now almost immediately.
Also, analgesics can cause "rebound headache" - you have a headache, you take pain relief for a few days, the headache stops, and you stop taking the pain killer. Then you get a rebound headache. This especially happens with ibuprofen.
According to my doctor, ibuprofen does not not have this rebound property and is preferred over codeine-based drugs like Solpadine which definitely can cause rebound headaches.
But, in general, yes headache medications can actually cause headaches. Ask your pharmacist.
Bad sitting posture, bad chairs and anything that could strain the spinal cord could result in serious issues. A friend was just short of a disk slip because of his sitting posture. He had a bad headache and after a diagnosis that took a month it turned out to be a problem with his spine.
I googled it and found that the underlying reason seems to be high blood pressure, which can be caused by extremely high amounts of triglycerines. Unless you eat insane amounts of fat, I think it is easier to lower your blood pressure in other ways (exercising, quitting smoking, reducing sodium intake)
You mean "Flu", which is actually short for "influenza," and contrary to most people's belief is not simply a bad cold, but can be a life-threatening condition.
Most victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks, which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or weakened patients.
The pandemic lasted from June 1918 to December 1920, spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. Between 50 and 100 million died, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history. Even using the lower estimate of 50 million people, 3% of the world's population (1.86 billion at the time) died of the disease. Some 500 million, or 27% (≈1/4), were infected.
Pandemic flus are the exception, not the rule. None of us may see one in our lifetimes, even if we have (and recover from) a dozen cases of seasonal flus. Also, some believe the death rates from the 1918 pandemic were more due to concomitant bacterial infections than the flu strain itself.
+1 for the diet suggestions, but I'd add exercise in their too, it has a bonus side effect of increasing your stamina so you'll no longer need caffeine.
Add dental problems to that list. I had increasingly worse headaches for a few years due to a molar that was very, very slowly becoming impacted into the next tooth over.
Once it finally actually rose to the level of a toothache and I got it pulled, the change was enormous.
* Lack of sleep
* Lack of magnesium or iron
* Too much sugar/fat
* Caffeine withdrawal symptom (and the cure isn't more caffeine ;) )
* Bad position (especially in the neck)
* Flu, cold, etc.