A cup of coffee --- or sometimes more than one --- is a routine beginning to the morning for many people. Sometimes the coffee is Starbucks mocha, sometimes, just a plain mug of dark brew. However, the caffeine in that coffee is an addictive substance, and if you decide to stop drinking it, you may experience withdrawal.
Caffiene Withdrawal
Caffeine is actually a drug, although you may not often think of it that way. It's readily available, inexpensive, and many caffeine-containing substances --- like chocolate --- taste good. As an occasional treat, it might not be a problem, but when you take in caffeine on a daily basis, you become habituated to its effects. Roland Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, has studied the effects of caffeine and caffeine withdrawal. Griffiths says 80 to 90 percent of Americans ingest caffeine in some form every day, but if you have to miss that "dose" of caffeine, you are likely to go into withdrawal. Symptoms of caffeine withdrawal include fatigue, feeling as if you're coming down with the flu, and headaches.
About the Headaches
Griffiths and a colleague, Laura Juliano, Ph. D., of American University, published an article about caffeine withdrawal in the October 2004 issue of the journal "Psychopharmacology." They found that more than half the people in caffeine withdrawal complained of headache; 13 percent of those had such severe pain they were unable to work. In most cases, the symptoms of withdrawal would begin within 12 to 24 hours of the last caffeine dose. A higher daily caffeine dosage meant more severe symptoms, and symptoms could last as long as nine days.
What Causes the Headache?
In an article in the May 1997 issue of "Cephalgia," E.G. Couturier, D.M. Laman, M.A. van Duijn and H. van Duijn reported their research on caffeine withdrawal and headaches. The team studied volunteers who regularly ingested caffeine and were deliberately put into withdrawal. They found that blood flow in several of the arteries in the head was markedly increased at 24 hours after withdrawal began, and that this was the most likely cause of the headaches. They also reported that when given a dose of caffeine, study participants reported the headaches had been relieved.
Geting Off Caffeine
Griffiths recommends that if you choose to go caffeine free, it would be wise to gradually substitute a decaffeinated version of your favorite drink or food over a period of time. This should eliminate withdrawal. And don't assume, he warns, that using small amounts means you will not have symptoms of withdrawal. A habit of even one cup of coffee a day has been known to cause withdrawal when stopped suddenly. If you have chronic or severe headaches, irrespective of whether you ingest caffeine, it would be wise to consult a health-care professional.
References
- Johns Hopkins Medicine News and information Services; Caffeine Withdrawal Recognized as A Disorder; Trent Stockton; September 2004
- "Cephalgia"; Influence of Caffeine and Caffeine Withdrawal on Headache and Cerebral Blood Flow Velocities; E.G. Couturier, D.M. Laman, M.A. van Duijn, H. van Duijn; May 1997
- Drugs.com; Caffeine in the Diet; David C. Dugdale, III, M.D., David Zieve, M.D., M.H.A.; May 2009
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