CHsince99 Posted December 26, 2024 Share Posted December 26, 2024 I'm currently in a cluster. Drowning myself in coffee just helped me go 6 days in a row without a CH. Caffeine constricts blood vessels by blocking adenosine. Adenosine is a neurotransmitter that dilates blood vessels. The below study seemed to show a connection between CHs and adenosine. Things that make you go "hmm" . . . https://journals.lww.com/pain/abstract/2024/06000/induction_of_cluster_headache_after_opening_of.11.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JesseRae Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 My question for more experienced cluster heads, if you’ve relied heavily on caffeine, do you build up a tolerance? Does it become less effective and require more to abort? I love coffee anyway, but I haven’t been drinking as much because I want to make sure it’s effective when I need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHfather Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 I was surprised to see that CHsince99 seems to be getting good results, even preventive effects, from "drowning myself in coffee, " because in the experiences that I know of, the approach that you describe -- limiting coffee only (or as much as possible) to times when it is needed as an abortive -- seems to have made the caffeine more effective for achieving or helping the abort. Very frequently there is new stuff posted here about so many things related to CH, contradicting or challenging what I thought I knew, and there are so darn many possible variables that I don't see a good way to sort them out, except by the kind of question you ask and seeing what the most common experience is. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHsince99 Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 I gradually reduce my caffeine intake to a couple cups of coffee per day when I'm not in a CH period. I ramp up the caffeine during a cluster period. (The one time in recent decades that I went completely off caffeine, I suspect that I started a cluster period.) During a cluster period, if I go too many hours without caffeine, the shadow comes back and reminds me to take more. As an update, I only had to use oxygen once over the last two weeks. Approx 500-600 mg of caffeine/day seems to be working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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