Eli5: Why is caffeine often recommended for headache relief?
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When I had a spinal tap-induced headache, I had to resort to an IV infusion of straight up caffeine to get rid of it. I’ve always wondered how that worked.
Not only did it resolve the worst headache of my life, I think I briefly saw God.
As someone who identified caffeine as a source of cluster migraines waaaaay too late this made me sad.
As many have pointed out one of the main causes for headaches is the blood vessels around your heat. They can either be too much widened or too much narrowed. Caffeine counteracts them being widened, alcohol counteracts them being narrowed.
Some pain reliever work better in combination with caffeine too and often there are variants that have a dose of caffeine to make use of that effect.
Still, recommendimg either is trial and error, so you might end up with even more severe headaches. Best is to drink two big glasses of cold water and wait some time if the headaches go away. Hot or cold packs induce similar effects on the blood vessels and can help reduce the pain before administering any form of drug.
In addition to what other people say it’s probably useful to get rid of a caffeine withdrawal headache
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