Caffeine and pain

[Think Positive]

Curious..... has anyone ever tried getting off of caffeine to see if it helps their pain?

[Todd]

caffeine actually has pain relieving attributes. I am in more pain trying to get off of caffeine. It's easier to just have my one cup a day.

[abprops]

Hi

Having drunk instant coffee for years I bought a Gaggia Coffee machine after a month in France back in the 90's. I tried grinding and mixing my own coffee and after becoming involved in maintaining a commercial gas fired coffee grinder and roaster toyed with the idea of roasting my own. But I saw sense and stuck with ground coffee or perhaps I was just too lazy.

My wife family and friends had taken up the anti caffeine theme and when the seals on my machine went I returned to instant coffee. Or as my three year old grandson asks "do you want rubbish coffee grandad."

I enjoyed drinking good coffee when I had the machine working but cannot say I ever noticed the supposed benefits of drinking coffee. I found the same with smoking, I smoked when others did but not on my own and so gave it up easily some 40 years ago. The final decision was when my now wife brought me menthol cigs when I had a severe flue which turned into pleurisy and I though why do I smoke when it is of no interest to me. Perhaps I am just not subject to addiction but then I thing I have withdrawal symptoms if I miss a tramadol dose.

I have tried tea and drink Twinnings Lemon & Ginger to which I add honey (left over from when I kept bees). But I always return to rubbish coffee so perhaps I am addicted. But again I don't find any benefits other than I enjoy the taste.

What I do find is that rubbish coffee does not always taste good since my tumour problem hence the lemon & ginger with honey. But after a few days without rubbish coffee tastes good again. I think my taste buds are affected but perhaps its all in the mind. The affect is I often do not drink a full cup of coffee mainly because I loose interest and it goes cold. The same happens with lemon and ginger but not to the same effect.

Your question has stimulated my interest so perhaps I will buy a new set of seals for the espresso machine. It will be interesting to see what difference real coffee makes.

I have also read that coffee affects Gastritis but again I have not detected any difference between drinking or not drinking rubbish coffee on my Gastritis.

Do you find that coffee affects your pain.


Morris

[ErikaNikole]

while in the hospital i had a headache and they gave a coke. they said they if you have a spinal headache that the caffine will actually help.... and it did. when i have the occasional headache, i drink a half a coke before i grab the tylonol. btw i never had headaches before my sct.

[Todd]

ok, morris. now you have my attention. I loved the good coffee prior to surgery. after surgery, I could no longer drink good coffee, it tasted so bad. the only coffee I could drink was instant coffee with coconut creamer. been drinking a cup of that a day for a year. I recently found starbucks instant coffee, heavenly. Just this week, I am back to brewing the good stuff. My taste buds are back to normal, although, I still can't stand broccolli but then, I hated that before surgery as well, so.

todd

[abprops]

Hi All

Yes Todd I enjoy thinking of real coffee but will I ever get around to ordering the seals.

I have read several articles blaming coffee for all sorts of problems but I am not convinced. I have however tried drinking more water and that definitely helps but then perhaps its just drinking less coffee. But seriously I do think dehydration can be a problem so drinking hot water and honey seems to help me.

Erika was or it real coke or diet coke or do they both have the same effect?

Its interesting that Todd has finds similar to me that our taste is affected though with me its only instant coffee I have noticed this with strange. Perhaps its related to dehydration as I believe coffee can lead to dehydration.

Try honey but not supermarket honey which is often heat treated. Try honey from a local beekeeper as the honey should be of better quality and retain all the beneficial constituents.

Morris

[ErikaNikole]

i drank regular coke, but that's what i prefer. i am not sure but i think they said it was the caffeine. so theoretically i suppose coffee or diet may work too, anything with caffeine. i will try to look it up. btw i too never miss my daily cup of joe

[8338]

Too much caffeine does make my buzzing worst and the pain but I can't totally give it up.
I just limit it to 2-3 cups a day. Also, 1 pc. of chocolate :-)

[abprops]

Hi

This may be common knowledge for most of you but came as a surprise to me. I picked up a leaflet by The British Pain Society while waiting for my prescription in the chemists. That leaflet describes the different pain killers, how they work and some information on what they contain. The surprise to me was that caffeine is a part of many pain killers as it helps with pain relief. The suggestion however is that caffeine which is contained in coffee and tea being a stimulant which increases blood pressure and speeds up the heart. The amount of caffeine in a small cup of tea is said to be 50 mg and in coffee 75 mg. These figures are said to be similar to the amounts in some painkillers. The result can be increased risk of nervousness and dizziness. Simple when you know but there has been no mention of this over the last 2 years I have been on painkillers. Interestingly I was taken off diclofenac following three emergency admissions as a suspect heart attack but when I asked why I was told it was an inappropriate drug. Yet when I was put on diclofenac in 2008 it was described as the drug of choice for sciatica but even after the tumour damaging my spinal cord was confirmed to be a schwannoma in Feb 2009 doctors still insist on referring to my Sciatica. I had also been asking my GP to investigate my wildly fluctuating BP and heart rate with little success as usual.

So it would be worth checking on the ingredients contained in your medication and if caffeine is involved it could be you should consider avoiding tea or coffee.

Morris

[Todd]

Morris, you ever try beta-blockers to regulate your heart rate? it does wonders from mine. I used to run 80 beats per minute while resting now it's 60 on the beta-blockers. I am also calmer but in a more radical way. ;-)