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Comment by derefr | Hacker News Reader

> 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.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_caffeine#With...

If I remember correctly, caffeine's purpose in migraine medication is to accelerate the delivery of the payload.

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.

If true, I would find that rather disturbing.

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.

This may be a useful side-effect, but the original reason is the one given by your parent.

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.

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