new thread
I heard of these such headaches, and I barely or never get them. My mom and sis on the other hand do. They say that it is because the hair pulls down, but I really think it is more about mis-treating the hair. Who has these headaches on this board? I want to get some insight.
Last semester I was in our college's theatre production, and the director was good about letting me keep long hair, but she required me to have it straightened with a "chi" iron (Aggh!). For 3 days I had to keep it straightened, and to prevent it from curling up in my sleep I slept with it in a tight ponytail that was multi banded (to keep the ponytail straight). I woke up with the frigginest worst headache I've ever had in my life, and had it nearly all day. I slept with my hair loose the other nights.
I can say that I take excellent care of my hair, and that if I have it pulled back for a number of hours (piano performances, music lessons, doing strenuous physical labor) then I can and sometimes will get headaches on the very top of my head. The only way to alleviate the pain is to take it out of a ponytail. Getting a French braid works well enough to keep it back and reduce headache risk.
I agree. If I have my hair in a tight ponytail, up high, I get a headache after 4 or 5 hours. It goes away within an hour or two if I take the tail out. French braiding keeps the hair away from the face with no headache because it does not pull on the scalp as much.
Sometimes late in the day I will get a headache. I've noticed that taking it out of the ponytail doesn't help. I think it may be eyestrain and/or stress and have nothing to do with the hair. Does a true "hair headache" go away when the tail is loosened?
I think uneven caffeine dosing may have something to do with my headaches too, but I can't stop drinking the stuff.
Which is why I don't understand why the DEA doesn't classify Caffeine as a schedule I substance. The requisites are that it has no medical use, and is susceptible to abuse/addiction. HELLO! Caffeine, refined sugar, lotsa things, so why do they target marijuana? ok, my OT rant is over now. . . . .
I think you're begin facetious about regulating caffeine, right? In your previous posts you come off as Libertarian w/respect to the drug issue.
The reason I can't stop drinking it is because it seems to aleviate a mild tic problem I have. Yep, that's right. Plain old caffeine is good for tics. YMMV.
It beats the s*** out of Haloperidol (aka Haldol) which they gave me when I was a kid because they thought I had Tourette's syndrome. I may indeed have a mild case of that (I grunt and breathe funny when I tic, but I never swear). I find that plain old caffeine in the form of tea goes a long way towards aleviating the problem.
It could be purely psychological since the mere act of drinking hot tea may relax and focus me enough to stop the tics. My other theory is that because it's a vasoconstrictor, it may be reducing blood flow to the part of the brain that causes tics.
At any rate, this experience certainly has swayed me to the side of those favor medicinal marijuana. I'm lucky to have a problem that can be solved with something that's legal--and no, I don't want a patented caffeine pill that costs $20 a week, thank-you very much. :)
Caffeine is a methylxanthine and is just as much a drug as theophylline (used to treat COPD and a couple other things). The only reason that one is prescription and the other not is politics.
Basically, it comes down to this. If caffeine is helping your tics, then continue it. End of story. HOWEVER, there are strategies that will minimize side effects that you might consider and I think that's what the Ball Guy was referring to.
With consistent use of caffeine, we build up a tolerance. In other words, the body expects it and throws a minor (or major) "fit" when it doesn't get it on time (just like a hungary toddler :). So, just stick to about the same number of cups of tea per day, plus or minus a couple. Also, drink a cup in the AM because you haven't had a "dose" in many hours and you will surely get a HA by about noon or so if you don't. Finally, drink plenty of water because caffeine is also a diuretic (water pill) and headaches are usually one of the first signs of minor dehydration (no kidding).
Hope this helps. I've tried not to be too long-winded.
ToddB
Wow! That's interesting information. I had noticed that I was getting headaches when hiking, so I drink more caffeine than usual when I do that. I figured the caffeine was being sweated out, but maybe I was really getting dehydrated, even though I drank plenty of water. Of course I always take plenty of water in addition to caffeinated beverages now. On Saturday I did 10 miles w/approx 2000 ft. elevation change, no headache, and a liter to spare when I got back to the car.
One of my closest friends has fairly severe Tourette Syndrome (TS) as well as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder(OCD). I've learned a tremendous amount about TS from him. In order for it to be classified as TS, there should be some form of "verbalization" which accompany the motor tics. It does not have to be words, but can be grunts, sniffing or throat clearing. Coprolalia (cursing) accompanies only about 15% of the cases of TS (but the movie industry would have you believe that it is part of all cases). My friend has a whole repetoire of words and phrases for verbal tics. In addition, because his form of OCD demands things be done in multiples, he sometimes gets "stuck" ticcing a word until the OCD is satisfied.
Yes I am pretty close to Libertarian, I was just pointing out how stupid the DEA is. If they actually followed their own guidlines, a great deal of ordinary every day things would be Scheduled such as refined sugar, caffeine etc. . .It's an unneccesary organization for the most part.
