DALLAS (KRLD) - A new study published in the American Journal of Medicine claims three or more servings of caffeinated beverages may trigger a migraine headache within 24 hours.
Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard and Brigham and Women's Hospital studied 98 adults who suffer migraines frequently. The subjects logged their caffeine intake, along with the frequency at which they suffered migraines during the study.
KRLD News spoke with Dr. Gregg Shalan, a neurologist at Methodist Dallas Medical Center. He pointed out the new study is rather small in nature, leading doctors to be cautious as they look at the results.
Dr. Shalan said, "Caffeine has different effects on different people. Some people say 'Oh, my migraines are better with caffeine, I get headaches if I stop it.' Other people say the caffeine makes them worse, and I've seen some patients who say caffeine really doesn't have any effect on their headaches at all."
For migraine patients who consume caffeine, Dr. Shalan said, "A lot of neurologists will say stop taking it, let's eliminate that as a variable and see how you do with not only your headache frequency and severity, but also with your response to therapy. In some ways, (the study) sort of confirms what a lot of neurologists already knew."
For his patients with migraines, Dr. Shalan said he first advises them to stop caffeine altogether. "If there's a positive change with that, then we know that's something that person should avoid. And if it doesn't matter, then it doesn't matter. Everybody is different," he said.
Dr. Shalan added there are more "exciting" drugs coming out to combat migraines. "They are completely different in what they do than medications from decades ago. And so, I think it leads us all to believe that the migraine is very, very complex, which is one reason why some people have problems with caffeine and others don't," he said.