Can someone tell me physiologically why caffeine and alcohol are bad for us MMers?  Well, anyone could say that caffeine and alcohol are bad..which is very true.  They're both like drugs and can do bad things to the system.  ...but why specifically for MM people?  I am lately drinking coffee or espresso drinks more in the past four days than I ever have in my whole life. Now I feel dependent on it.  My body feels really gittery and tired, but maybe that's just me. Is it because of our medications?  Or blood flow issues?  
I don't drink alcohol, but if I decide to it would only be a third of a glass of wine b/c I don't want anything too bad.

I'm just curious, so if anyone has any good explanations that would be nice.  I need something to help keep me alert. I won't drink energy drinks because they are much worse than coffee, I think.  

Thanks for the help.  

Caffeine constricts the blood vessels.  I used to drink lattes every day almost.  I still drink coffee everyday, but I've cut back on my caffeine intake.  As for alchohol, it makes you dehydrated.  Drink water along with alcoholic beverages.  I think moderation is key.  As long as you don't have any adverse effects, go for it with respect to caffeine and alcohol.  Just my opinion...

-Shari

Just to add to what shari said, caffine is also a known trigger for Migranes, .................Moderation is indeed key

Mike

thanks that all makes complete sense now.  I think I already knew all of that. I don't drink alcohol, so I guess that is good. I'll cut the coffee down. I have deathly migraines everyday before I started the coffee binge this week.  It's tough trying to get your way through school when there isn't much time sleep.  

I think they are both diuretics and therefore bad for us in light of the fact that we are suppose to stay SUPER-hydrated!
Steph

    Hi Bugz,  There's more than one reason that these drugs don't go well with moyamoya.
    First of all, most of us are on medications of different types and strengths and alcohol and caffeine never mix well with meds.
    Both drugs affect blood pressure which is crucial to our well being.  Like shari said alcohol constricts our blood vessels while caffeine dialates our blood vessels.  People with moyamoya don't need any more messing around with our blood vessels.
    One final reason is that those of us that have had sizeable strokes, may have problems with muscle spasticity which is very much aggravated by caffeine.
    My doctors have given the OK on light consumption of either but personally the caffeine really bothers me so I avoid it as much as possible.

    Stay well Bugz,   Tom G.

Hi

I was a coffee freak prior to diagnosis and surgeries - I now don't touch it. I also avoid alcohol (and I am now everyones favourite designated driver).

Have you tried decaffinated coffee ?
(I can't taste the difference).

I also now drink green tea with lemon - green tea is supposed to be good for the immune system (whatever helps!)

regards

Helene

Green tea is also supposed to help brain function - one problem though is that you have to consume mass quantities!

Green tea can also be damminging if you consume more then 10 cups a day. I can't find my sorce on this but it has something to do with how the leafs are mildly toxic. It is okay to drink green, white and black tea there are lots of medical benifits but in moderation. Like everything.
Becky

I don't consume that much tea in a day... so no worries, my dear. Thanks for the input.

Here's an article about Green Tea that was posted in Jibber Jabber last year. It may help clarify the views on it a bit.


Green Tea & the Brain
 
The Japanese have known for ages - green tea is great for your body, mind & soul  

If you haven't traded in your morning latte for a grande green tea, you're missing the boat to good health. It's no secret that green tea bolsters the body in many ways. But did you also know the same components of green tea also boost the brain?

Take polyphenols, for instance. These phytochemicals, which give green tea its bitter taste, are powerful antioxidants that have been associated with preventing cancer and heart attacks. Recent research has also shown they may help maintain positive mood states and protect against Parkinson's disease and other brain disorders.

A study from the University of San Francisco found that the EGCg polyphenols in green tea can boost availability of the important brain substance dopamine in the areas where it's needed. Dopamine is a signaling substance in brain circuits that are crucial to creating positive mood states. It is involved in transmitting signals of reward and motivation and in helping muscles move smoothly. Dopamine production goes awry in the brains of Parkinson's patients, leading to the muscle rigidity and tremors associated with the disorder.

Researchers in the study measured levels of dopamine in mice before treating some of them with polyphenols. They then injured the specific neurons linked to Parkinson's disease in all of the mice and measured dopamine levels again. The mice treated with polyphenols appeared to have been protected against toxic elements that may be linked to this disease.

Other studies in animals show that the polyphenols in green tea also help the brain and body maintain a steady supply of their chief fuel, glucose. Polyphenols influence glucose metabolism in part by helping the body regulate sensitivity to the hormone insulin. Compounds in green tea enhance insulin sensitivity, keeping the brain running smoothly on steady levels of glucose.

Tannins are another important set of compounds found in green tea. They too have also been shown to have brain boosting benefits: they may prevent brain damage that occurs after strokes and other brain injuries.

Tannins, like many other beneficial substances in plants, are natural compounds produced by tea leaves in the wild to keep animals from devouring the growing plants.  

It now turns out that one of the tannins found in tea leaves, gallotannin, helps the body's own DNA repair system and keeps it working in the brain despite damage that occurs during stroke. Under normal conditions, the DNA repair system in the brain goes into overdrive in the aftermath of stroke, and instead of helping to repair brain cells it causes them to die. But researchers at the University of California at San Francisco found that if they surround injured neurons with the gallotannin found in green tea, it is highly effective in preventing neuron death.

This doesn't necessarily mean that consuming large amounts of green tea would be sufficient to repair brain damage in stroke victims. The amount of gallotannins found in green tea is negligible compared to the large amount used in the study. But researchers hope to harness and synthesize the substance found in green tea and use it to help stroke victims. In the meantime, consuming green tea can help keep your body and brain working at its steady best.

Publication: Psychology Today Magazine Psyched for Success
(Document ID: 2815) by Anne Becker

TANABATA Nutritional Research Green Tea Therapy Specialists
The Kulhay Wellness Clinic & Educational Centre ¨C 72 St. Clair Avenue West Toronto ON M4V-1M7
tanabata.greentea@sympatico.ca TEL 1-519-846-9064 EXT 216
TANABATA Nutritional Research - Copyright 2005

Green tea has caffeine though, no?  I've always been told to drink green tea for health benefits, but I still get a headache after doing so because of the caffeine.  

Trina

  Tea usually has even more caffeine than coffee
BUT they do make decaf and it tastes the same.I assume it has the same good affects too.
Mary Grace

I never drink green tea. I need to go out and buy some

tiomasai wrote on Nov 29^th, 2006 at 11:00am:

Green tea has caffeine though, no?

Yep, Green tea has caffeine, but much less than regular tea, and even decaffeinated teas contain a small amount of caffeine, (except herbal tea) but you still get the healthy components with decaffeinated green tea, but like Shari said, you’d have to consume much more to get the same amount of the flavanols and antioxidants of the regular green tea, and as you know, with MM, drinking a lot of caffeine isn’t a good idea. It should always be in moderation.

Even though you see why green tea is respected with all its positive beneficial nutrients, if you get a headache with caffeine it’s understandable that you avoid it.

Mar

I have headaches all the time. I don't pay attention to having headaches after caffeine. I need to pay more attention.

Do people have problems with headaches after alcohol?

I'm kind of only sipping alcohol when I drink it...taking advantage of whatever drinks other people have. For one, I don't want to get drunk and I don't really even like the taste of hard alcohol....  Having friends that like to go out for coffee or hit the bars is difficult because it's so tempting to want to go and get something..  I'm pretty good about not getting anything or too much.

ladybugz
Yes I experence a mild headace after having 2 sipping drinks. I only alow myself 2-3 drinks. I get milder headaces with wine then others. I do like to have a harder drink but I found that the quality of the achohol plays a huge part in it. I have been out with freinds and got a vadka sour at a bar. I had a huge headack but when I make one at home I don't get much of a headack. I found out it was the vadka... Bars use a standard low grade because it is cheeper, I use at home Tangurey (sp?) Vadka which is higere in quality.
And I only drink achohol once a week at best and only on Good days.  Everything in moderation.
That is my two cents,
Becky

Thanks Becky... I had a bad day the other day and made it worse by going out.  I've been pushing myself too much. I didn't even have more than a shot, just sips of lots of different drinks, but I felt so bad the next morning.  Either it was the pushing myself to extreme, not sleeping, not eating, the 10 sips I had the other night or a combination. Probably a large combo...

hmmm yeah i've been recently dx, and i can remember when i could drink like crazy, but just this past thanksgiving, i got really really sick and was throwing up after just 3 beers.  so i guess alcohol does have an affect?? anyone else experienced such a thing either before or after surgery??

mucho alohaz
brandie

Before surgey I could only handel One drink. Post I am able to handel No More the Two. That is Only on a well rested day. If I feel sleepy in any way I stay away for achohol!  I also only drink one day friday or saturday not both. As far as the cafeene thing my body is fine with or with out it. I sugest paying atention to your body and not let Anyone Push you into doing more then you can handel. It is ultimetly your choice but don't ever forget you are diffrent then your friends you are "blessed" with MM and they are (maybe) Not.
Becky

I realize caffeine may just actually affect me....   when I'm really tired, it has the worst effect on me. My heart feels like it's beating out of my head. It hurts so bad...

...and still 8 months after surgery my head hurts so bad in reaction to anything. maybe i'm not caring properly for myself.  

You have to take care of yourself First. My friends and family had to get use to it. I get tirred quickly and loud "partys" (clubs, resturantes, bars) I can only handel for a litle bit. Be true to yourself even if it is you have to go there with a way out (car, someone who knows what happened).

For my self once I started doing that everyone started to understand.  My husband is in a Heavy Metal band. He would let me know when they were playing in the line up because some of the other bands playing that night would be realy bad and he knew I couldn't handel it ( found out by experement). Then me and a friend who doesn't like Heavy Metal would come at that later time or my husband if the club was close to home would pick me up.

Don't push yourself to hard!
Becky

green tea has caffeine?  darn, I just now thought of this after lying in bed for an hour trying to fall asleep.. I was proud of myself for buying it for the first time.. I bought 2 boxes... ripped em open, had some... and now hours later suffering a terrible headache and weird heart-rate.  Could it be the tea? I'm also stressed over other things, maybe... but I don't know what's up.  At the scar, it feels like it's splitting open.  I hope I didn't waste all that money. I'm going to drink it anyway for the next week to get nutrients... then we'll see if I drop it and how it affects me.  I have to get up early and Ican't sleep, so this is frustrating.