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Excedrin Tension

gf4life

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gf4life Enthusiast
gf4life
Posted

I have been having headaches again, mostly caused from the heat (over 100 everyday) and light, which have always been triggers for my migraines. Caffeine seems to help with the headaches, but I'm not a big soda drinker and coffee has not been my first choice since being dairy free limits what type of creamer I can use. Before being gluten-free I used to take between 1/4 and 1 whole Excedrin Tension (acetominophen and caffeine) each morning and it would help me to keep the migraines from starting. This is my first summer being gluten-free and the headaches are back again. I started using the Excedrin again about two weeks ago and I have had horribly painful gas, bloating and stomach cramps. I wonder also if that was the cause of my "stomach flu" a few weeks back?

I am fairly certain that I have not been getting gluten or dairy, since I haven't eaten anything I have not prepared myself and have not introduced any new foods into our diet recently. But still the pain is back and it feels like gluten induced pain, but no other symptoms except gastro ones and I have not been sleeping well. I think it might have been the headache meds, so I tossed the last three pills out last night and had some Folgers instant coffee this morning. I hope my info about the coffee is correct and that it IS gluten-free! So far the pain is less today, some residual cramping, but not as painful or bloated as the last few days. So I was at the store today and read the ingredients again and there doesn't appear to be anything "bad" in them, but I am not really sure. Excedrin is on one of my gluten-free medications list, but not the Excedrin Tension. Not sure if it is just too new a product to be on the list or if it is not gluten-free. I don't have the contact info for the company, but I may try to find it online.

Any one have the info or know if it is gluten-free or not? I've stopped taking it anyhow. I'll just have to go back to a cup of coffee in the mornings...

God bless,

Mariann

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judy04 Rookie
judy04
Posted

Dear Marian,

I'm sorry to hear about you not feeling well. You have been such

a "rock" for me and others and I wish I could do something to

help you. I went to excedrin.com and sent them a message

asking about Gluten in their products. I will let you know when

I hear something. They have a lot of tips about headaches, I did

a search on Google. One thing that may trigger a migraine is

caffeine (I never knew that and I've had them sinceI was 13).

It said one of those pills is equal to the caffeine in one cup of

coffee. Maybe your getting too much caffeine, you did say you are

having trouble sleeping. Maybe trying herbal tea, like peppermint

for a few days would calm everything down. I haven't had a migraine

since going gluten-free(knock on wood). Hope tomorrow will be a better day

God Bless You!! :)

gf4life Enthusiast
gf4life
Posted
  • Author

Hi Judy,

Thanks for caring. :) I would be interested to hear what they say about their products. I think I will check out the site and send an e-mail request also. They might respond qucker if more than one person asks a similar question.

I have known about the caffeine trigger for migraines for a long time, so I tended to avoid caffeine. I've suffered from migraine type headaches since I was a child. I was a bit of a social coffee drinker as a teenager, and never really noticed if it helped or made the headaches worse at the time, but looking back I had fewer headaches during that time.

It was about 6 years ago and my husband was working nights. He was never a coffee drinker himself, and the 4 cup coffee pot only got used when we had company. But when he started working nights he wanted coffee to keep him awake and so I would make a full pot and since he liked a lot of creamer there was always one cup left over. I started drinking the one left over cup sometimes and it took a while to realise that on the days I had one cup of coffee, I did NOT have a headache.

So I started having one cup a day and stayed mostly headache free for quite some time. It eventually got to the point that if I did not have a cup I would get a withdrawl headache. This feels much different than a migraine-type headache. I didn't like being dependant on the coffee, so I started taking the Tension headache pills, and started with a full dose, eventually weaning myself down to 1/4 of a pill, only taking more when I felt a headache coming on. I was able to get completely off the caffeine until the summer hit and the heat started. Two weeks of temps over 105 and my head was killing me. It felt like it was going to explode, I was sick to my stomach and couldn't stand any noise or lights and I turned back to the caffeine. I mean I've got to function. No one else is going to take care of my three kids! But then the stomach pain came back...

For some reason caffeine tends to help my headaches, instead of trigger them.

Now the sleep thing. It is the stomach pain keeping me awake. I can't get comfortable. I roll around, but my intestines are so sore and tender... then my husband starts snoring and I just can't sleep. I haven't had this much insomnia in a long time. I end up having to take Benadryl just to feel sleepy. I just want the pain to go away. I LIKE being pain free! I never knew what it felt like before being gluten-free, now I can't stand the pain. I used to think I had a pretty high pain tolerance. And I guess I did, since I was always in pain and most people never knew it. Now I can't stand even the tiniest little stomachache...

God bless,

Mariann

  • 4 weeks later...
gf4life Enthusiast
gf4life
Posted
  • Author

Judy, did you ever get a reply from the company about Excedrin Tension?

I e-mailed them and they never responded. I stopped using it and went back to a cup of coffee in the morning, but the coffee seems to be adding to my vertigo/dizziness and so I am about to go without anything. :( I don't know what to do and I just hope that my headaches don't return with a vengeance.

If anyone else knows if Excedrin Tension is gluten-free (and dairy free), please let me know. I know that Excedrin is supposed to be gluten-free, but maybe it has dairy enough to cause me problems...Excedrin Tension is relatively new on the market and doesn't appear on any lists, so I don't know if it is safe.

I'm going to send another e-mail to the company. If they don't get back to me soon, I'm going to call and make a complaint to the company. :angry:

God bless,

Mariann

judy04 Rookie
judy04
Posted

Mariann,

I never got an answer either. Hope you soon find some answers,

I still get small headaches, probably sinus, but no migraines,

THankful...

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