Sodium and headaches

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thewindandthework
thewindandthework Posts: 531 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I usually eat rather low-sodium, but yesterday I had much more sodium than usual. And today my head aches like crazy! I don't usually get headaches, so I'm trying to figure out what might be causing this.

I have definitely read that a high-sodium diet can be a factor in recurring headaches, but could a single high-sodium day cause headaches?

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  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    Yeap, it's happened to me before. I had a day where I accidentally hit 9g when running keto (damned olives), and I thought that my head was going to explode. Expect a surge in water weight over the next few days too.
  • hannahvean
    hannahvean Posts: 8 Member
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    Whenever I eat out at a restaurant, I find myself with a headache in the morning; I think it's due to excessive sodium. I also find it very hard to wake up in the morning after eating out the night before.
  • coueswhitetail
    coueswhitetail Posts: 309 Member
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    It happens to me too....usually it seems to be when i get dehydrated from exercise and then had a high salt meal at a restaurant....sometimes I wonder if it's caused by MSG, but I think it is generally just sodium. In order to keep the headache at bay, I drink a lot of water with electrolytes....and try to avoid multiple salty meals back to back. I have gotten horrible migraines the morning after a salting meal, especially if I had been exercising in the heat the day or two before.
  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
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    It's very possible.
    Some studies think that what used to be blamed on MSG after a Chinese restaurant meal is actually from the high sodium. MSG has a lot of sodium in it.
  • ItsBetterThisWay
    ItsBetterThisWay Posts: 42 Member
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    Believe or not but for some folks, not eating wheat for a day can cause headaches.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    cmtigger wrote: »
    It's very possible.
    Some studies think that what used to be blamed on MSG after a Chinese restaurant meal is actually from the high sodium. MSG has a lot of sodium in it.

    About 1/3 the sodium of table salt, apparently. But there tends to be a lot more salt added to the dish on top of the MSG
  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
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    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    cmtigger wrote: »
    It's very possible.
    Some studies think that what used to be blamed on MSG after a Chinese restaurant meal is actually from the high sodium. MSG has a lot of sodium in it.

    About 1/3 the sodium of table salt, apparently. But there tends to be a lot more salt added to the dish on top of the MSG

    The label says 60 mg per 1/8 tsp. So it's 360 mg per teaspoon. Still not low, and add salt or soy sauce on top of that....

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