Weight Lifting and Increased ICP *obese women need to read*

A loooooong time ago I posted a question about my experiences with weight lifting. When I lifted, sometimes I would black out and lose vision. This continued to happen even as I focused on eating enough calories to fuel my workout, breathing properly, and not locking my knees. Everyone was helpful, and some even said they experienced the same thing. Despite the advice, I still couldn't get this issue under control.

Now, fast forward a bit and I have since learned that due to being obese, I have Ideopathic Intracranial Hypertension. Which means I have increased intracranial pressure (not high blood pressure). Weight lifting/straining increases ICP even further....which for healthy people does not cause harm....but for people like me it does. I have lost vision in half of my field of vision in my right eye.

Basically, I wanted to post this, so people are aware of this possibility. Maybe, if you are having these symptoms, you might want to consider looking into it and not shrugging it off. My eye doctor is the one that figured it out, and now I see a neurologist. I think that this is something that obese women need to be aware of, since it tends to affect us the most. That being said, once I drop a little more weight, I fully intend on weight lifting again. I just have to get the pressure down.

I hope no one else has these issues.....and happy lifting!

Replies