headaches and exercise, help?
danafoxx
Posts: 24
i have been trying to exercise consistently about 3 days a week, elliptical and strength (i am a cashier/shift supervisor and i don't do cardio on days i work 4-6 hours due to a lot of walking and heavy lifting at work) and keeping to a healthy diet.
however for the past few weeks i've had a constant, terrible headache that comes and goes but is always somehow there. i have been to doctors, had my vision checked, and am going to see a neurologist soon because no one can figure it out or make it stop. this makes it nearly impossible to work out. i usually have to stop doing cardio after about 10 minutes because the pain in my head is so bad.
my question is, will i completely sabotage my weight loss if i have to stop exercising for a little while (not counting work, i have to go there) and just stick to my 1,200 diet?
help/encouragement needed, thanks
however for the past few weeks i've had a constant, terrible headache that comes and goes but is always somehow there. i have been to doctors, had my vision checked, and am going to see a neurologist soon because no one can figure it out or make it stop. this makes it nearly impossible to work out. i usually have to stop doing cardio after about 10 minutes because the pain in my head is so bad.
my question is, will i completely sabotage my weight loss if i have to stop exercising for a little while (not counting work, i have to go there) and just stick to my 1,200 diet?
help/encouragement needed, thanks
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Replies
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Outside of a medical problem, my best guess is one of two things:
How much water are you drinking? Headaches are usually due to dehydration. Increase your water consumption.
1200 calories may not be enough for you. Maybe try upping your calories. Also try eating a pre-workout snack with a good mix of complex crabs and protein.
Good luck!0 -
i try to drink 10+ cups of water a day but i definitely will try to add more!
thank you, i think i'll try to increase my calories, it could be possible i'm not getting enough.0 -
No, you will not sabotage your weight loss as long as you burn more calories than you consume, with or without exercise. The important thing is to find the source of the headaches and either eliminate or treat the problem. I would suggest looking into your food diary for anything that you may be eating more frequently than you were before the headaches started; it could be a food allergy. I get persistent headaches if I eat foods with too many nitrates (cured meats, processed foods). I also agree with drinking more water. And definitely see the neurologist. Good luck! :flowerforyou:0
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Your blood sugar may be dropping during exercising. Are you eating enough carbs daily? Eat some slow digesting carbs before exercising and see what happens. And yes you can also increase your overall calories a bit more.0
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How much weight do you have to lose? Do you have you account set at lightly active due to your job? And do you eat back your exercise calories?0
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Outside of a medical problem, my best guess is one of two things:
How much water are you drinking? Headaches are usually due to dehydration. Increase your water consumption.
1200 calories may not be enough for you. Maybe try upping your calories. Also try eating a pre-workout snack with a good mix of complex crabs and protein.
Good luck!
ISorry i don't mean to giggle... I am overtired right now.. But "complex CRABS" hehehehehehe0 -
I get headaches everytime I do cardio especially jogging for 30min -1hr duration. My body became heaty and then a throbbing headache follows after. I used to just take painkillers. But now I take 100 plus right after the cardio which helps alot.0
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If your headache isn't too bad, you could also just do some light exercise, like walking or slow swimming.0
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Outside of a medical problem, my best guess is one of two things:
How much water are you drinking? Headaches are usually due to dehydration. Increase your water consumption.
1200 calories may not be enough for you. Maybe try upping your calories. Also try eating a pre-workout snack with a good mix of complex crabs and protein.
Good luck!
ISorry i don't mean to giggle... I am overtired right now.. But "complex CRABS" hehehehehehe
Ok, that is pretty freakin hilarious!! Sorry OP, don't go getting a complex case of crabs because of me haha!!!0 -
First off, I hope your trip to the neurologist goes well.
Like trans said, you may be dehydrated or even not eating enough calories. But I'd ask this; has your ability to focus on distant objects got worse recently? Your eyes could be tired from long periods of focusing on mainly up close objects - like a cash register!
Who knows, maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, but I know from my own work that my vision was being affected by staring at a screen two feet away for hours at a time, with nothing more than a few fleeting moments looking at something in the distance. That was causing me to get headaches when using my eliptical. You could try giving your eyes a rest every now and then by staring at something static at least 20 feet away for a bit until it comes into focus, this might give your eyes a rest and after a couple of days of this it could help.
Unless I'm completely wrong and your vision is perfectly fine. In that case I'm afraid that you just wasted a minute reading this. And I'm not returning the minute, no refunds.0 -
Keep on the doctors until they find an answer. My guys mother used to get nasty headaches when she over did the activity. Turns out she had a brain aneurysm and was lucky it didn't burst. Another friends brother was found unconsious on the floor due to a burst aneurysm. He had been laying there about 14 hours. They got him to the hospital and did surgery, hoping for the best but fearing the worst. The next day he woke up and other than some short term memory loss made a good recovery.0
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Do your headaches come on suddenly during exercise?
If so, you may have exercise-induced migraines. This problem often resolves by itself after hanging on for a while. You can do some things to mitigate it, like taking ibuprofen or aspirin a half hour before exercise. Some people are helped by neosynephrine nose spray before exercise.
Also....if you have been exposed to the outdoors, consider requesting an evaluation for Lyme Disease; it's quite common all across America now and you may not even know if you've been bitten by a tick.
Ask the neurologist to test you for Lyme and coinfections when s/he does her testing.
Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.
Susie0 -
Definitely sounds like more calories are needed as you may only be netting 550-600 calories per day with excise and that definitely equals headache city0
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I don't know if you've made any major changes recently, but for me I was getting terrible headaches when I first started getting healthy again - turned out they were from caffeine withdrawals because I went cold turkey on it. Definitely get checked out though in case it's something more serious. Good luck!
You will definitely still lose weight if you don't exercise as long as you're making healthy eating choices.0 -
oh wow thank you everyone for your help.
i've upped my calories today, ate more complex carbs (no complex CRABS hahah!) and my headache has not been as violent as usual.
someone also said that i may be netting very few calories with my 1200 range and my job (i also walk for a good hour a day just to get places) and that may be the cause of some of my pain, i can't believe that slipped my mind! and i'm for sure going to keep this all in mind, even after i go to the doctors.
you all are lovely!0 -
Keep on the doctors until they find an answer. My guys mother used to get nasty headaches when she over did the activity. Turns out she had a brain aneurysm and was lucky it didn't burst. Another friends brother was found unconsious on the floor due to a burst aneurysm. He had been laying there about 14 hours. They got him to the hospital and did surgery, hoping for the best but fearing the worst. The next day he woke up and other than some short term memory loss made a good recovery.
YIKES i'm gonna hope my headache is poor nutrition/vision problems now~0 -
I'll add one more possibility to the list. Found out I was clenching my teeth,or grinding them...one of the times was when I'd exercise...which caused headaches due to a misalignment, so if your'e going to see your dentist any time soon have him check your bite CAREFULLY. Took me way too long to trace this one down, way too many different docs. Just so thankful it's over.
Best of luck tracking this one down....will send a few positive thoughts and prayers winging for you.0 -
Outside of a medical problem, my best guess is one of two things:
How much water are you drinking? Headaches are usually due to dehydration. Increase your water consumption.
1200 calories may not be enough for you. Maybe try upping your calories. Also try eating a pre-workout snack with a good mix of complex crabs and protein.
Good luck!
ISorry i don't mean to giggle... I am overtired right now.. But "complex CRABS" hehehehehehe
:laugh: thats an awesome typo!0 -
I have suffered from migraines since I was 15 and let me tell drinking water has nothing to do with headaches. Any neurologist will tell you that. It could be a food allergy. You should keep a food journal to see what foods are triggering your headaches. There are all types of headaches likes: stress, cluster, rebound and sinus headaches and migraines. There are some foods you should stay away from, cheese, chocolate, Chinese food, diary products and anything with MSG. If you drink too much coffee it could bring on a headache. If you are taking too much over the counter meds for headaches you can be getting rebound headaches too. There are a lot of medications out there that do not cause this like maxalt, relpax, axert and imatrrex. Make sure you tell your neurologist where you are getting the headaches, if you throw up, if you see tunnel vision, if you are sensitive to light and sound. He might order a MRI. Sometimes biofeeback and meditation works and you will not need medication at all. Good luck and I know how you feel. If you ever have any questions please feel free to ask. I have suffered a long time with migraines and know what it is like to have terrible headaches where you cannot function. Also stay away from alcohol, especially wine. It is the worse thing for headaches. Again, I wish you the best.0
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I have suffered from migraines since I was 15 and let me tell drinking water has nothing to do with headaches. Any neurologist will tell you that. It could be a food allergy. You should keep a food journal to see what foods are triggering your headaches. There are all types of headaches likes: stress, cluster, rebound and sinus headaches and migraines. There are some foods you should stay away from, cheese, chocolate, Chinese food, diary products and anything with MSG. If you drink too much coffee it could bring on a headache. If you are taking too much over the counter meds for headaches you can be getting rebound headaches too. There are a lot of medications out there that do not cause this like maxalt, relpax, axert and imatrrex. Make sure you tell your neurologist where you are getting the headaches, if you throw up, if you see tunnel vision, if you are sensitive to light and sound. He might order a MRI. Sometimes biofeeback and meditation works and you will not need medication at all. Good luck and I know how you feel. If you ever have any questions please feel free to ask. I have suffered a long time with migraines and know what it is like to have terrible headaches where you cannot function. Also stay away from alcohol, especially wine. It is the worse thing for headaches. Again, I wish you the best.
i forgot to mention in my first post that i have suffered from migraines in the past with the loss of vision/vomiting/in bed for days, blacking out my room type thing. i have also stopped taking all OTC ibuprofen, exedrin, aleve, etc because of the rebounds.i have notices that after eating certain things like you mentioned causes some headaches in me. thank you so much i'm glad someone understands!0 -
I recently got a streetstrider. Basicaly its an elliptical trainer on wheels. I have never used an elliptical trainer, usually I run. I started experiencing bad headaches shortly (within the first several minutes) after starting my excercise. I went to see my doctor and come to find out, I strained a muscle in my upper sholder lower neck area. The same muscle which tipically triggers migrains. I was told to start an excercise program with neck stretches and pre-treat with ibuprophin if needed before heading out on my strider. The doc said good posture is a must when using an elliptical to prevent straining these muscles. Dont hunch over, look straight ahead, occasionally move your head to work your neck muscles. So I have been laying low this week and plan on trying again this weekend. I will let you know if there is a difference.0
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1 - You are not going to sabotage your weight loss by not exercising (weight loss happens in the kitchen with what you eat)
2- You are probably going to be diagnosed with migraine
3 - You are dehydrated and exercise compounds the problem and triggers migraine
I'm not a doctor but I am a migraine sufferer and I have already been through what you are not going through....definitely go see the neurologist. I will tell you that no all migraines are the same and everyone reacts differently to different medications. Be very watchful of every med you start taking and have a friend, co-worker, spouse pay careful attention to your behavior (yes, your behavior) b/c the side effects can really be bad and most on most of the preventative meds....in addition most of the preventative meds you start ramping up to your dose slowly so you may not see a side effect for 5 weeks....don't forget in 5 weeks you are JUST STARTING a medication.0 -
i know this post in a lil old (been off for awhile and im catching up
) but i tend to get horrendous headaches if my neck is out of place, and even walking is like putting a chisle in my head, a trip to the chiropractor and im all set 0 -
i try to drink 10+ cups of water a day but i definitely will try to add more!
thank you, i think i'll try to increase my calories, it could be possible i'm not getting enough.
When I get headaches, no matter whether they are sports-induced or tiredness-induced, I add a hydralyte tablet or a Berocca to a big glass of water. They have lots of minerals which may help, anyway I think they do 0 -
form is very important in strength training-could be that you are placing more tension on your neck and shoulders when lifting-this used to happen to me. Be very mindful of your spinal alignment when lifting, and it should correct itself. Just another possibility....0
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What about caffeine? I used to drink coffee all day and when I would limit myself, I would get migraines, dr. prescribed caffeine pills because if the withdrawals from caffeine...I'm down to a cup in the morning and a cup after supper and no more pills...it took awhile though...0
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Do your headaches come on suddenly during exercise?
If so, you may have exercise-induced migraines. This problem often resolves by itself after hanging on for a while. You can do some things to mitigate it, like taking ibuprofen or aspirin a half hour before exercise. Some people are helped by neosynephrine nose spray before exercise.
This. I suffer from exercise induced migraines. It does get better with time. Something else that has helped is practicing controlled breathing. I discovered, after meeting with a personal trainer, that I often held my breath while working out. I was told this can trigger headaches. I have to focus attention on every breath to help ensure I do not get a migraine.0 -
a little bit of coconut oil before working out, and liek the others said- stay hydrated0
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I've posted this myself many times in the past (not here), and despair of ever finding an answer. After years of endless debilitating headaches, vision tests, cranial osteopathy, acupuncture, a few neurological tests and some failed migraine treatments, my GP diagnosed CTHS - Chronic Tension Headache Syndrome.
I've taken a cocktail of beta blockers for ten years now to limit them, and nowadays I can catch them quickly with a combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen, or if I'm unlucky I'll sometimes get a bad one for 2-4 days which stops me functioning. But they are better than they were 10 years ago.
)
In terms of exercise, I've just resigned myself to the fact that, if I HAVEN'T already got a headache, I can exercise and look forward to a banging sick headache afterwards - or if I've already got one threatening, I will barely be able to move around at all, let alone exercise.
Such is life, could be worse. My doctor did cheerfully point out that if they were a sign of something sinister, I'd be dead by now............0
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