Help, headaches and tired all the time!

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Ladybug1250
Ladybug1250 Posts: 366 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey guys and gals,

I'm sure there are various reasons that this could be happening, daylight savings time being one of them, my TMD (jaw) diagnoses causing the headaches and working long 9 hour shifts, yesterday being Monday..... however for anyone that can offer any advice I'm all ears.

I notice this more during the week, the weekends are usually fine for me. But right around 3pm I start really getting lethargic and my stomach gets nauseous, headache kicks in and that overall crumby feeling takes over. I start work at 7:30am and work until 5pm. My days are pretty long. I wish I could go home around 3pm but that's not an option.

So I tried to eat something yesterday, I had a pecan cluster and a fruit and yogurt pouch. I felt a bit better but that didn't last long. By the time I got home I was EXHAUSTED and my head was pounding. I took some headache pills and although it got better it didn't' go away. I think some of it is my clenching teeth at night, I wear a guard for this but it's caused by stress and gets worse sometimes and other times I have no issues with it.

I plan to talk to my MD at my next appointment but for now what do you think I can do diet wise? I should also mention that I usually have a bowl of soup for lunch (my diary is open) maybe that's not enough food? should I be eating more protein? more carbs for energy? could it be low blood sugar?

Any one have any experience with this and tried something that worked?

Replies

  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
    edited November 2014
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    Try drinking more water, you sound dehydrated!
    Make sure your you're eating enough protein and fats.
  • funchords
    funchords Posts: 413 Member
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    Drink a cup of water each hour after noon (3 cups by 3pm).

    Add 20 grams of protein to your breakfast M-F. (You had this protein on Sat-Sun.)
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    I looked back through your diary for a few days and your breakfast today looks much better than the last few weekdays. See if you feel a bit better today. Coffee and high carb/sugar foods then soup for lunch would have me feeling terrible by 3pm, too.
  • amanda_louise27
    amanda_louise27 Posts: 21
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    Try drinking more water, and maybe also try yoga. I used to get headaches daily (for over a year), but then I started yoga and now I barely get a headache a month!
  • geneticsteacher
    geneticsteacher Posts: 623 Member
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    SueInAz wrote: »
    I looked back through your diary for a few days and your breakfast today looks much better than the last few weekdays. See if you feel a bit better today. Coffee and high carb/sugar foods then soup for lunch would have me feeling terrible by 3pm, too.

    Agree - if I don't have protein, fat, and carbs for breakfast I feel horrible by mid-afternoon.
  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,954 Member
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    amanda_louise27 wrote: »
    Try drinking more water, and maybe also try yoga. I used to get headaches daily (for over a year), but then I started yoga and now I barely get a headache a month!

    I second either the yoga or some sort of stretching and relaxation before bed. I use my foam roller on my back and do some simple stretches in the evening. Then I listen to an app I have that's got relaxing sounds and binaural beats that somehow magically make me sleep through the night whereas before I'd wake up a thousand times. Making sure you're hydrated is extremely important too. I haven't looked at your diary so I don't know if it's an issue but for me, if I'd have a blood sugar drop I get a headache.
  • webutmirrortheworld
    webutmirrortheworld Posts: 52 Member
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    Is it possible that the soup has hidden msg? MSG is a huge headache trigger for me.
  • sofaking6
    sofaking6 Posts: 4,589 Member
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    I agree that breakfast is a very likely culprit/savior. I suspect if the grinding were to blame you would feel worse in the morning and better throughout the day. Whenever I get a hunger headache it doesn't go away without sleep.
  • tachikata
    tachikata Posts: 12 Member
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    Had a look at your diary, for my 2 cents worth I'd say try doing without any coffee at all for a week or 2 and see how you feel, because what you describe sounds like adrenal fatigue to my opinion. I know it's a big ask (considering I'm a coffee lover my self) but what you had sounds like something I used to get being heavy regular coffee drinking for years. And oh yes keeping hydrated is good as well as other people advise.
  • Fruitylicious03
    Fruitylicious03 Posts: 301
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    I agree with the above posters. Try drinking some more water (ice or cold is best) and make sure you get enough fresh air where you work. Try to get up and take a walk around the office while you work if that's possible. To me it sounds like sick-building syndrome. Especially if you're fine over the weekends and this just happens at work. :)
  • magnum26
    magnum26 Posts: 356 Member
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    Sounds like lack of water. I work 8am-5pm and generally get through about 5-6 pints of water, plus sometimes a latte. Then once I'm home if I'm going to the gym I will generally take a large bottle with 750ml capacity and fill that up and make sure it's empty when I leave. Sometimes I will drink two lots depending on thirst. If i'm not going to the gym then I will tend to have another 3-4 pints of water over the evening. So on average I drink about 8 pints a day of water.
  • Ladybug1250
    Ladybug1250 Posts: 366 Member
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    THANK YOU EVERYONE!!! You all rock :-) Ok water for sure I need to get that going better than I have. I ate an egg, almonds and a banana this morning and plan to do better for my breakfasts too. I've been doing JMBR and its tough, it works but it definitely throws my body out of wack, I think I need to see my chiropractor. I'll check the soup for MSG I didn't even think of that! I think I should start making my own too in the slow cooker, then i'd have enough for the week.

    The suggestion about coffee. Oh man I didn't even think of that and i'm a huge coffee lover. I've had coffee everyday for like 15 years now lol. What would be the benefit of cutting out the coffee? And wont I get headaches for a while for not having it? I'm open to try stuff cause I really do want to feel better but i'm just curious.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    I don't think there's a problem with having a cup of coffee every day. If it wasn't bothering you before all of this started then nothing should have changed in that respect. And yes, if you quit, and you normally have a lot of caffeine every day, no caffeine at all would probably cause headaches, not cure them.

    The point I was personally making is that a cup of coffee and a pack of Belvita crackers for breakfast and then soup for lunch isn't going to give you the nutrition or energy to make it through the day. :)
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
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    Ladybug1250 wrote: »

    The suggestion about coffee. Oh man I didn't even think of that and i'm a huge coffee lover. I've had coffee everyday for like 15 years now lol. What would be the benefit of cutting out the coffee? And wont I get headaches for a while for not having it? I'm open to try stuff cause I really do want to feel better but i'm just curious.


    If you're getting frequent headaches, it could actually be migraines. Caffeine is one of the most common migraine triggers. It "helps" them temporarily, but then causes rebound headaches. Then people take meds with more caffeine, because it makes them feel better. Temporarily. It's a vicious cycle. But it sounds to me that your jaw could likely be causing this. Do you wear some kind of mouth guard when you sleep? I get botox for migraines, my doctor does extra shots in my jaws because I clench my jaw so much while I sleep.
  • tachikata
    tachikata Posts: 12 Member
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    I noticed you had coffee at least 2 cups consistently almost every day.

    I used to do that with 2-3+ cups daily at work 12 hour shifts and off work days off for 10 years, for some people I know drank more coffee than me daily and they appeared fine, but for me it got to the point where my daily coffee routine just made me more irritable and more exhausted and started getting nausea and the shakes, a guy there said I'd likely got something called adrenal fatigue, so I cut down and took a break.

    I took 2 weeks off to recover, no coffee tea of any sort, yes I got headaches for some days afterwards likely because of withdrawl but they were gone after a week. Came back still doing the same shifts cut back on my coffee drank more water felt a heck of a lot better.

    I still love my coffee though so I only take 1 coffee before strength training days now 3x a week on alternate days, maybe 1 or 2 in the weekend on occasion or take a week off sometimes but no where near the amount I used to and haven't had any issues since. Not guaranteeing this is the source of your problem but try a break from coffee for a week or two and see.
  • gobonas99
    gobonas99 Posts: 1,049 Member
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    have you ever had your thyroid function tested? never feeling rested and frequent headaches are both symptoms of hypothyroidism (they were my two big ones, after the weight gain). Once I got on the correct dosage of thyroid meds, the constant fatigue and headaches were virtually gone (I still get the occasional headache, and I'm tired if I don't get enough sleep the night before - but they're no longer constants in my life...both are now infrequent, and explainable). :)
  • jesshoperose
    jesshoperose Posts: 4 Member
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    I get massive migraines when I crash off sugar or caffeine. Unfortunately there is a ton of sugar (high fructose corn syrup) in lots of processed foods. I switched to eating only whole foods (non-processed) and my headaches went away. Soup seems healthy but the amount of processed crap in them is enough to give anyone a headache. I would also suggest healthy, non-processed snacks through out the day, that helps me too. I work long hours, too so I know how that feels :/
  • sparkynazca
    sparkynazca Posts: 169 Member
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    Do you have sleep apnea? Do you snore badly? I had migraines and lethargy until I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and started using a cpap machine. You may want to look into a sleep study if you have ever heard that you snore terribly or stop breathing for a little bit during the night.
  • mz_getskinny
    mz_getskinny Posts: 258 Member
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    If you're trying to eliminate headaches, I would NOT advise cutting out your coffee. I used to be a daily mountain dew drinker and when I quit, the withdrawal headaches were just as intense as a migraine. I had to take a caffeine supplement for a couple weeks and slowly decrease the dosage to wean myself off of it. It was not fun :(

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