Really bad headaches lately - Please help!

[GetSwoleUCF]

The past week or two I have been getting really bad headaches. So bad that after one set of squats I can't handle how bad my head was hurting so I would just go home. Its been making it so I can hardly workout and nowhere near my full potential!

At first I thought it was because I had tried a pre-workout, so I stopped using the preworkout after only two days. Its been a week since then and I still am getting bad headaches!

Just 10 minutes ago I went to workout. Did a quick 5 minute cardio warmup and went to do squats. After ONE set my head was throbbing so I called it quits since something is obviously not right.

The only thing I have changed is I have switched to ON's Opti-men multivitamin and I have added CLA to my supplements. Only taking the multi, fish oil, and CLA.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? I just want to be able to workout again!!

[Bostongeorge617]

Doctor. Go see one.

[creationd]

The past week or two I have been getting really bad headaches. So bad that after one set of squats I can't handle how bad my head was hurting so I would just go home. Its been making it so I can hardly workout and nowhere near my full potential!

At first I thought it was because I had tried a pre-workout, so I stopped using the preworkout after only two days. Its been a week since then and I still am getting bad headaches!

Just 10 minutes ago I went to workout. Did a quick 5 minute cardio warmup and went to do squats. After ONE set my head was throbbing so I called it quits since something is obviously not right.

The only thing I have changed is I have switched to ON's Opti-men multivitamin and I have added CLA to my supplements. Only taking the multi, fish oil, and CLA.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? I just want to be able to workout again!!

Yes, same thing happened to me randomly. First time was on the last rep of a heavy set, thought my head was going to explode. Then I was fine, then happened again doing shoulder press. I have not had it happen in about a month or more, one thing I did was had my wife massage my neck and back real good. Then make sure you are drinking lots of fluids. Another thing I did was took a couple low dose aspirin before a set that I thought would cause the problem. I would not advise doing this all the time though. But I have not had this problem since. Also maybe avoid high doses of caffeine on lifting days, see if that helps.

[JSLAW]

This happened to me. Are you getting enough sleep? Are you staying hydrated? Whenever I get headaches when I work out, I can usually always point to either not enough sleep or I am not drinking enough water.

Depending on how bad it is, I would also recommend seeing a doctor.

[GetSwoleUCF]

Yes, same thing happened to me randomly. First time was on the last rep of a heavy set, thought my head was going to explode. Then I was fine, then happened again doing shoulder press. I have not had it happen in about a month or more, one thing I did was had my wife massage my neck and back real good. Then make sure you are drinking lots of fluids. Another thing I did was took a couple low dose aspirin before a set that I thought would cause the problem. I would not advise doing this all the time though. But I have not had this problem since. Also maybe avoid high doses of caffeine on lifting days, see if that helps.

Thanks for the advice man. However, I stay very hydrated, drinking at least 1 gallon of water per day and I have not had any caffeine in at least a week now.

[microrahsheen]

Doctor. Go see one.

What this guy said.

Are you breathing? Have you checked your BP lately?

[GetSwoleUCF]

What this guy said.

Are you breathing? Have you checked your BP lately?

I exhale at the top of the rep like you're supposed to when squatting. And my BP should be fine, I'm only 19 lol

[rayr2010]

generally due to dehydration or poor cardiac symptoms.

are you able to run 30-45mins with ease? if not id suggest focus on cardio for a few weeks before turning to weight lifting.

and drink lots of water.

if symptoms still persist and are as bad as you say, see a doctor immediately

[juve3162]

The past week or two I have been getting really bad headaches. So bad that after one set of squats I can't handle how bad my head was hurting so I would just go home. Its been making it so I can hardly workout and nowhere near my full potential!

At first I thought it was because I had tried a pre-workout, so I stopped using the preworkout after only two days. Its been a week since then and I still am getting bad headaches!

Just 10 minutes ago I went to workout. Did a quick 5 minute cardio warmup and went to do squats. After ONE set my head was throbbing so I called it quits since something is obviously not right.

The only thing I have changed is I have switched to ON's Opti-men multivitamin and I have added CLA to my supplements. Only taking the multi, fish oil, and CLA.


Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? I just want to be able to workout again!!

Hey OP, I feel ya. Ive had these come up before, once during my first go at 20-rep squats, and several other times during high-rep chin-ups. Scientifically, I am led to believe that I'm just not getting enough sleep, and the stress from weightlifting might be causing slight migrains. But, after lowering my rep ranges to 6-8, I've been seeing most of these problems go away, while maintaining the same sleep schedule (kinda hard to change with school). So just stay hydrated, and sleep well, like everyone else said, but if all else fails, try lowering your rep ranges a bit.

[mrpatrson]

happened to me a while back, I was taking the same things as OP except caffiene too, and the caf was doing it to me, every time i would take caf and workout it was head ach time. however before that i was taking a pre workout with caff in it and no problems.

[andrewmc]

Where is the epicenter of the pain?

I had a similar issue a couple years back, it occurred twice. Once on bench, and once on weighted dips. For me the pain was centered at the very top of the spinal cord, in the back of the head. Needless to say I was pretty effing scared. After doing some research, I found that the cause of my headaches were most likely extreme strain on the muscles and tendons at the back of my head.

For me, it was a pain that went from 0-100 in about 1 second. It was instantaneous, no buildup or anything, so this seemed to make sense. Now, I stretch out those muscles and tendons thoroughly and it hasn't happened since. Still quite scary though.

[GetSwoleUCF]

Where is the epicenter of the pain?

I had a similar issue a couple years back, it occurred twice. Once on bench, and once on weighted dips. For me the pain was centered at the very top of the spinal cord, in the back of the head. Needless to say I was pretty effing scared. After doing some research, I found that the cause of my headaches were most likely extreme strain on the muscles and tendons at the back of my head.

For me, it was a pain that went from 0-100 in about 1 second. It was instantaneous, no buildup or anything, so this seemed to make sense. Now, I stretch out those muscles and tendons thoroughly and it hasn't happened since. Still quite scary though.

The pain is at the back of my head and is a throbbing headache. Here I am almost 7 hours later and I still have a slight headache. Anytime I start to increase my heartrate it gets worse. Warming up on the elliptical i start feeling the throb and then once I get into heavy squats around my last rep my head feels like its going to explode. I didn't have this problem a couple weeks ago...

[GetSwoleUCF]

bump

[GreaseMark]

The severity of the pain you're describing makes me think you should see a doctor. You can start with your reg doc, and he can refer you to a specialist if he thinks it's needed. Sounds like your pain is related to elevated blood pressure, which could mean it's some type of migraine. There are many types of migraine, and they are vascular in nature. I wouldn't do anything to aggravate this condition until I found out what it was. If it is something involving a clot or malformation of the blood vessels in your head, it could become very serious if put under pressure or strain.