Huge headaches when working out!

[AdamBigWang]

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar problem and if so what was causing it?

I only work out 3x a week and for the last week I've had absolutely huge pains in the back of my head as soon as I start working out/even warming up! Hell it starts up even when I'm skipping. Once I stop exercise it will gradually get less painful through out the day. At the point where I started my legworkout on wednesday and had to go home after warming up with squats.

For the note this has happened once before, but not as bad. It went away once I took a week off. Just wondering if anyone had any ideas what could be causing it, as I went to the Doctors once about it and nothing was done about it.

Thanks for any help.

[cgh]

Are you holding your breath when you lift?

[thelastrep]

I used to get headaches when I didn't drink enough water.
Sounds like your brain is swelling and pushing against the skull. Could be caused by:

1) A bodybuilding supplement.
2) Drugs
3) Dehydration or
4) High blood pressure.

Try to have a meal and loads of water a couple of hours before working out. You could also try to change the time you hit the gym.

Otherwise check with a doctor you don't have a minor concussion.

[zich_52]

i had this problem... i had to go to a neurologist and have a bunch of tests done. turned out to be my sinuses. my headaches were so bad that i actually passed out from one. ive never felt pain like that and i hope i never do again.

[DJAuto]

Search 'exertional headaches'.

[alexb854]

Goosefrahbah

[NY Money Mike]

i had this problem... i had to go to a neurologist and have a bunch of tests done. turned out to be my sinuses. my headaches were so bad that i actually passed out from one. ive never felt pain like that and i hope i never do again.

yup

[SlntAssassin]

I some times have headaches after I lift.

[jazztrumpet]

Goosefrahbah

I thought it was supposed to be "Oooooosssaaaaaah"

[void11]

I had experienced sharp pains during warmup sets that start from the back of my head and move to the sides. My doctor said it was due to a minor neck strain. The tissue extends to the head so the pain would move up and around. He was right. I had tweaked my neck a bit while squatting. After taking a week off I was good to go again.

[YoungGunz28]

I used to have those about a year back... it was the most annoying thing ever. I got huge pounding headaches everytime i tried to lift. I took 3 full months off of lifting came back very hydrated, full of carbs, vitamins, evrything breathing correctly and still wasnt cured. What fixed it was a really long and complete warmup. i made sure i at least broke a few beads of sweat before even light lifting.

[TDace25]

This happened to me once. It had been about 14 weeks since my last break, So I think that had something to do with it. Also I was taking Creatine, the Normal dose 5G a day. These headaches were really bad, I to had to cut my Workouts short and the Pain lasted for a few hours and then ended. For about a week any form of activity even pushups would flare these headaches up. So I stopped taking the Creatine, haven't taken it since, Took a full week off of Lifting, and Tried to focus more on Breathing.

So after My week off, I hit the Gym and was fine, I think those 2 factors, were what cause it for me. Haven't had a headache since.

Hope this helps

[ConanHC]

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar problem and if so what was causing it?

I only work out 3x a week and for the last week I've had absolutely huge pains in the back of my head as soon as I start working out/even warming up! Hell it starts up even when I'm skipping. Once I stop exercise it will gradually get less painful through out the day. At the point where I started my legworkout on wednesday and had to go home after warming up with squats.

For the note this has happened once before, but not as bad. It went away once I took a week off. Just wondering if anyone had any ideas what could be causing it, as I went to the Doctors once about it and nothing was done about it.

Thanks for any help.

Dang. I did a search and landed on this thread. This is exactly what is happening with me at the moment. I'm going insane with my headaches, they hurt so bad.

I've been working out 2 years now, pretty heavy and in good shape. it started after xmas and the first time it happened was while doing squats. It hurt so bad I almost passed out.

So I took a week off, did only cardio. but it's still here now.

I drink water just like I used to, I do everything identical to what I used to do. Today I did a superset, chest and back. I continued through the pain and now I feel like ch!t, I feel like I'm going to be sick, I can't even take my protein shake.

I have an appointment with my doctor next week, but for now, I have no clue what to do. I can't even finish my workouts.

How did it cure for you (speaking to the OP)?

[bsawyerphinphan]

I just got over them. The most painful, frustrating feeling in the world. I had to leave the gym for 2 weeks. I saw a doctor, neurologist, chiropractor, and massage therapist. In my case, a deep tissue massage (twice) around my neck and shoulder muscles, combined with time away (2 weeks is a morale killer) and 4 chiropractor visits have me on the mend. I worked my way slowly bak into it, and am now about 90% back. IT WILL NOT GO AWAY BY ITSELF.

[ConanHC]

are you serious? Do you know what it caused it? neck muscles?

You say the Chiro gave you the best solution?

Thanks for the help, I am still hurting from today, 6 hours later, the headache is still there.

thanks man.

[hashish]

I used to get headaches when I didn't drink enough water.
Sounds like your brain is swelling and pushing against the skull. Could be caused by:

1) A bodybuilding supplement.
2) Drugs
3) Dehydration or
4) High blood pressure.

Try to have a meal and loads of water a couple of hours before working out. You could also try to change the time you hit the gym.

Otherwise check with a doctor you don't have a minor concussion.

+1 or YOU NEED MORE SLEEP.

[HairyScandinavian]

I'm in the middle of it right now as well, doc says mine is due to a torn ligament in my neck.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=6914331

[ConanHC]

thank you for that link, at least I know what I am going through is normal and not some kind of aneurism. It reassures me that other BBers here have had this before.

When I take it easy, I can do my workouts...

Justletmein, how do you envision getting past it? what did the doc recommend?

thanks.

[kyleb15]

Don't listen to any of these idiots that claim its drugs and sleep and blah blah. Its your neck, like several people have posted. You strained a muscle tore a ligament or something to that extent in your neck. I had the same thing last week. Took a week off and it is cured. So just take some time off and then see how it feels.

[HairyScandinavian]

Justletmein, how do you envision getting past it? what did the doc recommend?

Well, my doc said to give it a few days and then it would still hurt a little but continue to get better. I think he may not understand the intensity of lifting heavy... There are plenty of exercises that don't seem to bother me though, I plan to go a couple weeks doing these other exercises only and skip the ones that have been bothering me (mostly the pressing exercises are what are getting me) and probably do more cardio rather than 4 days/week on the weights.

[bsawyerphinphan]

Take time off, and ease back into your routine. Also, make sure you breathe properly and perform the motion correctly. It may sound redundant and silly, but the chiropractor told me your neck is under so much stress during a lot of exercises, one wrong movement can mess you up (as you found out). I am deliberate with my motion - no herky-jerky movements because the weight is too much anymore. I've been fine thus far (fingers crossed).

Seriously, a chiropractor and a deep tissue massage will work wonders. Your neck and shoulder muscles are probably all knotted up like mine were. The massage therapist couldn't believe it.

[Tallho]

Has happened to me before,after work I would come home drink my x-plode and wait 30 min. and start working out,but found out that it mostly was just not enough food before my workout,change to eating about 1 hr before I drink the x then wait another 30 min. and woolah no more.

[ConanHC]

Don't listen to any of these idiots that claim its drugs and sleep and blah blah. Its your neck, like several people have posted. You strained a muscle tore a ligament or something to that extent in your neck. I had the same thing last week. Took a week off and it is cured. So just take some time off and then see how it feels.

yes. I don't take drugs and I sleep about 9 hours per night. I drink plenty too. I agree with you here.

Well, my doc said to give it a few days and then it would still hurt a little but continue to get better. I think he may not understand the intensity of lifting heavy... There are plenty of exercises that don't seem to bother me though, I plan to go a couple weeks doing these other exercises only and skip the ones that have been bothering me (mostly the pressing exercises are what are getting me) and probably do more cardio rather than 4 days/week on the weights.

Take time off, and ease back into your routine. Also, make sure you breathe properly and perform the motion correctly. It may sound redundant and silly, but the chiropractor told me your neck is under so much stress during a lot of exercises, one wrong movement can mess you up (as you found out). I am deliberate with my motion - no herky-jerky movements because the weight is too much anymore. I've been fine thus far (fingers crossed).

Seriously, a chiropractor and a deep tissue massage will work wonders. Your neck and shoulder muscles are probably all knotted up like mine were. The massage therapist couldn't believe it.

Thank you both. I think I will do that, will get a prescription from my doc to get a massage therapist and a chiro to claim it on my insurance. I really appreciate your help, what you've said thus far makes complete sense to me.

Reps to all the good posts here, bsawyerphinphan I can't rep you since you are under 50 posts, but when you get higher I'll rep you positive.

I'll also update you all on how it turns out.

Can you beleive I still have headaches from my superset yesterday?

[Big Arm Big Pay]

it happened to me, it eventually when away though i think i got it from supersetting leg press and hack squat i guess the 2 completely different movements did it, the only thing that helped me was breathing right on each rep.

[hulkinout]

Are you holding your breath when you lift?

First thing I thought...

[AdamBigWang]

UPDATE
Sorry took a long time to reply, ignorantly forgot to visit the forums whilst I was off from lifting! I will answer the comments I feel have been more relevant in my case.

I used to get headaches when I didn't drink enough water.
Sounds like your brain is swelling and pushing against the skull. Could be caused by:

1) A bodybuilding supplement.
2) Drugs
3) Dehydration or
4) High blood pressure.

Try to have a meal and loads of water a couple of hours before working out. You could also try to change the time you hit the gym.

Otherwise check with a doctor you don't have a minor concussion.

Appreciate the possible causes; however
1) Was only on whey and a multivitamin
2) Don't do drugs, and if you include caffiene as a drug i wasn't using that either
3) At first i did not think this could be it at all as I drink at least 1 litre in a workout; although I worked out yesterday and drank at least 2 litres and this seemd to keep headaches at bay
4) My blood pressure was hardly higher than a healthly level when I've had it measured on numerous occasions

Are you holding your breath when you lift?

I take deep breathes on all lifts, and I have found that the harder I breath out on the positive rep seems to reduce the likeliness of pain

This happened to me once. It had been about 14 weeks since my last break, So I think that had something to do with it. Also I was taking Creatine, the Normal dose 5G a day. These headaches were really bad, I to had to cut my Workouts short and the Pain lasted for a few hours and then ended. For about a week any form of activity even pushups would flare these headaches up. So I stopped taking the Creatine, haven't taken it since, Took a full week off of Lifting, and Tried to focus more on Breathing.

So after My week off, I hit the Gym and was fine, I think those 2 factors, were what cause it for me. Haven't had a headache since.

Hope this helps

Similar case to me, I took a week off first time it happened and the headaches went. This time the headaches didn't go away after a week off; however I've found several things have helped which I will sum up below.

Don't listen to any of these idiots that claim its drugs and sleep and blah blah. Its your neck, like several people have posted. You strained a muscle tore a ligament or something to that extent in your neck. I had the same thing last week. Took a week off and it is cured. So just take some time off and then see how it feels.

I have not seen a chiropracter; however when i think about it. This makes perfect sense as I always had, without doubt, the MOST pain during squats. And in theory a barbell across my back could cause the most pressure to my neck!

CONCLUSION
Since I made my OP I have made graduall progress, although I'm not 100% confident when I enter the gym still. Whats helped me and I hope this helps other is:

1) Drinking LOTS of water, I made sure i drank 2 cup of water in between each set. I'd never drank so much in my life, but this really seemed to help-whether psychological or physiological.

2) Breathing! Extremely strong exhalation during the postitive rep, to the point i was making a huge whistling noise!

3) MOST IMPORTANTLY! I found doing low reps was all I could do. Some exercises as little as 5, some as much as 10, before pain set in. Either way I would stop as soon as the pain set in and on my next set up the weight and move down a couple of reps.

I strongly suggest to anyone who is having problems, from my experience anyway, to..... keep the reps LOW, especially during squats and deadlifts!



Thanks to all the replies in this thread, I really appreciate all the help and positive feedback. Please continue to post and share information in the hope of helping others

[AdamBigWang]

Dang. I did a search and landed on this thread. This is exactly what is happening with me at the moment. I'm going insane with my headaches, they hurt so bad.

I've been working out 2 years now, pretty heavy and in good shape. it started after xmas and the first time it happened was while doing squats. It hurt so bad I almost passed out.

So I took a week off, did only cardio. but it's still here now.

I drink water just like I used to, I do everything identical to what I used to do. Today I did a superset, chest and back. I continued through the pain and now I feel like ch!t, I feel like I'm going to be sick, I can't even take my protein shake.

I have an appointment with my doctor next week, but for now, I have no clue what to do. I can't even finish my workouts.

How did it cure for you (speaking to the OP)?

DAMN! I feel your pain! I hope it stops soon! It's hard to describe how painful it is to people who haven't experienced it!

I have written above the post how I have reduced it, I will give it a few more weeks and see how it goes. If the pain comes back I will without doubt go to the doctor; however in the case of the national health service here in the UK, it takes a LONG time for anything to be done about these kinda sports related problems

[FWCMuZiK]

you're probably lifting to much and straining your nerves which send a signal to your brain

[AdamBigWang]

you're probably lifting to much and straining your nerves which send a signal to your brain

who knows? It might be that; however it was a sudden onset towards the end of a legworkout originally, no prior warning of pain. Just glad it seems to be over now

[jsVR-4]

I had a similar situation once.

It was a sharp pain at the base of my skull that would gradually crawl up the back of my head and into my forehead.

I had pinched occipital nerves. Anytime I would lift, grunt on the toilet, or get sexually excited the pain would start thumping at the base of my skull.... if I didn't quit what I was doing it would become unbareable and I would start blacking out.

Took a week off... went to the chiropractor a few times and I was fixed.