# Headaches when exercising



## nissan11

Has anyone else gotten headaches while exercising? This week I started doing some eccentric exercises in which I lower the weight to a 5 count. Im only working with 60% of my 1RM so the weight is much lighter than I have been working with recently. On Monday during the last couple of reps doing squats I got a severe headache in the lower back left part of my head. The headache went away after about 60 seconds and it did not come back during that workout. On Thursday I got the same headache during my last couple reps of flat bench press, and it also went away quickly. On Friday, more of the same, I got a headache doing pull ups. 

Then, on Saturday, I got the same headache while having sex and then got it again today while running a chain saw real hard, making an upward cut in a real big oak trunk. What could have all of a sudden caused these headaches? I drink over a gallon of water a day and after the first headache I tried to focus on breathing more, which made no difference. Anyone experienced these before?


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## ECKSRATED

I get them from squats every time. Last an hour or more. Ur lucky they only last a minute. First thing I would say is breathing but u said that already. Maybe a tweeked muscle in Your neck or trap.  Try stretching your neck before workouts. I dunno man. Hope u figure it out.


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## Joliver

Check your BP.  I get headaches when mine spikes.


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## bubbagump

I have had migraines since I was a little kid but can keep them in check for the most part with meds daily but I still get regular headaches when I let BP get high, get stressed or blood vessels get constricted.  Best thing for me is to stay up on my cardio and keep blood vessels dilated.  I cant take too many stims pre workout either.


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## paleolift78

I agree with Ecksrated. I had them before but i got a cat scan to make sure everything was ok. It was fine. I was tending to flex my neck to hard while doing lifts. I know you are only doing 60% of rep max but. Stretch out more and do some mobility training. I think the headaches is just tensing up to much in the wrong areas. IMO a massage works ****ing wonders once a month. 60 bucks for a professional woman. wink wink 100 for happy ending. It will help either way. Keep going strong and make sure your form is good. At the very least and you got med insurance go get the doc to give you a cat scan. I have had about 4 concussions in my life so i don't **** around if im having weird headaches. Im sure it isn't much to worry about though


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## nissan11

I tried taking Ibuprofen 1 hour before before training but it did not help. I also tried warming up for a longer period of time. I focused on breathing more than I ever had. I took 5 deep breaths before starting my sets and even paused between reps to take 2 deep breaths, but that had no affect on the headaches. I am going to stop taking pre workout this week and see if that makes any difference. I called my doctor and left a message but I have not heard back yet. 
I think it is getting worse because I got a headache while having sex Saturday morning and it was so bad that I had to stop for about 60 seconds.


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## coltmc4545

Check your bp.


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## Deidre

Exertion headaches are not uncommon, and ''cluster headaches'' are very common in men...especially during workouts and sexual activity. You might want to see your doc, because migraine medication might be helpful for you. Migraines and exertion headaches are vascular in nature, so that could very well be the issue with you. Sorry it's happening during sex, too! Feel better, soon.


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## moparmuscle

joliver said:


> Check your BP.  I get headaches when mine spikes.



This. When I started getting these was on a large cycle and bp was elevated. Picked up some bp meds and fixed. I always run low dose bp meds now on large cycles. Done with large cycles though so won't be issue go forward for me


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## nissan11

Im still working on getting an appointment with my doctor. There was a big ice storm last week and most offices have been closed for days. Today I am going to take some asprin 1 hour before my workout instead of Ibuprofen to see if the blood thinner makes any difference. If it does, then I guess it is a BP issue. Either way I'm going to see a doctor as soon as I can.


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## Mr.mak

I absolutely do get headaches every now and then during lifting...starting to get a little bit worried as they have manifested in the last four weeks or so.


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## nissan11

Today I took asprin 45 minutes prior to training. I also did not take pre workout. I got the worst headache I have experienced yet during my 1st set of overhead press and I had to stop my session. I am going to have to hold off on training until I can get an appointment with my doctor.


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## Deidre

Sorry to hear, nissan. 

Some info for you or anyone else interested in different types of headaches and when you should seek medical attention:

Hope it's nothing serious.


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## nissan11

I got an appointment with a doctor for Thursday. I will update this thread with what he tells me.


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## AliCat

Sweating can also deplete your potassium, electrolytes, etc, and that can also cause headaches.


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## nissan11

The doc wants me to do an MRI monday morning. He said absolutely no lifting until he gets the results back. So, not much got figured out at this visit.


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## Mr.mak

nissan11 said:


> The doc wants me to do an MRI monday morning. He said absolutely no lifting until he gets the results back. So, not much got figured out at this visit.



Keep us posted and hopefully it's nothing serious.


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## nissan11

The doctor called me yesterday with the MRI results. He says my vessels are fine but the MRI shows definite signs of a chronic sinus infection. He told me that is odd because I didnt show any signs of sinus issues when he checked me out  before the MRI.  I don't have any other symptoms and I feel completely fine when not exercising. However, even if I DO have a sinus infection, he said it may not be the cause of the headaches since the headaches are in the back of my head. He prescribed me antibiotics to treat the infection and told me to do a hard training session after 4 days to see if the headache comes back. So, I will give the iron hell on Monday and see what happens.


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## JAXNY

nissan11 said:


> Has anyone else gotten headaches while exercising? This week I started doing some eccentric exercises in which I lower the weight to a 5 count. Im only working with 60% of my 1RM so the weight is much lighter than I have been working with recently. On Monday during the last couple of reps doing squats I got a severe headache in the lower back left part of my head. The headache went away after about 60 seconds and it did not come back during that workout. On Thursday I got the same headache during my last couple reps of flat bench press, and it also went away quickly. On Friday, more of the same, I got a headache doing pull ups.
> 
> Then, on Saturday, I got the same headache while having sex and then got it again today while running a chain saw real hard, making an upward cut in a real big oak trunk. What could have all of a sudden caused these headaches? I drink over a gallon of water a day and after the first headache I tried to focus on breathing more, which made no difference. Anyone experienced these before?



I had the exact same thing happen to me a couple of times. correct me if im wrong. you get the headache right during your set especially if lifting heavy. it got so bad with me that id get them in any stress situation even sex, I couldn't even have sex because my head would start pounding. it would only be temporary and go away several min later if I laid down and relaxed. 
turned out for me that it was high blood pressure and once I stopped doing what I was doing that caused my blood pressure to be high, they stopped and I had no more issues.


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## Mr.mak

JAXNY said:


> I had the exact same thing happen to me a couple of times. correct me if im wrong. you get the headache right during your set especially if lifting heavy. it got so bad with me that id get them in any stress situation even sex, I couldn't even have sex because my head would start pounding. it would only be temporary and go away several min later if I laid down and relaxed.
> turned out for me that it was high blood pressure and once I stopped doing what I was doing that caused my blood pressure to be high, they stopped and I had no more issues.



But what does that mean? You stopped having sex and lifting?!?


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## Mr.mak

nissan11 said:


> The doctor called me yesterday with the MRI results. He says my vessels are fine but the MRI shows definite signs of a chronic sinus infection. He told me that is odd because I didnt show any signs of sinus issues when he checked me out  before the MRI.  I don't have any other symptoms and I feel completely fine when not exercising. However, even if I DO have a sinus infection, he said it may not be the cause of the headaches since the headaches are in the back of my head. He prescribed me antibiotics to treat the infection and told me to do a hard training session after 4 days to see if the headache comes back. So, I will give the iron hell on Monday and see what happens.



Glad to know it wasn't anything more serious.


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## JAXNY

Mr.mak said:


> But what does that mean? You stopped having sex and lifting?!?


I of course not. There is nothing in the world that could keep me from those two things. I stopped using what I was using that caused my blood pressure to be way too high.


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## nissan11

After 2 weeks off, today I jumped back into my program and hit chest and tris hard. It has been 48 hrs since I started the amoxicillin and I did not have a trace of a headache today. I will not hit legs until Monday, which will be the true test of whether my headaches really were caused by a mysterious sinus infection. It felt AWESOME to lift till failure again!


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## JAXNY

nissan11 said:


> After 2 weeks off, today I jumped back into my program and hit chest and tris hard. It has been 48 hrs since I started the amoxicillin and I did not have a trace of a headache today. I will not hit legs until Monday, which will be the true test of whether my headaches really were caused by a mysterious sinus infection. It felt AWESOME to lift till failure again!


this is very interesting, I had the same symptoms as you are describing. how did your doctor say that a sinus infection will cause pounding head aches like this?


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## Mr.mak

JAXNY said:


> this is very interesting, I had the same symptoms as you are describing. how did your doctor say that a sinus infection will cause pounding head aches like this?



Agreed. I get the same symptoms (not every time I lift) but somewhat frequently..did you have any other symptoms Nissan11?


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## nissan11

I have absolutely no other symptoms. No runny nose, no congestion, etc. He said the swollen parts in my head. Along with a lot of fluid build up could be causing the pressure when my blood pressure rises.
I want to say I'm not 100% that this is what caused my headaches, neither is my doctor. Just the 2 weeks of rest may have been all I needed to get over the headaches. 
He said is when you turn your head sharp to the sides or down to your chest, or if the spot on the back if your head feels sore when you touch it then it would be the strained muscle that attaches to the skull in that spot. That was not the case for me though.


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## JAXNY

I take it that your blood pressure is ok??


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## nissan11

Yes blood pressure was ruled out.


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## Mr.mak

Interesting...I'm gonna talk to my doctor and see if I can rule some things out.


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## trodizzle

nissan11 said:


> Has anyone else gotten headaches while exercising? This week I started doing some eccentric exercises in which I lower the weight to a 5 count. Im only working with 60% of my 1RM so the weight is much lighter than I have been working with recently. On Monday during the last couple of reps doing squats I got a severe headache in the lower back left part of my head. The headache went away after about 60 seconds and it did not come back during that workout. On Thursday I got the same headache during my last couple reps of flat bench press, and it also went away quickly. On Friday, more of the same, I got a headache doing pull ups.
> 
> Then, on Saturday, I got the same headache while having sex and then got it again today while running a chain saw real hard, making an upward cut in a real big oak trunk. What could have all of a sudden caused these headaches? I drink over a gallon of water a day and after the first headache I tried to focus on breathing more, which made no difference. Anyone experienced these before?



Sometimes, when I have too much caffeine. For instance, 2 cups of coffee in the am, then a few hours later slam a pre-workout and head to the gym. That usually results in a headache, just too much caffeine in the system I've found.


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