Exertion Headaches

[nychardgainer]

Was curious if any of you had ever experienced exertion headaches. Got one on Thursday. I was on my final set of deadlifts and on the last rep it felt like my head just literally exploded. Crazy intense pain for a good 20 minutes or so. It almost took the wind out of me it was so bad.

Given that this is my head and I do, albeit rarely, make use of what's inside of it, I made an appointment to go see the doc pronto. Diagnosis, benign exertion headache. I have a brain MRI scheduled for early next week to be sure, but he really wasn't concerned with this at all.

So, Saturday would have been my "Day 3" on Madcows Intermediate 5x5. Felt fine when I woke up, so I decided to stick with the workout plan. I did 10 sets of warmup squats with nothing more than the bar and the headache came back. Called it quits and went home.

Today (Sunday), I decided to try again. I made it through my squats. Felt a little pain, but nothing crazy. Got to my final set of 3 on the bench and on the last rep it came back. Not anything like Thursday, but its there. It originates from the back of my head/neck. Called it quits at that point and skipped my rows and ancillary movements.

I've done some research and from what I can gather this is caused by either a) some form of tightness in the neck/base of the skull or b) a sudden rise in blood pressure likely caused by holding one's breath while under heavy physical load. In retrospect, option B is probably what set this off as I'm almost certain I remember some breath holding on that last rep on Thursday. Today, however, I was extremely cognizant of my breathing and am positive that wasn't the cause.

Has anyone experienced something like this? I'm really bummed as I was going to start preloading cycle assist next week in preparation for my first cycle. And, I recently did a week long deload, reset some of my weights, and am two weeks in to what I was hoping was going to be a nice string of new personal records. I've seen some posts where people claim it took months for these to go away. I'm hoping like I've never hoped before that this is not the case.

I'm going to go get a massage tomorrow and have them focus on my shoulders, traps, and neck. Any other suggestions for what I could do to try to put this behind me?

 

[SPEKTOR-AAA]

I bet it has more to do with where your neck attaches to the head rather than your head. I get the WORST neck headaches sometimes, and they come from that pit area where the neck attaches to my head. Really weird and hurt so bad. Definately get checked out brosky, be careful.

 

[stevesmi]

deadlifts are the toughest exercise in the gym and if you overdo it or use poor form can really screw yourself up. my heart rate goes through the roof, I even got a stomach hernia 6 months ago from it. I only do them once a month. I stick to squats much more often. as far that headache you are describing. I've gotten light headed from the intensity. and have wobbled around after a tough set.

heck today I am gonna do deadlifts.. NOT looking forward to it!

 

[nychardgainer]

I bet it has more to do with where your neck attaches to the head rather than your head. I get the WORST neck headaches sometimes, and they come from that pit area where the neck attaches to my head. Really weird and hurt so bad. Definately get checked out brosky, be careful.

Yeah, I definitely think this is a muscle issue at the base of the head where it attaches to the neck. Stayed at my girlfriend's last night and her pillows suck. Woke up this morning with a headache. Planning to take the week off from the gym and hope its better next week. Fully anticipating MRI results to be clean, but I suppose you never know.

Does anything in particular bring your neck headaches on? I just can't figure out what I might have done to set this thing off. I've never experienced something like this before and its extremely frustrating.

 

[nychardgainer]

deadlifts are the toughest exercise in the gym and if you overdo it or use poor form can really screw yourself up. my heart rate goes through the roof, I even got a stomach hernia 6 months ago from it. I only do them once a month. I stick to squats much more often. as far that headache you are describing. I've gotten light headed from the intensity. and have wobbled around after a tough set.

heck today I am gonna do deadlifts.. NOT looking forward to it!

I know what you mean about light headedness from the intensity. This was just like nothing I've ever experienced before. Sigh...looks like I'll be taking the rest of the week off.

 

[C.K.]

ever getta bloody nose mid set? lol

 

[nychardgainer]

ever getta bloody nose mid set? lol

Ha! Can't say that I have....must increase intensity. Did manage to puke through my nose once though.

 

[captainahole]

This could be by the sounds of it. A bit of a trama to the tendon that attaches to the base of the blood vessel at the back of the skull.
It happened to me a few years back and although it was worse (the pain was so great I couldn't walk up the stairs and have my blood pressure rise)
It will continue to happen for a few weeks if you over excert yourself in any form.
Chances are this was caused by two things or one of the two.

You were holding your breath and it spiked your blood pressure to an unsafe level
or
You were dehydrated and lifting which enhanced the first possiblity.

So you will have to rest for a week or so before going back and when you do take it easy for a couple weeks. It will be fine then.

Also BREATH

 

[nychardgainer]

This could be by the sounds of it. A bit of a trama to the tendon that attaches to the base of the blood vessel at the back of the skull.
It happened to me a few years back and although it was worse (the pain was so great I couldn't walk up the stairs and have my blood pressure rise)
It will continue to happen for a few weeks if you over excert yourself in any form.
Chances are this was caused by two things or one of the two.

You were holding your breath and it spiked your blood pressure to an unsafe level
or
You were dehydrated and lifting which enhanced the first possiblity.

So you will have to rest for a week or so before going back and when you do take it easy for a couple weeks. It will be fine then.

Also BREATH

Definitely think I was holding my breath on that last rep. Can't rule out dehydration, but I hadn't changed anything about my normal routine. I workout in the mornings and pretty much eat/drink the same thing every morning.

Either way, glad to hear there are others that have experienced this and that it DOES go away at some point. I've been taking it easy and still have moments where I can feel a lingering headache.

Avatar's killing me, by the way. Love it.

 

[C.K.]

Ha! Can't say that I have....must increase intensity. Did manage to puke through my nose once though.

I ran to the bathroom and someone's like "party a lil hard lastnight" uhhhhh wrong lol