Workout induced head pain

[SlapItHard]

Today I was doing some dumbell bench lifts as I always do on my chest day. On my third set I was straining pretty hard on the last few reps and when I completed and sat up I had stabbing pains in the lower back part of my head. Today I took a small dosage of ECA for the first time before my workout. I have never had this pain before and that is the only thing I can think that is different. I do my best to maintain proper breathing so I'm hoping thats not the case. Can anyone think of something that could cause this? It was pretty severe pain, not enough to stop me from working out but I could feel it for the rest of the session.

 

[RusPA81]

Lifting weights does increase your blood pressure, and with the addition of the ECA that may have elevated it even higher which could be a cause of the head pain. I have had similar pains before as well, but they have all gone away.

 

[needsize]

I had something like that happen during hack squats a few years back. On one of my reps I felt something in the back of my head "go", kinda felt like something popped back there and I was hit with a pretty blinding pain. After that, any time I exerted myself in any way I would get hit with an instant migraine that was pretty debilitating. I still managed to train with the aid of a ton of aspirin, but it hurt pretty bad for a few weeks then finally went away on it's own.

 

[HansNZ]

Sometimes pain is a sign of overtraining. I find the occasionally it doesn't hurt to stay away from the gym for a month. If I go away for a holiday and come back after a long period of time all these problems have usually gone away and I get much better results from my regimen. Sometimes less is more. Sometimes you just have to stop.

 

[SlapItHard]

Thats probably it. I went on a very extrenuating kayaking trip yesterday for excess of 6 hours. Tommorow is an off day though, thank god.

 

[Jason B]

I doubt it has to do with the ECA. I experience the same phenomenon every time I do 20 rep squats. It just hits like a ton of bricks right after my last rep and the pain gradualy decreases over the course of the day. The day after this happened for the first time I saw a post on here where someone had the same complaint with headache and twenty rep squats. A bunch of other people chimed in and said they got them too. It's weird but at least they aren't permanent. I can do lower rep squats just fine.

 

[SlapItHard]

Thats exactly how it was for me. It went away slowly as the day went by, but damn it felt like hell after my last rep.

 

[SlapItHard]

I believe this is what i am experiencing:


Recent observations by Doug McGuff, MD suggest that EIH may be caused by stretching of the dura mater (outermost of the three membranes covering the brain and spinal cord) as a result of increased BP in the cerebral veins caused by retrograde venous flow towards the brain. The onset of EIH is usually experienced during intense exercises for the legs, hips, and trunk, during which there is a large amount of venous congestion in the pelvis and abdomen. In an article entitled The Mystery of Exercise Induced Headache, in Vol. 5, Issue 3 of The Super Slow Exercise Standard, Dr. McGuff writes,



"This congestion is a result of soft tissue compression, Val Salva and
massive venous return from the legs stimulated by intense muscular
contraction. This massive venous congestion can create a strong
enough force to drive venous flow in a cephalad direction (towards
the head). Perhaps, in some subjects, the force is great enough to
reverse the gradient of cerebral venous drainage so that venous blood
is pushed up through the jugular veins into the confluence of sinuses...


...Theoretically, a threshold level of venodilation and pressure
transmission would have to occur before the dura could be
stimulated. Once this threshold is reached, look out! Dural stimulation
produces severe, sudden onset pain that can persist for days."




I do not usually take any type of caffiene and I think that the combination of working out and the elevated blook pressure from the caffiene could be causing this headache. It is very severe pain and trying to work through it is impossible. I would have fainted if I did.

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

my head only hurts when I bang it on the bar prior to a big squat...

serisouly, a dude in my gym does this on his heavy sets, blood running down his face in his eyes, dripping off his nose...obviously I dont train at a Bally's...

 

[SlapItHard]

I think one of the biggest things I am doing wrong form wise is stressing my head against the bench. I can get through a bicep day just fine, shoulders, legs, back, all fine. Its just on chest, which is also the only 2 days I took caffiene before my workout and stress my head against the bench.

 

[chrisproia]

Thanks guys, this was my problem. The variables were slightly different, but pretty much the same:

* I was in a different environment - I was working out in a hotel fitness room and the room was hot and not well ventilated (I ended up opening the door and the door to the heated pool which was connected, for circulation).

* I had taken my regular pre-workout shake that contains [healthy] stimulants (no ephedrine or whatnot). I had taken twice the normal dose (not unhealthy, just out of the ordinary).

* I was working out pretty extreme, and wasn't breathing properly (and the poor circulation and heat of the room didn't help).


As a result of a combination of all the above variables, I believe I caused both a lack of oxygen and an extraventicular blood flow to the brain (too much blood forced to the brain). According to the docotr's suggestion in the above post, it caused mild soft-tissue damage in that area of the back right side of my head.

The symptoms are as following:

* Severe pain, NOT described as "sharp" or "stabbing", in the back right lower side of my head and brain, close to the neck and adjacent to the right trapezius muscle. The area can be described in lamen as "the normal bulge in the right lower rear side of the head".

* No pain at any time except during strenuous lifting and exercise where blood flow is significantly increased to the brain.

* The pain increases with equivalent increased exertion once it begins, and likewise decreases gradually when exertion is ceased.

* If exertion is not ceased once the pain initializes, the pain increases exponentially until it becomes debilitating.

* 20 pull-ups which before did give a mild [normal] dizziness due to extreme exertion, currently give a much greater feeling of dizziness, almost to the point of fainting. The world begins to fade out as my blood pressure stabilizes, and then fades back in. I fear if I pushed myself further I would faint.

* I try to massage the area with my hand tenderly, but it does little (if anything besides the placebo effect) to soothe the pain.


In conclusion, I believe that it will go away on its own, from reading the posts above. My greatest fear was it being a mild brain hernia (which likely results in death), but from the posts above and experience, my fears are relieved. The above people would not be alive to speak of it if it was a brain hernia.