Headache after exercise

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DaveH

DaveH

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Does anyone get a headache a couple of hours after exercise, or better still does anyone know how to avoid one?

I play football a couple of times a week on a lunch time at work. I have a few pints of squash during the course of the morning, take a 1L water bottle out with me and make sure I finish it, then have a couple of pints of squash when I get back. But still by about 3pm I'm getting a blinding headache. It is similar if I go for a morning run, I'll be reaching for the medicine cupboard by lunch time.

A couple of painkillers sorts it out, but I'd prefer not to be taking them every time.

Could it be something else lacking rather than just hydration? With all the fluids I take in, I'm pissing a lot. I do sweat a lot during exercise. Could it be salt?
 


It could be your electrolytes are out. Mine are a bit up and down because of the crohn's and I get a headache, muscle aches/cramps and feel off colour. Try drinking a sports drink and see if it helps.

I like Zero High 5 best. It's a tablet you drop in a glass/bottle of water and it dissolves to makes a fruit flavour drink. It tastes quite nice and it doesn't have any sugar in it.
 
DaveH said:
Cheers, is that just something you can get at an average supermarket?
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I think Tesco stopped selling them when they did a range review. There will be a sports nutrition section in Health and Beauty if it's a regular store or in the sports equipment section in an Extra and they'll be on there if they have them.

Definitely sold in sports stores and I think in Holland and Barratt though.
 
Cheers, I will see if I can track some down. Though apparently Aloe Vera can improve athletic performance and stop headaches afterwards. I can even become a seller.
 
becs said:
It could be your electrolytes are out. Mine are a bit up and down because of the crohn's and I get a headache, muscle aches/cramps and feel off colour. Try drinking a sports drink and see if it helps.

I like Zero High 5 best. It's a tablet you drop in a glass/bottle of water and it dissolves to makes a fruit flavour drink. It tastes quite nice and it doesn't have any sugar in it.
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Interesting, I have colitis, not as bad as most, it comes and goes. I wonder if this is why I get headaches after running?

I am thin like, but really really unfit, like beyond unfit, and everytime I try to get a regime going its the headaches that stop me.
 
johnson said:
Interesting, I have colitis, not as bad as most, it comes and goes. I wonder if this is why I get headaches after running?

I am thin like, but really really unfit, like beyond unfit, and everytime I try to get a regime going its the headaches that stop me.
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Maybe. When the crohns/colitis symptoms are flare, you don't absorb all the salts and nutrients from food and drink. I know when mine is playing up, I get mild malnutrition symptoms like bleeding gums, dry skin and dull dry hair. If you're not absorbing the salts and nutrients, that can cause headaches, especially if you've done a lot of exercise and used your stores up.
 
Thanks Dr Becs, I owe you one. I got some of these a few weeks ago and it is making a difference, especially in this hot weather when I'm sweating a lot more. I have been tending to put one in my sports bottle and one in the usual drink I have afterwards.

On Sunday, I woke up with a headache and painkillers did not shift it. After a few hours, I thought that the whole of Saturday I had spent doing heavy digging in the garden. Sat and had one of these with ice and felt a lot better. Shame they are a bit pricey but not that much more and better for my liver than nurofen.
 
If they're working, have a look on Amazon. You can get a bulk box of 8 tubes that works out cheaper than buying a tube at a time.
 
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