Sudden, intense headache from heavy lifting

[blackdogdeek]

So last Tuesday we were doing a workout with 50 back squats, 40 front squats and 30 overhead squats (choosing weights that allow you to finish the set without putting the bar down). I used 135# for the 50 back squats and right around rep number 43 I suddenly got a pretty severe headache. I was able to finish the set but I discontinued working out since the headache was pretty bad. Later on that day the headache subsided but it was replaced with slight dizziness and mild nausea. The next day the headache still remained but in a much less intense form and I felt much better after eating breakfast and lunch. Several hours after lunch I hadn't eaten and I went outside into the cold and the headache returned and I had trouble keeping some water down, though admittedly they were large glasses of water. When I eventually did eat a big dinner that I was able to keep down, I felt much better. On Thursday, I only had very mild symptoms and generally felt close to 95% as long as I continued to eat regularly and stay hydrated. I went to see the doctor that day and she said she thought the headache was probably exercise induced but that the nausea might have been from a virus, possibly the flu (which I thought was probably ridiculous) and to just take it easy for the next few days and monitor how I felt and then call them again if the symptoms returned.

Since then I've felt much better and haven't really experienced any of those symptoms at least not to that initial degree but I haven't done any exercise at all.

Today, I'm going to workout again for the first time since last Tuesday (6 days ago).

Has anything like this happened to any of you?

Should I take longer before I resume working out?

Is there anything I should do like not bear down during intense lifting anymore?

 

[Sixguns]

Ill get heacaches if I have not had enough water that day.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Ill get heacaches if I have not had enough water that day.

I'm usually very consistent with my water intake and this day wasn't any different than other days but I've never gotten a headache before. Of course, I've never done a set of 50 back squats without putting the bar down before either. Is it possible that I needed more water that day to accommodate that intense of a workout?

 

[surfsatwerk]

How's your blood pressure? If mine gets up there I can have headaches when I lift.

Edit: ZOMG 6666 the sign of teh beast

 

[tedrodai]

I've gotten headaches that could persist to the next day from straining too hard during lifting. I wasn't taught very well when I first started lifting, and though I'm much better about it now, it's still hard at times to ignore the old bad habit of working too hard. Sometimes they'd go away after 1 good night's sleep, sometimes not til after the 2nd night. If it persisted to the 2nd day, it would usually be a dull feeling, not painful (or very painful) but ready to flare up if the wrong thing happened (like exerting myself, or lord knows what else).

I try to avoid anything so strenuous that it prevents me from breathing properly during the exercise. I'm not sure if it's from the high-blood pressure induced from the exercise and/or lack of oxygen or what.

 

[ZOOYUKA]

FYI. If you're doing 50 reps, you're not lifting heavy!!!!!!!!! How many reps do you do on light days?

 

[blackdogdeek]

How's your blood pressure? If mine gets up there I can have headaches when I lift.

I had my blood pressure checked when I went to the doc on Thursday and it was 130/70.

 

[blackdogdeek]

I've gotten headaches that could persist to the next day from straining too hard during lifting. I wasn't taught very well when I first started lifting, and though I'm much better about it now, it's still hard at times to ignore the old bad habit of working too hard. Sometimes they'd go away after 1 good night's sleep, sometimes not til after the 2nd night. If it persisted to the 2nd day, it would usually be a dull feeling, not painful (or very painful) but ready to flare up if the wrong thing happened (like exerting myself, or lord knows what else).

I try to avoid anything so strenuous that it prevents me from breathing properly during the exercise. I'm not sure if it's from the high-blood pressure induced from the exercise and/or lack of oxygen or what.

The weird thing is that I don't feel like I have to overexert myself in order to complete the workout. I was able to finish the set of 50 without my legs getting too tired.

 

[blackdogdeek]

FYI. If you're doing 50 reps, you're not lifting heavy!!!!!!!!! How many reps do you do on light days?

1x50 is not a lot? On lighter days we might do 5x5 or 7x5 but we typically don't do 1x50.

 

[blackdogdeek]

fuuuuuuuuuu

It came back during today's workout. Prior to its return we had completed a 5x250m set of rows with about 4-5 minutes rest between rows. I was doing 50 russian kettle bell swings with the 24kg bell and at rep 46 or 47 it came back so I stopped and took a little rest. It wasn't as bad as last week's headache so I finished the set and moved on to the 50 jump rope singles and the headache almost felt like it was going away. But when I moved on to the 40 rep set of russian kettle bell swings it came back right away so I stopped completely.

It's still there now but it's definitely not as bad as last week's. I'm going to schedule a follow-up appointment with my doctor.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

fuuuuuuuuuu

It came back during today's workout. Prior to its return we had completed a 5x250m set of rows with about 4-5 minutes rest between rows. I was doing 50 russian kettle bell swings with the 24kg bell and at rep 46 or 47 it came back so I stopped and took a little rest. It wasn't as bad as last week's headache so I finished the set and moved on to the 50 jump rope singles and the headache almost felt like it was going away. But when I moved on to the 40 rep set of russian kettle bell swings it came back right away so I stopped completely.

It's still there now but it's definitely not as bad as last week's. I'm going to schedule a follow-up appointment with my doctor.

Your doctor is likely going to diagnose it as exercise-induced headaches. However, a lot of these are misdiagnosed. I've seen a ton of people diagnosed with this who have actually had cervicogenic headaches. These are headaches caused by poor head positioning, tight musculature, range of motion limitations, etc. There are a lot of lifting positions that put the neck in a bad spot if you're not really careful about it. For example, think of the back squat. A lot of the time, people crane their neck upward or let the bar crush their upper thoracic spine, thus causing poor mechanics at the cervical spine. I'd say do some light workouts, but be very aware of your neck position - don't let your head fall forward. Refer to the picture below and don't let your neck do any of these:

If you look at the forward head position, that's where a lot of people go with back squat, let alone 50 reps of back squat. Definitely pursue the doctor thing and ask if he/she thinks it could be cervicogenic. If so, you could ask for a prescription to physical therapy for postural reeducation, some stretching, coordination/stretching exercises, and more. These can be really bothersome and eventually start to effect your daily life if you're not careful about it. It's definitely something to discuss with your physician.

 

[blackdogdeek]

If you look at the forward head position, that's where a lot of people go with back squat, let alone 50 reps of back squat. Definitely pursue the doctor thing and ask if he/she thinks it could be cervicogenic. If so, you could ask for a prescription to physical therapy for postural reeducation, some stretching, coordination/stretching exercises, and more. These can be really bothersome and eventually start to effect your daily life if you're not careful about it. It's definitely something to discuss with your physician.

Why would it return with kettle bell swings?

 

[ZOOYUKA]

1x50 is not a lot? On lighter days we might do 5x5 or 7x5 but we typically don't do 1x50.

You obviously have no idea what heavy lifting is. If you can do 50 reps, you are going VERY light. Doing 5x5 or 7x5 are not indicative of heavy lifting. I know those methods are used for heavy lifting. You could still be going light with 5x5 without knowing any more info. No matter how you slice it 40 & 50 rep sets are going light.

What are you guys training for? The beanpole olympics?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Why would it return with kettle bell swings?

Have you seen how people do swings? Most people want to get their arms past their ears - as is the CF "form." To do that, you likely kick your head forward, causing a terrible neck position. That and it's a fast activating exercise, requiring quick, forceful contraction of neck extensors on the way down. There are multiple ways KB swings could exacerbate/create a cervicogenic headache.

 

[dealmaster00]

You obviously have no idea what heavy lifting is. If you can do 50 reps, you are going VERY light. Doing 5x5 or 7x5 are not indicative of heavy lifting. I know those methods are used for heavy lifting. You could still be going light with 5x5 without knowing any more info. No matter how you slice it 40 & 50 rep sets are going light.

What are you guys training for? The beanpole olympics?

+1

 

[blackdogdeek]

Have you seen how people do swings? Most people want to get their arms past their ears - as is the CF "form." To do that, you likely kick your head forward, causing a terrible neck position. That and it's a fast activating exercise, requiring quick, forceful contraction of neck extensors on the way down. There are multiple ways KB swings could exacerbate/create a cervicogenic headache.

Well, they were Russian kbs so we were only getting arms up to horizontal at most but I know what you're saying especially with the fast activation since the Russian swing is a much shorter movement than the American. I kept focusing on keeping a neutral spine and making sure I was breathing.

I'll remember this for my Dr appointment this afternoon.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Well, they were Russian kbs so we were only getting arms up to horizontal at most but I know what you're saying especially with the fast activation since the Russian swing is a much shorter movement than the American. I kept focusing on keeping a neutral spine and making sure I was breathing.

I'll remember this for my Dr appointment this afternoon.

Fair enough, but like I said KB swings are notorious for creating bad postures under high load, even if just for a split second. Hope everything goes well.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Fair enough, but like I said KB swings are notorious for creating bad postures under high load, even if just for a split second. Hope everything goes well.

I totally forgot to bring up the cervicogenic headache possibility.

Anyway, he thinks it's exertional since it slowly went away and came back again. He checked my eyes to rule out intercranial pressure but he's still having me get imaging (MRI and MRA) because enough of his red flags went off that he wants to rule out anything else going on up there.

For my part, I'm going to skip the workouts for the time being and try to get more sleep since I think I've been getting a lot less than I used to get. I've also been doing 5 days on and 2 days off instead of the CrossFit standard 3 days on 1 day off.

Hopefully, the MRI/MRA results clear me for competing in the Open starting next week.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I totally forgot to bring up the cervicogenic headache possibility.

Anyway, he thinks it's exertional since it slowly went away and came back again. He checked my eyes to rule out intercranial pressure but he's still having me get imaging (MRI and MRA) because enough of his red flags went off that he wants to rule out anything else going on up there.

For my part, I'm going to skip the workouts for the time being and try to get more sleep since I think I've been getting a lot less than I used to get. I've also been doing 5 days on and 2 days off instead of the CrossFit standard 3 days on 1 day off.

Hopefully, the MRI/MRA results clear me for competing in the Open starting next week.

If everything is still ok and it continues to hinder your workouts/competitions, you may want to see a physical therapist. Low risk, low expense, could teach you a few things and help your performance increase. Either way, hope the MRI/MRA are good and clear.

 

[blackdogdeek]

If everything is still ok and it continues to hinder your workouts/competitions, you may want to see a physical therapist. Low risk, low expense, could teach you a few things and help your performance increase. Either way, hope the MRI/MRA are good and clear.

I will definitely do that.

 

[ManBearPig]

Everyone who posted above is correct. Make sure your posture and most importantly your breathing is correct. Keep hydrated during workouts.

I got a headache from doing heavy dead lifts once and it was the worse headache I've ever had. Took like a day (overnight) to heal. Occasionally i notice my head hurting and then I fix my head/neck positioning and remember to breathe and it goes away.

Happens during especially strenuous (heavy lifts and sets to failure) portions of the workout. Especially when I'm not properly hydrated. Hurts mainly in the back of my head. Never had it happen like the first time and none of these ones linger for more than a few minutes since I've "figured it out." It happens very infrequently.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Everyone who posted above is correct. Make sure your posture and most importantly your breathing is correct.

What is correct breathing? For heavy lifting like 1RM, especially like deadlifts, we will take in a breath, bear down with valsalva maneuver and activate all relevant musculature then attempt the lift. Did correcting your breathing mean not doing this during extended sets? Do I merely need to avoid this during anything other than Max attempts?

 

[DeckardBlade]

I will definitely do that.

Go to a PT first, even if you get the MRI, you can go to a PT once a week over a month out of pocket before what you'd pay for an MRI (with insurance covering it). Hospitals love to make money.

I'm comparing CAT scan prices to MRI but I recently had a coworker's husband get an MRI (for no reason since they found nothing wrong with him). It's 800-1000 USD with insurance covering it, unless you have some amazing insurance you're looking at a hell of a check either way.

 

[thirdeye]

I actually had this happen a few months ago. Turned out to be sinus congestion. Never had to deal with anything like that before, I wasn't stuffy or seemed congested, but when I went to the doctor's he took one look at my sinuses and told me to get on a decongestant and nasal sprays. After a few days it cleared up and no headaches while lifting since.

 

[Merithynos]

If your doctor wants you to get an MRI, get it...sometimes Arnold is wrong.

A couple years ago I was struggling with working out due to headaches and nausea whenever I lifted heavy. Turns out I had a tumor partially blocking the fourth ventricle, preventing CSF from draining properly into the spine and raising the intracranial pressure.

Not to scare you or anything, but it's always better to follow your doctor's advice.