Going up a Hill and Getting Almost Debilitating Brain Pain!

There was a very short and very steep hill about 1.5 miles into my ride today. I have had to walk up that hill in the past, but today I finally was able to ride up the hill. I both sat and stood up to climb up the hill. (I am working on learning to stand up for some of the steeper hills -- it seems to help increase my average speed.)

But today, OMG, during that climb I got the worst pain in my head. It felt like my brain exploded!. It was so awful I wanted to get off the bike and cry, but decided to continue on anyway hoping it might go away. (As usual my books as usual were overdue and I wanted to go the library.) I continued on and 6 minutes later it was as if I never had any head pain at all and the rest of my ride was very enjoyable.

My ride was 19 miles long. On the way home around 12 miles and 16 miles there are two steep hills that are almost identical to the one I got the head pain from, yet I didn't have any problem when I rode up those hills.

I drank 12 oz of an energy drink (Rockstar) right before I left. At 6 miles I drank 12 oz of Gatorade. At 13 miles I drank 20 oz of an electrolyte drink. I didn't have anything to eat, but did fine.

So what caused that awful head pain? The energy drink? If it was, could the energy used climbing that hill drained the energy drink out of my system?

How can I prevent head pain from that from ever happening again?

I have a headache right now, but I get ones like this one quite frequently so it's not unusual. I have gone to many doctors regarding this but no one has ever found anything wrong. I just take some Ibuprofen and it goes away.

Kathy

What is in the energy drink?

Have you been to a neurologist who specializes in headaches?

P.s. did you literally chug 12 ounces and later chug 20 ounces? I would not be able to do that.

Ingredients: Water Carbonated, Fruit Juice Concentrates (Blenched Vermicelli, of, Apples, Pears, and, Guava Juice), Sucrose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Flavors Natural, Pectin, Benzoic Acid, Caffeine, Sorbic Acid, Acesulfame Potassium, Sucralose, L Carnitine, Inositol, Milk Thistle Extract, Niacinamide Vitamin B3, Calcium Pantothenate, Ginkgo Ginko Biloba Leaf Extract, Arabic Gum, Guarana Seed Extract, Sodium Benzoate, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride HCl, Red 40, Ester Gum, Yellow 6, Cyanocobalamin Vitamin B12

Nutritional Values:
Serving Size: 8 fl oz.
Servings Per Container: 2
calories: 90
calories from fat: 0
total calories per container: 180
total fat 0g
saturated fat: 0g
trans fat 0g
cholesterol: 0 mg
sodium: 30mg
potassium 0mg
total carbohydrate: 21g
dietary fiber: 0g
sugars: 20g
protein 0g
niacin 100%
vitamin b12 100%
vitamin b6 100%

I only drank 1 servings (8 oz) before I left.

I just read that Guava, although rare, can cause headaches.

I drank a different type RockStar Energy drink in the past that didn't have Guava or Ginseng in it and had no problem, but I never rode up that hill either.

I have been to neurologist after neurologist. They have done cat scans, MRIs, stress tests, eye exams, etc, and never found a thing.

And yep, I did chug all that down. I stop and rest and drink it. When I took my jersey and bike shorts off after the ride, they were so soaked with sweat :eek: that you would think I had just taken them out of the washer. When one is riding in 85 degree heat with a heat index around 90; you need all the liquid you can drink. I found if I don't drink a lot of liquid and have a lot salt, then I do get headaches.

I don't know about the headaches, but I would avoid drinks with all of that sugar and crap in them. For very hot weather, pre-hydrate a bit with water and up your salt intake a little, eat bananas.
For electrolytes, I prefer Nuun tablets, the kind that have no additives and are called Nuun Natural. They are pretty cheap. I only use Skratch Lab mix for my "sports drink." It's expensive, but no after taste, no bad crap in it, and it doesn't gunk up your bottles. Gatorade is poison. I used Accelerade for years, and it hurt my stomach.
For a 19 mile ride, you shouldn't need that much liquid. Yes, you need to drink more when it's hot, but be careful. I did a 35 mile ride in similar conditions on Wednesday and I had one bottle of Skratch mix and one of water, along with a couple of Shot Blocks. I would keep my hydration and nutrition to things that are as natural as possible. I remember someone posting a recipe for a home made drink mix, you might want to search for.

I'd be afraid it's blood pressure related. Ton of caffeine plus hard exertion ... And just perhaps, since it happened when you weren't warmed up but not after you were, a sudden increase in blood pressure?

But yeah, those artificial sweeteners trigger headaches in a lot of people, too.

Blood pressure . . . I never thought of that. I naturally have really low blood pressure and I imagine that energy to get up that hill shot it sky high!

Crankin,

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eat bananas.

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I eat lots of bananas whether I am not riding or going riding even if they get too ripe. LOL

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For electrolytes, I prefer Nuun tablets, the kind that have no additives and are called Nuun Natural.

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I am going to try these now!!!!

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Skratch Lab mix for my "sports drink."

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I think I will order this from Amazon. I don't remember seeing it at the bike store.

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For a 19 mile ride, you shouldn't need that much liquid.

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Normally I don't think I would drink that much water but yesterday it was so hot and I knew I would be very thirsty. I think I could have drunk twice that amount but then I would have had to go to the bathroom too much! I hate going potty when my bike pants are soaked with sweat! They are so hard to pull down and pull back up again!

I did give up all the fake protein energy bars. I made myself a mix of unsalted almonds (getting roasted and salted once these are used up), salted sunflower seeds, pecans (we had them in the house), and raisins. It really worked! I didn't have any dried fruit (i.e. apricots, banana chips, apple chips, etc) but plan to add them to the mix. On longer rides I also eat a hard boiled egg with salt and pepper. I also eat an orange and apple somewhere during a ride too.

I found if I don't eat right or don't drink enough water I do get very bad headaches.

I don't think it's the drink, necessarily, but I'd be willing to put money on blood pressure being part of it.

Muirenn, if I remember correctly, OP has had a concussion in the not-so-distant past...

I notice that you drank all sport drinks, but no plain water. Could be simply a matter of electrolyte overload without enough simple water to help the electrolytes do their job. A really jerky guy I know pounded Endurolytes in Death Valley without adequate water...which can have the reverse of the effect he was going for. He ended up sick all night and eventually was taken via ambulance to the nearest hospital. Granted, a LOT of his behavior was likely drama, since that was pretty much his MO (that and telling everyone that their equipment is crap and they'd be faster with XYZ components, etc.). He's since quit riding after his poor judgement led to him crashing hard a year ago and suffering a concussion.

I forgot to mention because I drink so much I dilute the sport drink with a lot of water, plus one of the water bottles is filled with plain tap water . . . except I didn't do that energy one like that the day of the headache.

A couple of years ago, I had a biking horrible accident. I had a concussion with bleeding on the brain, amongst the broken ribs, collar and shoulder bones.

In February of this year I was carrying some groceries up the stairs. They weren't in a bag or anything and a box started to fall. I tried to grab it, lost my balance, fell down the stairs, and hit my head on the floor. I blacked out of for few seconds. Just to be safe, my SO called an ambulance and off to the hospital I went. They scanned my head and didn't find anything so everything has healed from the the previous accident and no damage was caused by the falling down the stairs.

Thanks for asking.

I am not sure how much liquid I need to drink on a ride. When I am home and not doing anything, I drink nearly 32 oz of ice water in the morning, 32 oz of ice water n the afternoon, and about 16 or more oz of water after supper. This liquid doesn't include the juice or milk I might drink during the day. And yeah, I get up twice during the night to go the bathroom. So I am not sure if drinking that much water while riding is that strange for me.

I am going to try your recommendations though.

60 mile ride today! Exhausting, but no problems with the headaches. I didn't drink the remaining part of my energy drink and I avoided that hill. And no headaches. Well, the frustration headache of getting lost too many times. LOL! At least I know the route now and maybe will try it again. The dang ride should have been around 47 miles!