Intense headaches after rides

[Serendipity]

Ana - as a fellow migraine sufferer, I feel your pain - literally & figuratively!

On a few occasions I have had to ride without my goggles. After, I had such excruciating headaches that I realized there is a connection between riding without the eye protection and the headaches....maybe something to do with the wind. Not sure what it is, but now I make sure I am never without good eye protection. Might be something worth considering.

Oh, and Ana...j'aime bien ma bicyclette aussi!!!

[Ana]

Another thought just occurred to me: could it be that I'm getting too much impact on my hands/arms/shoulders which induces headaches? I've ridden on my trainer for long periods of time during the winter but never had the headache problem.

My frame is made out of aluminum and I did just replace my carbon seatpost with an aluminum one...

I wonder if I should see a bicycle fitter or a doctor first

[KnottedYet]

Another thought just occurred to me: could it be that I'm getting too much impact on my hands/arms/shoulders which induces headaches? I've ridden on my trainer for long periods of time during the winter but never had the headache problem.
...

I wonder if I should see a bicycle fitter or a doctor first

Bike fitter or PT with bike fit experience, to figure out why you lock your elbows when you ride. (I doubt it's the aluminum's fault)

[Ana]

These angels exist? How would I go about trying to find one (asking around comes to mind...)?

Has anyone seen a physical therapist with bike fitting experience? What was it like? Did it help?

[KnottedYet]

Try calling sports med clinics and asking if they know PTs who do bike fitting. Also call some LBSs and ask if they can recommend a PT. Check with U of M's medical folks, too.

Michael Sylvester trains bike fitters all across the country, you could try contacting him and ask if he has any trainees in the A2 area. www.bicyclefittingservices.com He has a strongly PT-oriented approach to bike fit.

[spindizzy]

I get horrible exercise induced migraines. I had a horrible one after my last duathlon. I also get just regular run-of-the-mill migraines if I don't eat/hydrate regularily or if I don't get enough sleep or right before my period.

One common denominator for me is sun. if I've done nine holes on a bright sunny day, or if I've raced - headache. That's even with food, hydration, hat and sunglasses. I've tried every pain killer known to man, even tried it before I've participated in activity. Now I just bring my migraine med with me and when I start to feel a twinge, I succumb to drugs. I've just lost too many hours in my life dealing with the pain and non-medicinal methods that weren't helpful.

I hope you find a solution for yours.

[kenyonchris]

I work in the sun, bike in the sun, ride (horses) in the sun, and run in the sun...and I used to get exercise-induced headaches, which I treated with ibuprofen, and which eventually went away. Beyond this, I ignored it, and carried on.

And then I had a stroke. At 37 years old, 15 percent body fat, never smoked, never took hormones, low cholesterol, very low blood pressure. No family history of stroke. It was fortunatly, a small stroke...a 9mm. bleed. I was the healthiest, perkiest, hungriest, and eventually, grumpiest person in ICU for SIX DAYS while they thinned my blood to an acceptable level. They then poked, prodded, tested, retested, scanned, photographed, radiographed, and did nameless other things to me to try to diagnose WHY it happened (I was sitting in bed at the time, talking to my husband about the day)...

...and finally (eight months later) chalked it up to the exercise induced headaches. So they put me on Topamax, which is an antiseizure meds that it used to treat migranes as well. Super, but it has side effects, one of which is that it keeps your heart rate low, so exercise can be tricky. Running was a nightmare. I finally decided to try to treat the exercise induced headache BEFORE it happened rather than spend my life chemically supressing it with Topamax (which my neurologist calls Dopamax...it does make some people stupid). He didn't care how I did it, but he was adamant...NO MORE HEADACHES.

SO...I have great Specialized polarized sunglasses for riding the bike. I also run in them...so that they don't squeeze my head I wear a bandanna. I also don't wear a ball cap anymore. I keep hydrated and all the other things that contribute to sun-related headaches, or exercise headaches...but my bigger point is....

DON'T IGNORE CHRONIC EXERCISE HEADACHES. Granted, strokes related to headaches are rare (the fact that I was peered at my many a-specialist attests to that) but if they persist, check with your doctor. I also take an aspirin a day to keep my blood thinner (much better than the Lovenox I injected into my stomach twice a day for four months), and my neurologist says that thinner blood will also help prevent the exercise related headaches.

I am totally drug free now (yay!!) except the aspirin...

[Ana]

Wow, that's scary stuff...maybe I'll pop a baby aspirin before I leave and make sure I eat before I go and drink lots of water.

If it happens again, I will go see a doctor about it Currently, I'm looking into a physical therapist with bike fitting experience.

[Eden]

just a thought - but another thing that you won't have on your trainer, but would on the road is your helmet... is it possible that it presses on a trigger point and gives you headaches (or maybe it is adjusted too tight? I tend to crank mine down and have induced headaches this way.)

[Ana]

Oh, that's a good point!

Has anyone else gotten headaches from their wearing their helmets for long periods of time?

I wear it to commute and ride around town but my commute was only 15-20 minutes and now it's 10-15 minutes.

Maybe I'll wear it around the house for a while....lol. My housemates will thing I'm nuts!

[kenyonchris]

my neurologist put the nix on ballcaps for me...or anything that constricts my head. When you exercise, if your helmet (or ballcap) is too tight, it may get even tighter, or constrict the flow of blood.
I am picky about my bike and riding helmet...I have a very nice (and expensive) Specialized helmet...for me, it fit the very best, and is very adjustable, and doesn't squeeze my head. I have a less expensive but irritatingly poor fitting helmet for my MTB...I am never on it for the extended periods of time I like I am on my RB...but the times I have worn the MTB helmet on my RB, it has given me a headache.
Go for something with a broad sweatband...

[sundial]

You may have low glucose levels post workout which sometimes triggers headaches. Try eating a carb rich food within 30 minutes of your workout and see if that helps.

[NadiaMac]

this might seem kind of obvious, but are you skipping your normal caffeinated drinks prior to or during riding? this issue came up on the velogirls list, and it emerged that the headache-afflicted woman was skipping her normal morning latte prior to riding because she thought it was too heavy to consume before exercising. Then she got massive caffeine deprivation headaches after a couple of hours of riding. Apparently others have observed this phenomenon when they went for long rides w/ no caffeine when they normally suck down coffee/diet coke all day long.

personally, I get bad headaches from squinting in the sunlight and dehydration also seems to trigger my migraines (as noted by others above).

[tulip]

I hope you get your eyes checked pronto. Get good quality sunglasses. They don't have to be cycling specific, but they should protect from UVA and UVB rays (cheap ones usually don't and are worse than no sunglasses) and should also protect the sides of your eyes. They should also be made of polycarbonate--you don't want any shattering to go on around the eyes. There are lots of sports sunglasses out there that have these components. I like my Rx Tifosi sunglasses very much.

I used to think that plain water was fine for any ride under two hours. Then I started drinking electrolyte drinks (diluted) and felt so much better during and after rides, even shorter rides. It's also important to be hydrated throughout the day, not just before and during rides.

I've gotten headaches when my helmet's been too tight. My helmet has a little knob in the back that makes it easy to adjust the tightness. Very helpful.

I also would suggest that you see a doctor or neurologist in addition to getting your eyes taken care of. Just cover all the bases.

[Ana]

this might seem kind of obvious, but are you skipping your normal caffeinated drinks prior to or during riding?

More oddly, I don't really drink any caffeinated beverages (except in extreme cases).

Glasses should be polycarbonate--the frames or lenses (or both)? I'm drooling over new cycling glasses but they are not prescription

Eye appointment on October 1! I'm excited. I'm trying to decide whether I want to spend the extra and opt for contacts...but I'm not sure whether I want to have to deal with the cleaning, the solution, touching my eye....