Severe headache when lifting

Punkrocker

Punkrocker

Well-known member
Alright guys I need some help. So my girlfriend wants to get into the gym and be healthy. She used to drink daily like a legitimate alcoholic(functioning). She went to work everyday and would come home and drink 3-4 beers after work every single day which in my opinion is alcoholism. I told her if she wants to be with me she's gotta knock it off which she did and she moved in with me. So, I put her on a diet and started a workout routine and the first week everything was great. She was prepping her meals, lifting doing cardio and she even noticed a difference in the first week, well second week rolls around and she got this debilitating headache from lifting. I took her to the hospital (it was the bad) and they gave her a CT scan to be sure it wasn't a brain bleed or something and everything checked out. Now, 2 days later we went to the gym tonight and the same thing happened. She's down and out right now on the couch and I gave her migraine medicine. If it doesn't improve in a couple hours I might take her to the hospital again. My question is do you guys think that since she hasn't had any alcohol in a couple weeks now that her blood isint thin anymore so now she's getting these headaches while she readjusts? CT scan looks good so it can't be an aneurysm or tumor etc. Vitals seem to be normal and I'm giving her oats and rice with her meals along with red meats and olive oils. I don't think it's a blood sugar issue either. The only thing I can think to do is routine blood work. Anybody have any ideas? I'm gonna take her to a doctor tomorrow but I'll probably get better info from you guys lol. I feel really bad she was so excited about her new workout life and tonight she started crying because she can't lift without getting these awful headaches. I gotta fix this asap
 
This is so crazy, I literally just been experiencing this... I do sometimes get pretty bad headaches when I lift but I can deal with them... but on Monday I was deadlifting and it honestly felt like I was going to have an aneursym... massive pain up the back of my neck, head felt like it was swelling, pain in my eyes and general sickness feeling. It was horrible and it lingered until about 6pm yesterday, I tried working out again and it came back and has fucked me up since then.

The thing is, on saturday I got absolutely wasted for a mates 30th, like drinking shots, cider, burbon, cocktails until about 4am... so I suspect it is the lingering effects of that. I have had today off, I feel better... still have full?? ears feeling and a bit of pressure, but nothing like before.
 
Sparta12 said:
The only thing I can think of is exacerbated exertion headache due to alcohol
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Interesting...but from what I'm seeing you drank only a few days before your headache where as my girl hasn't had alcohol in 2 weeks now maybe even 3. Also the first week she didn't get the headaches. 🤔 I gotta fix this
 
Punkrocker said:
Interesting...but from what I'm seeing you drank only a few days before your headache where as my girl hasn't had alcohol in 2 weeks now maybe even 3. Also the first week she didn't get the headaches. 🤔 I gotta fix this
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Yeah could have been a build up though, like maybe the alcohol damage still needing time to reverse what has been done, especially if the drs cannot find anything atm. Up the water, cold shower or a cold cloth on the head and see how she feels, might need to see a chiro/osteo/myo or whatever and work on the neck, she might have a lot of tension there that could contribute
 
Sparta12 said:
The only thing I can think of is exacerbated exertion headache due to alcohol
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I use to drink 20 drinks a night but the following day I'd hit the gym and it would make me feel better. After quitting drinking I didn't experience any issues.
Sparta12 said:
Yeah could have been a build up though, like maybe the alcohol damage still needing time to reverse what has been done, especially if the drs cannot find anything atm. Up the water, cold shower or a cold cloth on the head and see how she feels, might need to see a chiro/osteo/myo or whatever and work on the neck, she might have a lot of tension there that could contribute
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I really think your waaaayyyy off,

I'm thinking she's dehydrated on a daily basis because most ppl in general are. If your dehydrated you can get higher bp and while exercising it might jack up through the roof.

Not a gurentee this is the answer but I'm saying it's a strong possibility
 
And 3-4 beers a day might be a drinking problem but it's not causing serious damage. 3-4 beers a day is a fraction of what most alcoholics drink for 10, 20,30,40 years straight
 
I'm not a expert on alcoholism and long term damage, but I am a X alcoholic and pretty much my entire family and extended family are still alcoholics, I train with a lot of ppl who had drinking problems and I've never heard a single person get this issue, and these ppl are drinking more in a week then this girl drinks in 6 months
 
Smont said:
I use to drink 20 drinks a night but the following day I'd hit the gym and it would make me feel better. After quitting drinking I didn't experience any issues.

I really think your waaaayyyy off,

I'm thinking she's dehydrated on a daily basis because most ppl in general are. If your dehydrated you can get higher bp and while exercising it might jack up through the roof.

Not a gurentee this is the answer but I'm saying it's a strong possibility
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I am not saying she is anything, was just giving my experience... and you say way off but I mentioned drink water as did you :P

I drink massive amounts of water, I have watched tons of videos on hydration just recently one on the huberman podcast and STILL get those headaches every now and then... but yeah I was just saying maybe there was some connection between my massive binge and her apparenty alcoholism and the bad headaches...
 
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Smont said:
I use to drink 20 drinks a night but the following day I'd hit the gym and it would make me feel better. After quitting drinking I didn't experience any issues.

I really think your waaaayyyy off,

I'm thinking she's dehydrated on a daily basis because most ppl in general are. If your dehydrated you can get higher bp and while exercising it might jack up through the roof.

Not a gurentee this is the answer but I'm saying it's a strong possibility
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Definitely considering dehydration. Also, 30grams of alcohol is all that's needed to thin the blood which is approximately 2 beers and she was drinking 3-4 daily. Alcoholism is the dependence on alcohol whether you're drinking a 30 pack a day or just having a few. Now that's she's off the stuff she craves it now and again but she's staying strong and not drinking and I'm so proud of her for that. She really wants the gym to replace her old habits which is why she's so upset about this situation. I gotta find out what's going on and fix it pronto.
 
Punkrocker said:
Definitely considering dehydration. Also, 30grams of alcohol is all that's needed to thin the blood which is approximately 2 beers and she was drinking 3-4 daily. Alcoholism is the dependence on alcohol whether you're drinking a 30 pack a day or just having a few. Now that's she's off the stuff she craves it now and again but she's staying strong and not drinking and I'm so proud of her for that. She really wants the gym to replace her old habits which is why she's so upset about this situation. I gotta find out what's going on and fix it pronto.
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I know what the definition of alcoholism is, I'm a alcoholic lol. If you drink 1 day a week but it's always on a Friday or the same day every week yiur still a alcoholic because you have to drink on that day every week. Might not be physically dependent on it but if you always do it on the same day every week it's a habit. Doesn't mean it's a bad thing to have a few on the weekends or something but It doesn't change the fact that the person has nlmade it a habit

Anyways that thing about the amount of alcohol to thin the blood and all that is really a hundred percent irrrelevant to this conversation. I gave my 2 cents, highly unlikely her headaches are from a 3-4 beer habit that she stopped 2 weeks ago. My alcohol cravings stopped after 2-3 weeks if that helps any and that's when I went back to eating and training hard. So she might be on the cusp of that. But at 3-4 beers a day I can't even imagine the body gets serious alcohol withdrawal. When I quit I spent the first 5 days with my shirt off pressed against a cold wall because cold felt good. Not a pleasant experience. But again, I was 20+ drinks a day. I'm lucky my organs didn't shutdown when I quit
 
Smont said:
I know what the definition of alcoholism is, I'm a alcoholic lol. If you drink 1 day a week but it's always on a Friday or the same day every week yiur still a alcoholic because you have to drink on that day every week. Might not be physically dependent on it but if you always do it on the same day every week it's a habit. Doesn't mean it's a bad thing to have a few on the weekends or something but It doesn't change the fact that the person has nlmade it a habit

Anyways that thing about the amount of alcohol to thin the blood and all that is really a hundred percent irrrelevant to this conversation. I gave my 2 cents, highly unlikely her headaches are from a 3-4 beer habit that she stopped 2 weeks ago. My alcohol cravings stopped after 2-3 weeks if that helps any and that's when I went back to eating and training hard. So she might be on the cusp of that. But at 3-4 beers a day I can't even imagine the body gets serious alcohol withdrawal. When I quit I spent the first 5 days with my shirt off pressed against a cold wall because cold felt good. Not a pleasant experience. But again, I was 20+ drinks a day. I'm lucky my organs didn't shutdown when I quit
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I'm not saying she's going through alcohol withdrawal. What I'm saying is do you think it could be possible that if she was consistently drinking 3-4 beers daily which would be having her blood in a thinner state possibly be the cause of her headaches seeing as she abruptly stopped drinking so now her blood is a bit thicker since there is no more alcohol in her system so now she needs to readjust? In theory it makes sense.
 
Punkrocker said:
I'm not saying she's going through alcohol withdrawal. What I'm saying is do you think it could be possible that if she was consistently drinking 3-4 beers daily which would be having her blood in a thinner state possibly be the cause of her headaches seeing as she abruptly stopped drinking so now her blood is a bit thicker since there is no more alcohol in her system so now she needs to readjust? In theory it makes sense.
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No, I don't think it's even slightly possible, the human body autoregulates. I dont think drinking or alcohol has anything to do with the situation at all.

I do meal plans for a guy who's a drug and alcohol counselor and his wife is a nurse at the rehabfacility. I can ask them that question, might be something they know more about.
 
Smont said:
Did she start drinking a shitvload of coffee after stopping drinking??
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Nope just regular as usual. I got her doing egg whites, oats, chicken breast, lean ground beef and some rice and veggies. All measured out high protein moderate carb low fat. She gets 2 cheat meals a week which we do every 4 days we go out and get burgers or tacos. Everything was going great until this headache thing happened. I'm gonna take her to a doctor tomorrow and ask him some questions about it and what else this could possibly be
 
Localaxis said:
Any updates on her?
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I'm getting her bloodwork done tomorrow. CBC metabolic panel, hormones thyroid cholesterol etc the works. Gonna see what that shows. I spoke with another MD about her situation who told me that he said it would be extremely rare for someone her age to have an unruptred aneurism. We'll see what her bloodwork says and then I'll probably go ahead and get her an MRI with contrast just to rule out anything risky. She's ok for now but avoiding the gym until we think it's ok to start again
 
Punkrocker said:
I'm getting her bloodwork done tomorrow. CBC metabolic panel, hormones thyroid cholesterol etc the works. Gonna see what that shows. I spoke with another MD about her situation who told me that he said it would be extremely rare for someone her age to have an unruptred aneurism. We'll see what her bloodwork says and then I'll probably go ahead and get her an MRI with contrast just to rule out anything risky. She's ok for now but avoiding the gym until we think it's ok to start again
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What about alcohol, did she quit it for good?
 
What kind of headache is it and what excercise was he doing when it happened? I'm going to guess that since the scans showed nothing, its a cervicogenic tension headache. Take a look at the photos on this page to figure out what muscles are responsible. Invalid Link Removed

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TUNAA said:
What kind of headache is it and what excercise was he doing when it happened? I'm going to guess that since the scans showed nothing, its a cervicogenic tension headache. Take a look at the photos on this page to figure out what muscles are responsible. Invalid Link Removed

View attachment 233945
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Wow! This is super helpful! Actually past 2 days she's been in the gym with me and when we did arms she had no headache however when we did shoulders she was complaining of seeing spots, but no headache. I'm gonna go over this with her. Thanks bro!!
 
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