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I used to drink a lot of coffee and tea to beat the headaches as you describe but have found recently that this doesn’t work for me any more. I used to have to drink it at a certain point in my routine of water/food and if i had got everything right i would be fine but if i got it wrong i would give myself a headache for the rest of the day. Ibuprofen works a little for me.

I would describe the headaches as feeling like being hung over, but i dont drink alcohol anymore.

I think this might be caused by blood sugar levels. Do any of you guys have an official diagnosis? Doctors can be so unhelpful, generally i find unless you are really pushy with them, or direct they will fob you off and think that you are making it up. It would be really reassuring to have some kind of label to put on these headaches.

Today was the first time I took a freezing cold shower in response to a headache and it was amazing. Actually, I was a little in shock that I felt so terrific after the shower; I was almost in denial. But (happy dance) it worked.

I agree there’s something there in terms of getting “secretly” dehydrated the day before. You never notice it until it’s too late (i.e. the next day when you have the headache or when going to bed, suddenly realizing and trying to guzzle as much water as possible).

I totally agree with the food/water paradox – that it can be important prior to getting the headache (important to stay hydrated, avoiding potential trigger foods), doesn’t really help once you have the headache (or can even exacerbate) and, once the headache’s over, hunger comes on as if you’re trying to make up for what you haven’t really been able to eat while the headache was present. Interestingly, I fast once a year from sunrise to sunset for many days in a row. Originally I thought this would give me headaches but I actually rarely get them during the fasting period. And so I do think it depends on *what* I eat and so I avoid certain foods but I have a feeling that, for me, artificial flavors/colors/MSG/chemicals are best to avoid. I think David Buchholz’s book (http://amzn.to/9Ay6Pn) on diet and headaches is worth checking out.

Agree that ibuprofen but not the other drugs seems to work best.

I will definitely keep protein in mind as I recover from my headaches. I also usually add a bit of juice to my water to try to make it isosmotic with my body fluids…but I have no good evidence that this is better.

Sad thing is the weather is now warming up and the tap water isn’t as cold anymore! Time to (unfortunately) crank the AC! Also, we have a baby on the way and my wife is always speculating with a bit of a grin how I’m going to be totally incapacitated by headaches once it’s born, unable to do my share of chores and duties. We will see!

I get these morning headaches often and have found similar methods to knock them out. I actually have one this morning as I write this and dealing with it while “stuck at work”. For the last hour or so, I’ve been looking for a way to escape and get a bag of ice or something cold to settle this thing down. Uggg, I hate this…(but then, thankfully, stumbled onto your blog!)

I’m curious now on finding out more information on how to prevent them all together.

From my experiences, they tend to occur if I was very physically active the previous day and likely didn’t get enough water to drink and/or got too much sun. I don’t have a great thirst response and find that I sometimes get less thirsty after a certain point of long-term exercise. Not good. (Yesterday, I was hiking about the city carrying my 3 year old on my shoulders (35lbs) for a few hours. Nothing exceptionally strenuous at the time and I didn’t have a headache then, but I tend to always feel it the NEXT morning with a headache like this.)

Some clues to this possible dehydration you kind of touched on when you mentioned feeling “overheated, puffy, thirsty” when awaking. I have the same symptoms when my headaches hit. I also have a bit of nausea, slight balance issues, eye ache/pain/pressure, tightness at the base of the skull, and sensitivity to light. Some of these symptoms are similar to migraines, but I think these are really tension headaches. What’s odd is that you would think that drinking water would help, but often it doesn’t(at least not initially) and it feels leaching to me. Maybe it’s a salt imbalance or other electrolyte issue?

For me, it feels like the headache is a “block” to allowing my body to eat and drink. Once the headache is knocked out, I’m usually very ravenous and thirsty and my body will accept these things without penality. However, if I am to eat or drink while having the headache, it will only make it worse; usually MUCH worse to the point where the whole day might be shot. It’s interesting that your four steps tend to imply this logic since you battle the headache first, then go on to drinking coffee, eating breakfast, etc. I have hypoglycemic tendencies, so it’s easy for me to feel like I’ve “skipped a meal” if my exertion levels are higher than normal.

A few things that have helped me are very similar to your recommendations:

1. Ibuprofen is the miracle drug for these headaches, but I have some digestive issues (IBS, Leaky Gut) and they recommend to not take them as it makes these conditions worse. So, I used to take like 3 or 4 as you suggested, but now I just take 1 or 2 to take the edge off and find other ways to combat the headache. I find that Tylenol, Aleve, Asprin do nothing for my headaches.

2. Ok, the cold water trick. Yes, I used to dunk my whole head in the sink or under the bath spigot with cold water blasting. Instant relief and I often find my nausea would often turn into extreme hunger(blood sugar issue?). Sometimes I find it better to keep the head cold and the body warm, but will be trying your all-cold water technique to see if I find any improvement. (Maybe I’ve just been too much of a wimp to try full-on cold water, but it sounds like you got great results from it, so certainly worth trying.)

For a really bad one, I find that alternating cold and warm(not too hot) in the shower would help loosen up the tension a bit, especially in the neck and shoulders. Also, cold packs/cold damp towel on the back of the head or neck really helps while working through it, or just to keep it down.

If my eye pain, nausea, light sensitivity is bad, then I find lying down for about 15-30 minutes with an ice pack on the back of the head/neck and one on the top of the forehead covering the eyes(to also block out the light) can help.

3. After the cold therapy, and once the nausea subsides, I usually feel very hungry, but I tend to crave certain foods. Anything cold that is high in protein with fat, sugar or salt. Here are some staples for me:

* Coffee Ice Cream – The coldness, with the caffeine and the ibuprofen are all working hard to knock this thing out. Make sure the coffee ice cream is made from espresso or it may not be too effective. Good second choice is a Starbuck Frappicino.

* Cottage Cheese – Again, the protein with some fat and salt seems to help. (cottage cheese is high in sodium and I even like it with some soy sauce(more salt); try it, you might be surprised how good it is)

4. I can’t do crazy amounts of strong coffee since it wires me up too much, but agree that it helps a lot. I like the colder alternatives in coffee icecream or a Frappicino as they have just enough caffeine to be effective for me.

5. Drink water(rehydrate), but slowly. I find that rebuilding my fluids helps, but do it slowly as I suspect my electrolytes are off and need rebalancing. I find that trying to fix too many things at once can make it worse. Maybe something like gatorade is better initally, but I haven’t really tried it specifically to know if it’s better or not than just plain water.

Final thoughts
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I agree with all your tips on staying cold and avoiding things that make you hot. They help a lot.

So, what does this all mean? From my experiences, there is certainly an element of over-exertion to these headaches:
* dehydration (imbalance with salts, water that effect blood pressure?)
* possible mild heat exhaustion or heat-stroke. See: http://www.medicinenet.com/heat_exhaustion/article.htm
* Low blood sugar (nausea that turns to hunger when headache is fixed)
* Lack of protein/fat (cravings for rich dairy)

I’m curious now if we can “fix” these headaches before they happen. If we took the cold shower the night before and made better efforts to rehydrate/salts, would that help? I notice that when I have over-exerted myself, I tend to feel slightly hot and flushed (with no headache) the night before. Maybe that is the sign that I’m already dehydrated and the headache is coming…

Great discussion, I’d love to learn more!