My wife did a race this weekend and approximately 1 hour after the race she had an intense migraine with pain centered in the back of head at the base of her skull. These migraines seem to happen with continued frequency after intense exercise. She does not have them after a normal workout. Only after a race where the exertion level is topped out. Anyone else experience this. Any advice. She is thinking retirement is her only option.
First off, has she seen a doc about her migraines? That would be the first thing to recommend. I oftentimes get similar migraines- maybe just a little bit less severe than what you are describing with your wife. I spoke to my neurologist and family doc about it and both of them said that it was most likely dehydration induced and that I needed to drink more fluids while training and racing. Even in doing that, if it is a hot and dry enough day, or my ride/run is long enough, I seem to not be able to keep up and the inevitable migraine hits. Diet also can play a role, particularly on caffeine ingestion. The only way I have figured out how to deal with it is to race/train with the assumption that I may have a migraine after the event, so I always pack for a race accordingly. I take imitrex and it is always with me at a race at the transition area and in my bike bag on the ride. Guess this doesn’t help much but your wife is not alone.
My wife get this sometimes but usually when it’s very hot. We have found that a cold compress on the back of the neck immediately after exercise seems to control it. Good luck, hope it helps.
J
My wife has an appt to see a doc tomorrow. As far as diet, hydration and caffiene - she is a bit of health nut to say the least. She eats a healthy diet, is constantly drinking water, and has no caffiene in her diet. I originally thought it was a hydration issue, but she drinks so much water that does not appear to be an issue.
I used to get headaches at the back of my head after hard races (I am a roadie). This is because the muscles on the back of my neck/shoulders/top of my head are holding my head up and back for the entire race, they get tired and taut and put pressure on your head, giving you a headache. Go see an osteopath like I did, they’ll pop your back a few times and you’ll be fine. A good way to tell whether this is the cause is if you have really stringy, tight, tough looking muscles around the back of your neck/shoulder area.
Only a possibility though, hope this helps.
For me it’s not necessarily hydration proper, but loss of electrolytes. The last marathon I did, I could feel one trying to start up around mile 10, but grabbing pretzels at every aid station that offered them let me get enough salt back in me to keep it from developing into a full-blown headache.
If you’re sweating a lot of salt out, you need to put enough of it back in your body (unless you’ve got hypertension issues, in which case, consult your physician for guidelines, blah, blah)
Low sodium diets can actually screw you up if you exercise in hot & humid conditions for long periods of time. I’ve never been the one to go for salt tabs, but I have messed around with real foods a bit trying to get the nutrition right. Favorite everyday food with lots of sodium- canned tomato soup (a recommendation of a track coach friend of mine. it really does seem to help) favorite emergency salty snack- Combos.
I get the same type of migraine. Mine is diet (salt/water) balance I sweat out a lot of salt on hot days. It took a while to figure out as I drink coffee as well. I had a bad one on Sunday it was hotter than I thought.
Good luck but for sure get it looked after!
Rick