Swimming headache?

Ever get one of these? This is probably the 4th or 5th time in about 7 years of swimming/triathloning that I have developed a splitting headache while swimming. The first time it happened I remember standing in the shower in the locker room thinking I was going to passout. I thought I was going to have to sit down right there in the shower. That would have looked weird. I made it to the locker room and just sat on a bench for a while until things started clearing up. Don’t remember how long those symptoms lasted.

Today I was just planning to do about 2K, with a continuous 1.5K alternating between easy/tempo/hard 75’s. On my first hard 75 I started feeling “not right”. I decided to press on and the discomfort steadily escalated. I limped along to 1k and then threw in the towel. My symptoms were the headache, lightheadedness and mild nausea.

It’s now an hour later, still with a mild head and a little nausea, oh and kind of a stiff neck. Sipping some gatorade, since water is now “bad” for you but that’s a different thread.

Anyway, have you ever experienced anything like this? It seems to be a pretty random event. Lot’s of things I can think of that might be contributory: just switched to swedish goggles, not much sleep last night, pretty nasty fast-food chinese lunch, maybe dehydrated, maybe psychosomatic… I don’t know, but I sure as hell know I don’t want it to happen again.

If this would have happened during a race, I would have been done. Just walking back to my house was uncomfortable, I couldn’t imagine getting on a bike feeling like that.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I sometimes have the same problem. One of the main causes seems to be a freshly (heavily) chlorinated pool. (I usually don’t realize it until the next day when the laundry room where my Speedos are drying out reeks of chlorine.) After just a few hundred yards, I start developing a headache that gets worse and worse, until I just give up and get out of there.

I also notice that fatigue and dehydration seem to be contributors. If I’m tired from previous workouts, or just a long day, I struggle to maintain form and realy tense up, which seems to generate a headache either from the stress or the tense neck/shoulder muscles.

Since it is so random, maybe you should just call it a day when you feel one coming on. It could be any or more of those factors you mentioned. I used to get headaches all the time til I got on high blood pressure medicine, but that’s another story. I know those headaches can scare the hell out of you tho.

Good luck.

I’ve had that happen to me from time to time. For me, I think it was related to water temperature. If the water is too cold, it gives me an incredible headache. It’s even worse if I go directly from a cold pool to a warm shower.