Headaches

Hi everyone, I am 15 weeks pg tomorrow and have had a dull headache for pretty much the entire pregnancy. I posted about this a few weeks back in the 1st tri section but thought some ladies in here might have some other help to offer. I have been getting weekly chiro adjustments for the last couple of years and for about 6 months weekly (then fortnightly) acupuncture. They do help but only for a day or so and then it comes back again. I don't usually have a problem with headaches like this so I know it's pregnancy related. I really don't want to be popping panadol all the time and some times it doesn't do anything anyway :( I have been having 2 panadol about 2 x a week when I just can't handle the headache anymore (like at work). SO my question is has anyone else had this problem in pregnancy and what helped it? For me lying down seems to help but as soon as I get up again it is thumping with in 30 mins :( dh massages me regularly too but that doesn't seem to help either. Thanks

Oh hun :(

Do you get much water a day? I had a week long headache around that stage too and I found as soon as I upped my water intake it seemed to ease...Also certain foods might trigger hormones to go unbalanced, do you find after you eat something in particular it gets worse?

I would speak to your Obyn too hun, see what they can suggest

I was tripling my water intake in pregnancy for this reason. I would get REALLY dehydrated and short-circuit if i didn't have water all the time. Mid sentences I would start daydreaming and trail off so that's when I knew I didn't have enough to drink.

Hey Cherished :hello:

So sorry to hear you are having such bad headaches. I had them really badly too, then I upped my water intake and they mostly went away. I still have the odd one, but no where near what I was having.

Thanks girls, I do drink lots of water, around 2lts a day, maybe I should have even more... Eating actually helps them so I was thinking that maybe low blood sugar was the problem but I'm eating so much that hardly seems logical :confused: Than I thought maybe I was eating too much sugar cause I've been having more than I normally would in my diet, but then again eating is helping them so I honestly have no idea. I think I'll up the water even more and see if that makes a different. Thanks again :hug:

I've been having the same problem - I find that in addition to all of the above, sometimes it helps to use either a cold or warm pack (or cool damp facewasher or warm damp facewasher) either on the back of my neck or my forehead. Sometimes I end up with cool on my forehead and warm on my neck (or vice versa) and it really does help.

Good luck - these headaches are awful, I hope you get some relief soon!

i am kinda (and pardon the pun ahead!) feeling your pain lol! i too have started over the last 2 weeks to get dull yet consistent headaches. i do have an old shoulder injury though and am wondering if all the relaxin (or whatever hormone it is called!) is just jibbing up the muscles and they are not supporting my neck as well as they could IYKWIM? do you have any old injuries from ages ago that could be contributing?

Hi pinkukulele and :welcome: to BB :) thanks for posting, I will try the hot/cold pack next time, I seem to have gotten rid of the headache for the past 4 days (touch wood)!

Cas honey "oh noooooooooooooo"! I hope it doesn't stay around :( I don't have any old injuries as such but my neck is a problem area usually anyway... I hope mine stays around anyway.... But you could be right about he relaxin?

Thanks for the welcome Cherished!

I've been lurking for a little while but couldn't not post on this - headaches have been really bugging me, and I know how bad they are. I hope it stays away for you!

Hi.

I have been experiencing head aches - or migranes for the last few months. They arent' really apinful, just more annoying and start at my temple and go down to the back of my neck. I have also had low Blood Pressure too. I find resting, and cool showers to help. My Dr has given me panadene forte, and sleeping tablets, but neither really help. I had a sleeping tablet the other night (they are really weak) and all I ended up with was bad dreams and still no sleep, so it didnt help anyway.

I think sometimes we just have to wait it out, with all the increase in blood supply and hormones, there really isnt much we can do, without taking pain killers...and I don't like taking them anyway! But good luck, if you find anything that helps, let me know ;)

Headaches for me were dehydration, I found a nice soak in the bath with an icy pole & bottle of water helped.

Sometimes you just need sleep too, good un-interupted sleep.

What you said about your blood sugar sounds like something worth looking into. maybe you are getting too many refined sugars and are getting headaches when coming off a sugar high and then you crave more sugar etc etc.

Try some low GI foods next time you want sugar, maybe oats for breafast??

Progesterone can cause headaches. Women who have chronic migraines often find they have migraines more in the luteal phase of their cycle as that is when pregesterone is at its highest. Once pregnant progesterone is even higher then that so maybe its because of your pregnancy progesterone levels. Progesterone levels for memory do reduce towards the second half and third trimester of pregnancy. Not sure if that could be causing them but maybe its contributing to it especially if they have been there dull in the back ground for many weeks.

kungfubecca I hadn't thought a a soak in the bath to rehydrate but gosh it sounds great with a bottle of water and an icy pole!

Em I also hadn't thought of progesterone.... Does progesterone contiune to increase throughout pregnancy... If it does and that is the casue of the headaches I hope not!

An update... I have gone a whole 9 days without a headache :dance: I got a faint one of Friday but nothing more come of it Woohoo... Can't say that I've done anything differently though so it's still a bit of a mystery.

oh wow! that is good news on the headache front babe! sooo jealous LOL!

have had a shocker for the last 24 hours :wall:

I have been having really bad head aches lately, and I went to the Dr yesterday, and found out I am VERY low in iron...my level is 5, and it should be at 30 minimum, so maybe that has something to do with it too....I had to have a jab of iron yesterday, one tomorrow and then next Tuesday too...ggrrr they don't make me feel very good....:(

So maybe ask your Dr next time and see what they say....

Totally agree and wish i found this thread earlier. i too have had a headache the whole pg I think it stopped at 14 weeks but has come back again this week, i changed my pillow and now sleep slightly upright and find this is helping me, oh and also eating helps lol

GL

sleepy, that is interesting about the iron, I am vegetarian so have been on top of the iron issue, a month before I got pregnant I was 'just' under the ok range so I was deficient so I up'd my iron tablet to daily and have had 2 test so far and I am not deficient anymore, my 2 test were done through different labs and one said teh minimum was 10 and the other 9... My last result was 12 so I'm ok now. I thought 30 or 33 was the upper range of normal levels not the minimum????? I'm at work so can't check my paperwork but a couple of weeks ago my result was 12 and that is def ok... 5 is very low though :o I take Fefol

Cas you poor thing :hug: maybe get your iron checked too?

cherished1 - Thats just what my Dr said...I probably should research it a bit tho...altho I know 5 is super low....I have to get some iron tablets today, and Dr said to double my dose of 2 tablets a day. After I had the jab yesterday I did however get the runs *TMI I know, but it hasn't stopped this morning either......i'm just wondering if my body is taking in the iron or getting rid of it......

Sleepy: ahhh it could be the iron. i am anaemic with my levels barely hitting 3 at the best of times. i am on a legion of supplements, but maybe because i am so low the artificial stuff just doesnt fully cut it IYKWIM....hmmmm food for thought!

cherished: i *think* there are a few different ways to measure the iron. so with my GP he said they like to see around 25 to 30...but i have heard of other levels around the 12-13 mark being normal. so must be a diagnostic thing??

Well I never considered it until my Dr pointed it out yesterday. I have had the worst day today, no energy, very bad head aches - about to take some panadene forte - and have been very cranky. And apparently all signs of iron deficientcy. I have never had a problem with low iron before, so this is all new to me...never had it with any of my other pregnancies.....I just hope bubs is ok and born without the deficientcy. Apparently babies born with low iron can't feed properly, are very sleepy and wake all the time for more feeds cos they can't stay awake long enough to get a full feed....so my Dr is trying to fix it now....the only problem is that is gives me the runs, and hurts alot! lol Not looking forward to another jab tomorrow....:(

:think: hmmmmm I think we might all be onto something than girls ;) even my 'on the low side' iron could be the cause of my headaches but I don't have the bad moods to go with it... Maybe that's cause I'm on cloud 9 still for being pregnant :dance: Does low iron effect you more when you're pregnant because I didn't have these headaches when I was actually 'deficient' and before pregnancy. FYI I take Fefol everyday and my iron went from 9-12 in about 3 months (again I don't have the paperwork in front of me) I will get my levels tested again around that 28 week mark when I see my OB, if I take the results in with me he will be able to tell me if my iron i high enough, if it keeps increasing like it has been I should be ok.

I hope this iron mystery helps both of you girls xo

I hear you! I have been getting dreadful headaches for the past week. BP is fine...but I actually think it is sinus related. I know that during pregnancy all the mucus membranes swell up and secrete more mucus, which in the sinus can cause sinus headache. Keep up the panadol, and prehaps try and warm wheat bag across your eyes while you have a rest. But definetly talk to your dr about it next appt.

Sleepy I thought iron can make you constipated not give you the runs, it does sound like your body may not be absorbing it? I'd go back to your dr straight away? Hope it all settles down for you... My headaches have stopped now, maybe my iron is slowly creeping up to an exceptable range.

Thanks so much for everyone for posting in this thread, it does seem like low iron is a valid reason for the headaches considering 3 of us all have/had low iron.

It's not the iron itself that makes you constipated, it's the supplements. Some forms make you less consti than others, like the chelate form in Fabfol, as an example. Many iron-rich foods will give you the runs, like dried fruit.

cherished1 - Apparently iron tablets make you constipated, but jabs are differnet. Iron tablets aren't absorbed as quickly or as much as iron jabs. The jab goes straight into your blood stream, while tablets go into your stomach and get digested and so forth....but yeah the runs is normal, I asked my Dr....

Hope you are feeling better. I have now had 3 jabs, and have a bit more energy, but not as much as i would like to get everything organised! I feel like the baby will come and he won't have anything to wear, or blankets, only nappies....lol

Better get up and do something!