Headache when empty stomach or after jogging

by anonymous

Hi,

My age is 35 and I experience headaches upon the following 2 conditions:

(1) If I remain empty stomach for a long period of time.
(Prevention) I usually prevent it by carrying some chocolate bars etc with me and eat it whenever I feel I am crossing my hunger threshold limit.

(2) After jogging:
Since past 1 year, I experince headaches after jogging or exercises. Simple walks or slow swimming do not cause a headache.
But jogging, fast paced swimming or weight-training and I am gone for the day with a bad headache.
(Prevention) Stop exercising. I know is a bad idea!!

Most of the headaches are in half head (either side).
Sometimes its full head.

After headache, the only and best solution is sleep.
If I get a headache in the day, I bear it till night.
I avoid pills (asprins etc).
After a good sleep of 4-8 hours, I am fine.

What is wrong with my body and what treatment should I take to cure this.

Thank you in advance.

Answer:

Hi,
Well at first glance it would be very easy to say that you are having exercise induced headaches..except you aren't. Exercise induced headaches begin just after initiating exercise.

Headaches that are on one side or both and are relieved by sleep are most probably migraine. You can have migraines start at any time in your life, and although there usually is a family history of migraine, there doesn't have to be.

Headaches that happen with low blood sugar are caused by hypoglycemia and may also be migraine. So the question is..are you getting migraines and is low blood sugar a trigger? I say this because heavy exercise calls for adequate blood sugar to burn off..if you do not eat within an hour or two before exercising, hypoglycemia will result and as you have discovered..a headache.

You have already identified two triggers, not eating and heavy exercise, both of which result in low blood sugar. Eat regularly, perhaps four to five smaller meals per day to avoid this. Complex carbs will help also.

If you have never had headaches before you should see your physician to rule out any underlying causes of the hypoglycemia, and get treatment for the headaches.

Good luck!

Mary Kay Betz MS RPA-C