Migraine after long cycle run

[vicky speirs]

Does anyone else suffer headaches/migraines the day after a long cycle? This is new to me as I did LeJog last year with no headaches at all. This year I have started increasing my mileage and am plagued by a headache which starts on Monday after a long Sunday run and can last all of 3 days until Wednesday. I do suffer from migraines from time to time but cycling hasn't really been noted as a specific trigger. Could it be bike set up? My GP seems to think it is not a tension headache since these settle on the forehead but mine is characteristically migraine being always on the right side. Bike set up issues would create a headache towards the end of the cycle session would it not?

Planning on the Dover to Cape Wrath cycle for 2016 so have to solve this issue as quickly as possible. The GP suggested that cycling had become a trigger and that I should give it up - not an option I'm afraid.

Help!!!!

Vicky

[beardy]

I too sometimes suffer from a migraine when I undertake an Audax ride on the day after another Audax ride. I am absolutely certain that it is caused by dehydration which isnt helped by having a pint of beer before going to bed.

I used to have migraines as a kid but it was mostly cured and only occurs now if I "provoke" it.

[Mick F]

Since giving up the statins, my bad headaches have gone.

I get over-tired and have difficulty sleeping after a long ride, but only after a long ride when I've not had a long ride in ages.
Give me a series of long rides, and I'm fine. A series of long rides are relaxing, so maybe I get wound up about a one-off long ride?
Maybe being wound-up is my problem.

Perhaps it's your's too?

[whizzzz]

Sorry to hear you are suffering, and I am sure you have been through all the obvious bits, but ...

Is your helmet on too tight ?
Are you drinking enough ? ( is it clear and copious ? )
Are you using glasses that are causing eye strain / then head pain ?
Have you tried a different sitting position ( maybe stress on the neck ) / different bike ?

I am sure there are lots of other triggers, and hopefully someone will make some suggestions that will help if the above is tosh.

Good luck !

[axel_knutt]

I get ordinary headaches if I haven't eaten enough. For example when I was on holiday last month I was averaging about 3100 kcal/day, but I got a headache on the first day back home because I cut back to 2650 kcal immediately, instead of reducing gradually. Solution: cram a few more calories.

I also get ocular migraines, which are ones that cause temporary blindness but no headache. They started in about 2003, but were only occasional until I increased my training intensity in around 2010, after which they got about 50 times more frequent. In January 2011 I started getting a feeling of pressure in my head after cycling, the same sort of feeling that you get when you hang upside down. That forced me to stop training, and in due course the ocular migraines stopped. I've recently discovered that there was a substantial increase in my exercising blood pressure at around the time the migraines and head pressure feeling got worse.

[vicky speirs]

Thank you all for your considered and reasonable responses. I have thought about all these things but maybe there is a fine balance between for example, drinking what seems like enough but actually not drinking quite enough. Similarly for eating - I'm not too good at that when I am exercising as I don't normally feel too hungry.

I think fatigue is a relevant factor and although I have an early night after a hard ride, my body is achy and I find it difficult to have a sound sleep! I can never win!

Regards

Vicky

[MikeF]

Sounds as though you are suffering from headaches rather than migraine. Have you considered low blood sugar level might be causing it as that's not unusual? Also fluid levels - enough liquid intake? Enough salts intake?

[jezer]

It's easy to underestimate how much fluid and food to take in on a long ride. The old adage is to drink before you are thirsty and eat before you are hungry. If you don't observe those rules you can quickly become dehydrated or low in blood sugar. Migrain is a condition most people grow out of as they get older and in my experience it has nothing to do with excercise. I well remember my last migraine attack in 1978, believe me it's not something you forget.

[beardy]

Migrain is a condition most people grow out of as they get older and in my experience it has nothing to do with excercise.

Coincidentally mine was most often bought on by my cycle ride home from school but it wasnt the exercise doing it. When I started wearing a peaked cap to keep the sun out of my eyes it stopped happening.

[Paulatic]

Just found this thread, very interesting.

I'd never suffered from migraines. I'd audaxed for years doing 2, 3,&4 hundreds without any symptoms. In 2003 I rode the "Daylight 600" as a qualifier for PBP.

Two days after finishing sitting having a coffee I got visual disturbance followed by a headache. I then got them 2 or 3 times a week , usually on a morning. I went to the Doctors and they could throw no light on it. I tried cutting out certain foods. Nothing seemed to trigger them.
Eventually I put it down to sitting on bike for nearly 40hrs and I cut down cycling. I only did a few hundred miles a year for the next 3yrs trying to rid myself of them.
Eventually I did become free of them and I have resumed cycling again. But I no longer do anything over a hundred miles now. Strangely though I've had a couple of occurrences this year but nothing more.
Recently met a runner who gets the same symptoms occasionally, he puts it down to blood sugars. My neighbour ran the "Bob Graham Round" and he went, temporally, blind while doing it.

[honesty]

If I do get headaches after riding it is almost always caused by not drinking enough. I've been told that you should be drinking about 1 bottle an hour of riding (obviously this is a guidance as other factors will come into play), but I do find that a bit harder in the cold weather.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
You wont forget a migraine
Lingering headaches etc, are different.

Migraine the painful type (visionary disturbance different again) are like flu, you know you've got flu because there is a fifty pound note on your lawn and you just cant get out of bed to get it, if you can you've not flu

You would not be able to barely stand let along mount a bike with a throbbing head migraine.

Mine was simply raised blood pressure before going on meds.
Left me shell shocked for two days after.

Head aches from under nutrition / fluid etc.
Sun in your eyes.
Draft around neck.
Raised blood pressure , not helped by your head low down. Revise BP meds with your GP or check your BP
Working with or exposed to fumes, normally goes away when you go home.

I cant express enough how little people eat and drink whilst riding a bike, classic fault of sportifee riders Not the OP of course.

[Flite]

Can only make observations of my own experience:
Several different factors can trigger migraine (the disturbed vision type) for me while biking (but sometimes there is no apparent trigger):
Sudden flashes of light/sunlight/reflections in my eyes (I hate daylight running lights on cars!)
Anxiety about a long ride/ new route/ new riding companions = "getting wound up"
Dehydration

Concerning dehydration - you need to replace salts as well as water, and a little sugar helps it to be absorbed
This was discussed recently here viewtopic.php?f=7&t=99694&p=935854&hilit=sports+drinks#p935854

Are you relying on commercial sports drinks/powders/tablets for rehydration?
Read the labels - most contain artificial sweeteners or preservatives, both of which seem to cause migraine for me.

[Vorpal]

Have you changed anything: set-up, helmet, sun glasses, handlebars, camera, etc.? Identifying changes might help find the problem?

If you have not changed anything, I would look to other causes. Food and drink are likely culprits, as others have pointed out.

Tension headaches can be cuased by muscle tension in neck & shoulders, so this could be a result of too much weight on your hands, or a hand position that is not ergonomic.

[kjohnes]

I like to load up on carbs that digest slowly like bananas and to drink water regularly while cycling. That pretty much solves any headache problems I had before. Also it's important to be well rested and to not overexert yourself. Push your endurance just a little bit every time and give your body time to adapt.