I'm feeling the headache pain, too. Normally not unbearable, just a low grade pain...but ALL day. I remember reading a couple of weeks ago that it was one of the most common symptoms. I naively thought, oh wow, I lucked out...haven't had that yet. Of course, a couple of days later, here it was. My OB said it's really common for them to appear at the beginning of the second tri. She suggested starting a magnesium supplement. She said it's been shown to prevent headaches/migraines. I just started taking it yesterday so I can't speak for it yet, but it's worth a try!
I feel like the greatest lesson I've learned in life is that the key to happiness - or at least a stable mood - is keeping a stable blood sugar. With this pregnancy, I'm definitely learning the same goes for my blood sugar and keeping my headaches at bay. I'm used to migraines, but I can't take my Imatrex prescription, so these are a whole new breed of pain and I'm trying to pin point "triggers" and keep diaries like I would with a migraine. Stress is definitely a factor for me while I'm going through all these changes, but recently I started to deviate from my typical M-F diet of fruit + Amy's breakfast burritos, salads, nuts & cheese for snacks, with the weekly "cheat" etc and I started to "stress eat" sweets. I don't even like sweet stuff normally!! Here's what I found in a little experiment I tried...
Around week 11 I started indulging in the cookies, muffins and candies that sales reps bring to my office every few days. I work at a computer, so I sit in front of a screen for 8+ hours a day, but I drink plenty of water and get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. I figured it was probably from the computer, but, coincidentally - perhaps - I started to get headaches in the afternoon or as soon as I got home from work on the days I had chocolate chip cookies or fruit and yogurt parfait from Panera. During week 12 I felt like I NEEDED to buy a muffin on my way to work. Like, the NEED feeling when you need a cup of coffee or will hurt someone. This week I decided to cut out the excess sugar and see if it was a factor. For me, it feels like sugar crashes were at least one contributing factor for headaches, and cutting out anything gratuitously sugary has helped tremendously. Last weekend I was in bed around the clock Friday and Saturday with blinding headaches - even though I wasn't eating sweets on those days. Maybe they were withdrawal headaches? On Monday and Tuesday last week, I only had "suggestions" of a headache that made me consider popping Tylenol, but it passed within an hour. This weekend, after a week of fully eschewing all sweets and opting for cottage cheese to get my protein/calcium during the day instead of yogurt, I'm feeling totally normal.
Sugar can have a dehydrating effect, so it might be countering all the water you're consuming.Maybe check in with your doctor and ask what the recommended cap is for added sugars during pregnancy and check out the labels on what you're eating. It's crazy that something you consider healthy like yogurt, for example, is packed with sugars - especially if it's the low fat variety. The AHA says the max amount of added sugar women should have in a day is 25 grams or 100 calories. Food labels don't have a % value for sugar so it can be confusing to decipher how much is too much.
Hopefully this helps someone out there. Good luck and feel better soon everybody!
I wasnt really having headaches and then I read this thread and last night I WOKE UP in the middle of the night with on unbearable headache. By 5 am it was like I wanted to die and then I started vomiting. TMI when I vomited I also peed my pants. Sweet life. Thankfully after that episode I was exhausted enough to fall asleep, slept until 10 am but then when I woke up headache was still there! Thankfully not as bad but still there. Caved and took some panadol (tylenol) and having my morning coffee. Hoping for the best.
@sharksightings88 that seriously might make total since for me. I'm not a sweet person, but I've had to have sweets once a day during this entire pregnancy. I keep saying I have to stop and that I'm going to, but it's so hard. That gives me a better reason to stop. These headaches are unbearable. Starting today, no excess sugar!
Ugh, joining the headache club over here. I woke up with a slight headache yesterday morning and even with tylenol and the usual remedies (i.e. everything you ladies have already mentioned ... lots of water, healthy snacks, peppermint essential oil, etc.) it was still lingering. I went and met a friend for a smoothie outside and it just got worse and worse throughout, morphing into a migraine. By the time I was driving home I felt like absolute shit. Only a few minutes after getting home, I threw up, ugh. The only two times I've thrown up during pregnancy were from migraines. I went to bed super early, but unfortunately my headache is still mildly there, and I'm afraid it'll get worse again. I just want to do normal stuff today, go away headache!!!
Re: Can we talk headaches?
lol
Around week 11 I started indulging in the cookies, muffins and candies that sales reps bring to my office every few days. I work at a computer, so I sit in front of a screen for 8+ hours a day, but I drink plenty of water and get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. I figured it was probably from the computer, but, coincidentally - perhaps - I started to get headaches in the afternoon or as soon as I got home from work on the days I had chocolate chip cookies or fruit and yogurt parfait from Panera. During week 12 I felt like I NEEDED to buy a muffin on my way to work. Like, the NEED feeling when you need a cup of coffee or will hurt someone. This week I decided to cut out the excess sugar and see if it was a factor. For me, it feels like sugar crashes were at least one contributing factor for headaches, and cutting out anything gratuitously sugary has helped tremendously. Last weekend I was in bed around the clock Friday and Saturday with blinding headaches - even though I wasn't eating sweets on those days. Maybe they were withdrawal headaches? On Monday and Tuesday last week, I only had "suggestions" of a headache that made me consider popping Tylenol, but it passed within an hour. This weekend, after a week of fully eschewing all sweets and opting for cottage cheese to get my protein/calcium during the day instead of yogurt, I'm feeling totally normal.
Sugar can have a dehydrating effect, so it might be countering all the water you're consuming.Maybe check in with your doctor and ask what the recommended cap is for added sugars during pregnancy and check out the labels on what you're eating. It's crazy that something you consider healthy like yogurt, for example, is packed with sugars - especially if it's the low fat variety. The AHA says the max amount of added sugar women should have in a day is 25 grams or 100 calories. Food labels don't have a % value for sugar so it can be confusing to decipher how much is too much.
Hopefully this helps someone out there. Good luck and feel better soon everybody!
Thankfully after that episode I was exhausted enough to fall asleep, slept until 10 am but then when I woke up headache was still there! Thankfully not as bad but still there. Caved and took some panadol (tylenol) and having my morning coffee. Hoping for the best.
Fell in love: Dec 2005 // Married: Feb 9, 2013
Little Miss Rosalie Harper--Born Jan 9th, 2014
@kmolleltz I vomited and peed my pants simultaneously at work the other day. True story.
Baby GIRL born 9/16/201
BFP! EDD 8/1/2019 CP 4w2d
It's a boy!
but still