Posts filed under ‘Headaches’
Headaches Resolution
First two parts in the series are here and here.
This post is long overdue, but better late than never.
A quick rundown of the history:
- Headaches occurred during benchpress and chinups.
- Tried eliminating some things from diet with no relief.
- Doctor friend suggested I may have a herniated disk and recommended I see a neurologist.
- Neurologist said my spine/nerves are totally fine and hypothesized “vascular headaches,” recommending a brain scan.
That brain scan was prescribed two months ago and I never got it. (more…)
August 10, 2011
Headaches Update
First post on this subject is here. I’ve been having headaches, and my first hypothesis was that it was caused by nitrates in bacon.
Ditching the bacon seemed to help at first, but even as the bacon remained absent, the headaches returned.
The bacon hypothesis relied on exertion; the theory dictated that headaches were caused by a combination of low blood oxygen and high muscular oxygen requirement (exertion), resulting in less oxygen to my brain.
The problem is that sprints, squats and deadlifts do not cause headaches for me, but even warmup sets of chinups and bench press do. The common theme? Compression of the dorsal side of the spine.
Now I’m thinking that the headaches are due to nerve impingement on the back side of my spine, due either to a pinched nerve or herniated disk.
The big breakthrough that led me to this happened during a particularly intense headache on Thursday. I asked The Girlfriend to apply pressure to different parts of my back, and when she pushed on a spot between my spine and right shoulder blade, the headache dissipated. When she discontinued pressure, the headache returned.
I achieved the same effect by grabbing the doorknob with my right hand and leaning away from the door. Both of these actions relieved inter-vertebral pressure on the back side of my spinal column, likely unpinching the affected nerve.
Hopefully I’ll know more after an appointment with a neurologist on Thursday morning.
June 1, 2011
Self-Diagnosis: Recent Headaches
On Saturday, my workout started very successfully, with a Deadlift personal best of 400lbs. Then I got a brain-crushing headache that cut my workout short. The headache set in during my first heavy set of bench-press, with such force that I had to sit motionless for over a minute before I felt it was safe to walk. It lasted for the next 10 hrs and felt a lot like my only ever clinically diagnosed migraine (back in 2003).
2 comments May 18, 2011
What’s Being Said