Are headaches normal? Any advice for a newbie?

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12/1/12 8:17 P

Mine are migraines and unfortunately they are normal!

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12/1/12 6:01 P

sugar and caffeine withdrawal have both caused me to have headaches in the past so yes that could easily be it as other have said. try eating some fruit to help with the sugar withdrawal. and drinking water is a great suggestion.

also, try not to let yourself get too hungry. I find I do best with 4 or 5 small meals during the day.

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12/1/12 6:48 A

Headaches are not normal. Please have it checked out by your doctor.

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12/1/12 6:35 A

Yes your headaches are related to your drastic caloric drop. You need to eat 3 balanced meals a day and two snacks but most importantly you need to drink water. If you can, go to your doctor and he will help get a plan started for you....there are often free hospital programs for weight loss you could be involved in.

Good luck and I would cutdown gradually as it isn't so much the calorie count as opposed to what type of food you put in your mouth. You should go with a 10% decrease every 2 weeks for your body to adjust but the calories need to be non sugar, non junk food, that you eat

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12/1/12 2:03 A

i'm going to echo Slimmerkiwi, dropping 2500 calories a day is just too much. in fact, it's pretty closer to nuts and very unhealthy. you are lucky you only have a headache. way back before i learned about nutrition, i did something like that. i was fine, just a little hungery for a few days. then i woke up one morning and didn't know who i was. I knew my name started with an s, but that was it.
you can't fix years of bad habits all at once. that is not healthy. it is not the spark way.

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12/1/12 12:29 A

Sugar, caffeine, and carb limiting can do that. Your body will adjust, but it will take time. Sugar is kinda like a drug and your body is detoxing from what it was used to. Get tons of rest and drink plenty of water. Exercise will help your body flush the toxins as well.

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11/30/12 11:28 P

A headache like that for a couple days isn't 'normal' but it COULD be that you have stopped something (perhaps sugary stuff, or caffeine) abruptly. Lack of hydration can do this, BUT we aren't qualified to give advice on this sort of issue. We can however support you.

My suggestion is that if it is still hanging around and you are hydrating well, go get it checked out by your Dr because there are many MANY things that it could be.

As far as your journey here on SP is concerned, have you made heaps of changes all at once? IF so, I would strongly suggest that you go back to what you WERE doing, and make the changes using the baby steps method. That means change only one or two things to start with, and only when your mind/body is used to those changes, add something else to the mix. It might be as simple as reducing SOME soda/juice and replace it with some water, and also mobilizing a bit more in your day. If you are already get a bit of exercise, then build on it a bit.

Where it comes to the calories, I would decrease them in smaller increments, because otherwise you could be setting yourself up for suffering things like nausea and light-headedness. I did and neither are pleasant, and I had only dropped my calories by about 250-450 calories. I was also being woken in the middle of the night because of it. I had to go down in 50 calorie increments.

This journey isn't about how fast we get there - it is about doing it in a healthy way and STAYING there. That is why baby steps, weighing your food and entering it into the nutrition tracker, and getting the exercise AND being active on the message boards is important. They are all a proven way of helping us to get there :-)

Kris

Edited by: SLIMMERKIWI at: 12/1/2012 (02:10)

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11/30/12 11:27 P

Did you stop caffeine
Drink lots of water
It's probably withdrawal from something & will go away

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11/30/12 10:05 P

When you go cold turkey off of anything your body is going to react..I agree with the lack of caffeine if you drank soda alot. But taking sugar alone out of your diet is going to change your blood sugar levels dramatically. You could have low blood sugar also. Try drinking a 12 oz regular soda pop with caffeine in it and see if it relieves the pain at all. If it does, you know the problem is either caffeine withdrawel or low blood sugar. When the pain returns (and it probably will) repeat the process using a diet soda pop that contains caffeine. If the pain goes away again, you are having caffeine withdrawel. If not, you are probably having low blood sugar problems and you should see a doctor. Also, if you find the first pop doesn't help the headache at all I would go to the er. Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.

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11/30/12 7:47 P

Well, as a brain aneurysm survivor, my first reaction when I hear "my head feels like it is going to explode" is that you should seek medical treatment. If this is the worst headache of your life, go to the ER. If you are nauseous or have sensitivity to light, go to the ER...you may just have a migraine, but sometimes they are hard to get rid of without treatment.

If you are just mildly uncomfortable, the advice that you have already received is good. Hydrate. I get a headache pretty much every time I drink less than 8 cups of water a day. I find that I really need 10-12 cups most days. My experience is that Excedrin is the best OTC pain reliever for headaches. Aspirin might help if you have a Coke with it--the caffeine helps. Tylenol and Advil are pretty much worthless where headaches are concerned.

You may just find that you need a week or so to get all of the junk out of your system.

Edited by: AZULVIOLETA6 at: 11/30/2012 (19:48)

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11/30/12 6:28 P

I have to second dehydration. Drinking cold water is really the best way to stave off those headaches. I still get headaches that remind me I need to drink more water. I know they're dehydration headaches when my teeth hurt, or my lips are burning.

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11/30/12 6:08 P

Did you stop drinking soda? It could be caffeine withdrawal. Also, are you drinking extra water? Cutting 2500 calories worth of food means you're also cutting out a lot of moisture, so it's very likely you could be getting slightly dehydrated if you're not making an extra effort to replace that moisture. Ice cream is almost all fluid, so you've reduced your intake by 1/2 gallon right there. Even just a tiny bit of dehydration can give you a nasty headache.

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11/30/12 6:03 P

Hi everyone! I started Sparkpeople a few days ago and I have been having horrible headaches all day since I started. My head feels like it is going to explode! Is this normal? Will it go away? Anything I can do to make them stop? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

A quick about me - 30 yrs old, weigh 277 lbs, a junk food and sugar addict (seriously...I was eating a whole pie a day by myself and topping it with 1/2 gallon of ice cream). Could this be from a sugar detox? I am eating 1500 calories a day now compared to over 4000 a day.

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