Daily Headaches

[Carly H]

I am on Day 24 of my first Whole30, and am so far loving the NSVs I've been seeing! From a digestive standpoint, my gut feels great, which is awesome since I didn't realize before that my "normal" was not that good!

My problem has been headaches. I have been a pretty regular headache sufferer for as long as I can remember, with the occasional (once every other month) migraine thrown in. I've tried just about every form of medication, physical therapy, chiropractic care, etc. and none of them worked, so I just got used to living with regular headaches. They got better when I was pregnant, and have typically not been an issue since then (my guess is they were hormone driven). Until starting Whole30.

I have had a headache morning to night, basically every day of the program. It is not as severe as my old headaches used to be, but it starts in my neck muscles and works its way through the rest of my head, just like a typical tension headache. 

I am a one cup of coffee a day person, and have started waiting to drink my normal cup of coffee until after I eat breakfast. I drink plenty of water, and make sure to put extra salt on my food, based on advice I've seen given throughout the forum. Since the first week, I have really cut down on fruit intake, and eliminated all snacking, particularly on nuts. The last several days of meals have looked like this:

Meal 1: 3 eggs cooked in olive oil, roasted butternut squash with homemade mayo or homemade pesto

Meal 2: tuna salad (tuna, onion, homemade mayo) with side of raw cauliflower and summer squash sauteed in olive oil, apple

Meal 3: chicken wings with homemade almond butter sauce, sweet potatoes baked with olive oil and spices, served with compliant garlic dipping sauce

I am eating large portions, and feel full after each meal with no hunger signals in between meals. For the most part, I feel like my energy levels are good throughout the day, though I can barely make it past 9pm anymore without crashing (another less than ideal W30 side effect).

I've read all the advice given about headaches throughout this forum, and I feel like I'm already following it...so I would appreciate any further advice. Thanks!

[purplepadres]

Not everything is diet-related, although I note the absences of non-starchy veggies in meals 1 & 3. If it's a tension headache, what are you doing for stress relief? Gentle exercise & meditation are both helpful if practiced regularly.

[SugarcubeOD]

I agree with @purplepadres - if this is a tension headache, then diet may help reduce inflammation thereby potentially reducing the severity of a tension headache but even eating starchy carbs at every meal isn't going to help if it's stress or posture or tension related.

 

[Carly H]

Hmm, I guess I don't really feel that I am experiencing any stress, so I hadn't considered that headaches would be related to that. Especially since I've been waking up with them in the morning. It certainly could be related to sitting at a desk all day, though I do try and walk as much as possible, and stretch periodically throughout the day. 

It just seems strange that the headaches have started up and gotten worse during Whole30, since there has been no change in my activity or stress levels. I could try eating more starchy carbs, though.

[SugarcubeOD]

18 minutes ago, Carly H said:

Hmm, I guess I don't really feel that I am experiencing any stress, so I hadn't considered that headaches would be related to that. Especially since I've been waking up with them in the morning. It certainly could be related to sitting at a desk all day, though I do try and walk as much as possible, and stretch periodically throughout the day. 

It just seems strange that the headaches have started up and gotten worse during Whole30, since there has been no change in my activity or stress levels. I could try eating more starchy carbs, though.

 

On 9/28/2017 at 7:07 AM, Carly H said:

It is not as severe as my old headaches used to be, but it starts in my neck muscles and works its way through the rest of my head, just like a typical tension headache. 

 

Oh sorry, I thought you had said it's NOT as bad as they used to be, not that it's worse...

Are you salting your food and drinking the recommended 1/2 of water per pound of body weight?

[Carly H]

Ahh. Yes, when I used to get headaches a few years ago, they were worse. But over the past 2 years they had mostly subsided. Now they are back, though not as severely as they once were, definitely worse than I have dealt with the past couple years.

Yes, definitely drinking enough water, adding extra salt. Maybe I'm just an anomaly,