ANA Discussion Forum

Post-Treatment => Headaches => Topic started by: AMD on April 22, 2009, 07:48:21 pm

Title: Weekend headaches
Post by: AMD on April 22, 2009, 07:48:21 pm
Wanted to throw this one out there to see what you guys thought.

I am lucky that I don't get headaches all that much, but when I do, they are almost always on the weekends.  I wake up with them.  Perhaps it is because I am sleeping in longer those days????  Anybody experienced this?


Curious,
Amy
Title: Re: Weekend headaches
Post by: EJTampa on April 22, 2009, 08:20:40 pm
Later getting your coffee (caffiene) fix?  I know sometimes when I sleep in I get behind on my caffiene.  This hasn't been a problem since surgery since I'm down to 2 cups a day :)
 
Ernie
Title: Re: Weekend headaches
Post by: CHD63 on April 23, 2009, 07:46:12 am
Although I rarely have a headache now, for years I struggled with migraine-type headaches.  I, as well, found they were much more frequent on week-ends.  For me, the answer in reducing them was to try to always go to bed and get up at the same time 7 days a week.  It seems when I was teaching, I would relax on Friday and Saturday nights, stay up later, sleep later the following mornings, and wake up with a headache.

Of course the caffeine thing probably also entered into the mix .....

Hope your headaches soon resolve.

Clarice
Title: Re: Weekend headaches
Post by: GeorgiaMei on April 23, 2009, 06:12:53 pm
I think some tension-type headaches are associated with 'downtime.'  Everything is okay while you are stressed out as usual during the week, but as soon as you relax a little, they hit!  It might be worth asking your doctor about.   When I had my headache work-up, they asked if I had ever experienced this.  Hope you find an answer!  Karen
Title: Re: Weekend headaches
Post by: AMD on April 23, 2009, 06:19:33 pm
Thanks everybody. Yes, it may well be a mixture of all things here.  I am not a coffee drinker, but that doesn't mean my ritualistic eating habits :) are not thrown off.  I may try getting to bed earlier and waking up earlier too.  Last weekend I lucked out with no headaches.  I hope this weekend will be the same.  My new job involves staring at computers almost the whole shift too, which I was thinking maybe neck/eye strain catching up with me too. 

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts!!

-Amy
Title: Re: Weekend headaches
Post by: Syl on April 26, 2009, 02:37:11 pm
Amy:

My headaches tend to occur in the morning. I have noticed that when I sleep longer my neck is stiff or aching more often. Sometimes, this stiffness does produce a headache. However, waking up at the same time every day doesn't guarantee that I will not get a headache. I do think you are on to something.

Syl
Title: Re: Weekend headaches
Post by: Janet on April 27, 2009, 10:21:18 am
If you take daily medication and you are sleeping longer on the week-end, maybe your medication has more time to wear off before you wake up?  I used to drink a lot of water before I went to bed knowing that I would wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. (I used water as an alarm clock.) I would take something (anti-inflammatory) with a little food in the middle of the night.  I wouldn't be as likely to have that dreaded morning headache.

I would also get up in stages to avoid head pain. I know now that it was the blood rushing past the artery that gets a little more engorged with your head down most of the night. The increased volume of blood irritates the nerve resulting in pain and a stiff neck.  Maybe sleeping longer on the week-end adds to this?

This is an example of how this level and frequency of pain controls almost everything you do!

Janet

Title: Re: Weekend headaches
Post by: wcrimi on July 23, 2009, 08:58:37 am
Later getting your coffee (caffiene) fix?  I know sometimes when I sleep in I get behind on my caffiene.  This hasn't been a problem since surgery since I'm down to 2 cups a day :)
 
Ernie

When I was a coffee drinker that's exactly what used to happen to me. I used to experience some severe withdrawal symptoms at times because I used to drink 6-7 cups a day during the week but only 1-2 cups a day on weekends. usually I would fine on Saturday, but by Sunday sometimes I felt sluggish, had a headache, and felt generally bad. 

I almost never drink coffee now, but occasionally I do have a cup.  When I have a single cup I sometimes feel a little lousy either the next day or day after that. Perhaps even a single cup has a withdrawal impact.


Title: Re: Weekend headaches
Post by: AMD on August 05, 2009, 09:21:44 pm
wow, well, i'll certainly give it a shot.  the best thing is - that treatment is free and no side effects!!!  :)  I have been very lucky these last several weekends, and maybe it is because I am not thinking about them as much!!  ok, now that I am thinking about not thinking about them, i better go back to not thinking about it :):):)