Migraine and Cycling

Wynne G Oldman

I haven't had Migraine since I gave up smoking over 2 years ago. Since I started commuting on my push iron again, I've been getting them regularly, usually a few hours or so after riding. The same thing used to happen to me when I was at school, an attack would come on after playing badminton in the morning. I've had a quick Google, and there is a link between strenuous exercise and Migraine. I don't feel that I'm pushing it too much, and maybe it's just that I'm out of shape. Luckily, the headache's not too bad these days, but I still get the visual disturbance beforehand. Anyway, does anyone have any experience of this, and have any tips to reduce the risk of a Migraine occurring after riding? Perhaps I should just take it a bit easier?

mlgt

I would say listen to your body. Ive had the flu recently and still cycled to and from work. The days I did suffer the most was when I was pushing normally, but having a deep chesty cough made me wheeze more.
Not to mention a headache once I got home as I live on top of a hill.

When I got home I would sit down and let me body settle and then get on with things. I think you would benefit that towards the end of the ride take it slowly and allow the heart rate to drop to a less stressful level. I would say as you get fitter and adopt a more suitable style of riding then it could get easier/less painful.

Just my thoughts. Hope it helps

philcubed

I sometimes suffer from this. Over-exertion can be one cause I've found. Also not being hydrated enough or had enough to eat to fuel your ride. Eat plenty before your ride. Drink plenty before and during your ride, add in a hydration tablet to your bottle. This may help.

Dougal_bug

I suffer from Migraine's and have been involved in sport all my life.

Couple of things that might help - do some back, neck and hamstring stretches after - mine can manifest in the neck due to tightness after exercise - so a bit of stretching will release.

I can't lie on my front on a floor and spend time looking up leaning my head on my elbows - because it is restricting blood flow to the neck, it creates migraines for me, are you quite low at the front of the bike and having to be in a similar position - if so have your handle bars at a higher level to reduce the degree at which your head is looking up - if that makes sense.

Another as someone else has said is food and hydration. If you can, when you notice them coming on, try eating some food and see whether that causes the migraine to subside, on another occasion try taking on fluid, water (or strangely I have seem some reports, with a higher proportion of people, milk re-hydrates you quicker - something I saw a few years ago and has on-going studies with children at moment - can't remember where if people want to know). If subsides then likely this. Could be a mix of both, but if you try these on separate occasions, may give you an indication of which is more likely to be causing.

katiebob

I get them if I don't eat regularly or often enough. I can just about fend them off by stuffing my face with shedloads of carbs (if I start early enough!).

As above make sure you fuel yourself properly before and after. :-)

Wynne G Oldman

Thanks for the suggestions Folks, I'll be sure to try them out. I like the idea of stuffing my face best.

katiebob

Wynne G Oldman wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions Folks, I'll be sure to try them out. I like the idea of stuffing my face best.

I had one at the weekend. I had two plates of dinner and wedge of cherry pie and cream for afters

Dont know what it is about them I suddenly have an astonishing capacity for food when I cant eat that much normally. But, it has to be carbs like bread, pasta or cake!

mudslinger

I also sometimes have migraines when exercising. Like others have said it seems to be triggered when working hard & not drinking / eating enough.

tangled_metal

As soon as you suspect a migraine is coming I used to be able to drink a lot of water to stop it. When I got my first migraine attacks as a kid I got told to carry those glucose tablet with me. They never worked for me but some find they do work. My sister has to drink loads of orange juice and eat oranges. That worked for her when she exercised a lot (it was part of her job so unavoidable).

At the end of the day I find a migraine will happen and it is unavoidable at times. All that about keeping a food or activity diary is guff. There are so many potential major and minor causes going on that you will never be able to eliminate them all.

I have had spells of bad migtraines and even saw a pain consultant about them (he tried to put me on beta blockers it was so bad). As a result I have studied my own migraines a lot and TBH I have learnt to live with them. I can't stop them so what else can I do?? I only worry about my partner and toddler seeing me with them. It scares them both. Seriously a bad migraine is a scary thing for loved ones but as the sufferer I find it;s just a part of my life.

Wish you luck but food, hydration exertion level, postion on your bike perhaps and above all it is just your turn means you will get more. I hope you don;t have a cluster of attacks. I find if I get one (usually spring) I get more aftertwards.

Wynne G Oldman

Thanks again for the replies. The wierd thing is that I haven't had a Migraine for a good 2 - 3 years. In the last couple of weeks, since I started riding a push bike again, I've had at least 5 or 6. As I said before, luckily, the headache's not serious, but I do get the visual disturbance for around half an hour, before the headache comes on. Wierd.

seajays

Did you see this when you googled...?
http://www.migrainetrust.org/factsheet- ... aine-10714

It has usual tips about eating and drinking enough fluids before and after - and suggests they may be even more important for migraine suffers.

Wynne G Oldman

Seajays wrote:

Did you see this when you googled...?
http://www.migrainetrust.org/factsheet- ... aine-10714

It has usual tips about eating and drinking enough fluids before and after - and suggests they may be even more important for migraine suffers.

Yes I did. Thanks for posting it anyway. I'm just going to try taking it easier, as I am eating before I ride, and making sure that I'm well hydrated.

tangled_metal

I personally found that whenever I am observing a good exercise regime then migraines tend to either lessen their severity or I don;t get as many. On the other hand you get more. I wonder if the fact that I am exercising makes me feel hungrier and m calorie intake goes up so I am not running a bit light on blood sugars and energy. I think for me eating regularly and sufficient is a big driver for stopping incidents of migraines. If I am doing a lot of exercise in the week such as 4 gym sessions or even just 3 I find migraines at the weekend stop (weekend migraines account for about 95% of my attacks) stop. I think it is because the higher exercise level makes me need to eat more and regularly thus stopping one of my major migraine drivers. Friday afternoons are seriously bad if I am not exercising. I finish at late lunchtime and sometimes don't eat til after 3pm. That results in migraine starting about 11:30 on the sunday. I don;t eat breakfast (can;t manage anything so don;t go there) so fridays for me mean getting home and eating as quickly as i can is critical.

It is these things migraine suffers need to find out for themselves since each person is so very much unique in their condition and causes. BTW consider that a migraine could have been there in the background for longer than you realise. I went to a migraine suffers' meeting once ruin by IIRC the British Migraine Society or Association. In it they said a migraine attack has it's origins maybe as much as 4 days previously. I now look at my migraine starting 2 days before I get any symptoms.

Wynne G Oldman

Tangled Metal wrote:

BTW consider that a migraine could have been there in the background for longer than you realise. I went to a migraine suffers' meeting once ruin by IIRC the British Migraine Society or Association. In it they said a migraine attack has it's origins maybe as much as 4 days previously. I now look at my migraine starting 2 days before I get any symptoms.

Very interesting. I'll bear that in mind.

magibob

One massive trigger for migraines is Aspartame.

I know this is flying round the internet along with all the other crazy conspiracy theories, but I have known this since before the internet really existed!

Since being a teenager, I had about 2 migraines a year. Suddenly, in around 1987, I started getting 2 a week. I went to my doctor, explained this, and he said, "You drink Diet Pepsi don't you." I said I did, a couple of cans a day. He said, "Pepsi have just changed their sweetener in Diet Pepsi from Saccarine to Nutrasweet, and that is a major trigger for Migraines." He said it also caused blurred vision, head and stomach pains, heart palpitations.....He said he was amazed it ever got passed as fit for use in food. He finally advised to watch out for other foods because, "It's only in Diet Pepsi now, but it will spread to probably all diet foods soon."

So, I avoided nutrasweet, and the Migraines returned to being once or twice a year.

A few years later I started getting them again, did some research, and found that manufacturers had started calling it Aspartame instead of Nutrasweet. Again, avoided it, and it went away.

Last year, Started drinking Soda and Lime, and the migraines were back again. No aspartame or Nutrasweet in it. More research, and I find that many manufacturers are now hiding it under it's E number, E951.

Aspartame is everywhere BTW, I found one cluster of migraines has been caused by there being Aspartame in Vitamin C tablets that I was taking.

Hope this helps.

magibob

Oh, something else as well.

Many people, me included, find that if a migraine can be seen as stress related, it comes on after the stress has gone.

Maybe the Migraines are coming on because the exercise is clearing the stress that you would otherwise be feeling?

Just a thought.

Andy

Wynne G Oldman

Thanks for the suggestions Andy, more food for thought.

desweller

I've often noted that the aura aspect of migraine is similar to the symptoms from sudden vascular pressure drop, e.g. standing up too quickly etc. The one thing you are doing with suddenly cycling more is stressing your cardiovascular system. With such a dramatically increased frequency of migraine I would advise you to get yourself checked out by your doc. in case there is an underlying issue that wasn't present when you used to ride.

apreading

Exercise actually reduces my frequency of migraines and can even help cure one once I have it - getting the blood really pumping through my head by exercising feels strange at furst but seems to help the migraine to subside. Other things that help when I have one or feel one coming on are to try and make sure I take on the three key staples - water, salt and sugar - as a deficiency in any one of these could be a contributary factor so I just try and take on all three!

I dont think I have ever had exercise bring on a migraine, and I often ride fasted/glycogen depleted for fat burning...

We are all different though.

Wynne G Oldman

DesWeller wrote:

I've often noted that the aura aspect of migraine is similar to the symptoms from sudden vascular pressure drop, e.g. standing up too quickly etc. The one thing you are doing with suddenly cycling more is stressing your cardiovascular system. With such a dramatically increased frequency of migraine I would advise you to get yourself checked out by your doc. in case there is an underlying issue that wasn't present when you used to ride.

I did have a few strange "funny turns" about ten years ago, in which I nearly lost consciousness, and quite a bit of weird stuff happened. I had all the cardiovascular checks then, along with an MRI scan of the brain. The docs couldn't find anything wrong, and suggested that the incidents could have been "focal migraines". I haven't ridden my bike since last week, and haven't had any migraines since. I'm going to take it really easy next time I ride it, and if the migraines come back with a vengeance, I'll get myself checked out.

tangled_metal

Interesting comments posted which if I can put my spin on them.

Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners (basically it is anything with phenylalanine in it) are not good chemicals. I believe I have had at least one migraine that was at least partly triggered by Pepsi Max when they first came out. I waas visiting a relative and drank a can of it for the first time (I never drank diet drinks because I was a teenage male and they were for lasses but Pepsi Max was advertised for people like me - I was a sucker for the ads). I got a migraine so quickly after that and it was a humdinger too. I have drunk diet cola or other diet pop a couple of times since and most of them resulted in migraine like symptoms. This is only one potential trigger for some people and you will propbably need other triggers to turn it into a migraine. I got told by one of the prominent UK researchers into migraines that you have major and minor triggers and need a combination to be present to get a migraine.

Migraine auras are unique and varied so saying they are like various effects of vascular pressure such as venal veigle (the effect where you nearly or completely black out when you get up suddeny or climb stairs.ladders quickly). My auras have never been like those when I've blacked out due to venal veigle of which that has happened a lot. If my immune system has been under a lot of pressure due to repeated colds or a really nasty cold then my usually low blood pressure drops badly resulting in a lot of these blackouts or near blackouts. You learn to cope but they are annoying when you find yourself coming round in a restaurant toilet cubicle with your pants only just done up!! Seriously not funny!! OK I did laugh afterwards.

Anyway I can understand how it could be similar with others since migraine is to do with the blood vessels in your brain. IIRC the thinking is there is a kind of throbbing going on when a vessel is expanding (very badly put but I can't remember the phrase or details exactly but I hope you get the idea). It is of course not the same but I can see how it feels the same to some.

Exercise is one of the things that keeps my attacks at bay. If I am keeping myself fit through regular and at periods of my life intense exercise I tend to find my attacks are limited to as low as 2 a year (one year I had none at all but that coincided with an increase in gym activity to 5 days a week with at least one of the other two days spent on long walk in the Lakes and other places. It is always good to exercise as it helps so much with your life I think.

Migraines are known to be stress related, as in it is one trigger. It is also known as the weekend sickness due to the fact that they commonly occur when people are no longer stressed at work. My attacks happened a lot on sundays partly because of this and partly because of my poor eating habits on my half day fridays (used to work late without a lunch which was a trigger for an attack on the sunday).

You had funny turns and got them checked out with MRI scans and cardio checks? You are lucky your GP put you up for them. Mine are very much the type of doctors who act as gatekeepers for NHS money. They rarely let anything through if you are young(ish) male who looks reasonably slim and fit. I am convinced the very fact I am (was) genetically predisposed to being slim (and being very tall helps with looking slim) GPs just put down any visit to me being a hypochondriac. One doctor even told me my migraine symptoms were made up once because her husband got migraines and had never had the same symptoms which meant they were false!! Anyway i digress.

It is good that they checked you out with all those tests. My sister got a spell of migraines and ended up getting straight in to have MRI scans and other tests at a military hospital from what she said (well that was decades ago in Wiltshire where there were still such things). I was a bit annoyed because I had been getting real nasty migraines and lots of them for about 10 years at the time without getting beyond the GP trying a few prophylactics (which never work). It was only about 6 years ago I got referred to a pain specialist who prescribed beta blockers. I never went on them but he offered them since I was borderline between prophylactics and active treatment with beta blockers. I had tried all the GP prescribable meds so only a specialist could prescribe the remaining options. I gave the beta blockers to my local pharmacist and am back on some wafers you put on your tongue to dissolve when you first get symptoms. Don't often work but when they do it is worth it.

I've been a long time sufferer now who has gone through all the stages of trying to sort it out. My only conclusion is you have to live with it because it is rare indeed that someone find the means to completely prevent them happening. I have reached that stage and the only people that suffer are my family. By that i mean migraines are unpleasant for me as the sufferer but I am used to it and know it will go sooner or later. I know my migraines and their variations by now. My partner is much newer to it so she suffers more and my toddler is the one we both try to protect from my attacks. I say this because I have gone through all the processes to find out my own triggers and whilst I have a lot of them under control I still get attacks. To the OP you might be more lucky with it but do not rely on stopping them but do try it. Sooner or later you will have to come to terms with the fact you will get them and when you do sort out your own coping strategies.

Wynne G Oldman

Tangled Metal wrote:

Interesting comments posted which if I can put my spin on them.

Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners (basically it is anything with phenylalanine in it) are not good chemicals. I believe I have had at least one migraine that was at least partly triggered by Pepsi Max when they first came out. I waas visiting a relative and drank a can of it for the first time (I never drank diet drinks because I was a teenage male and they were for lasses but Pepsi Max was advertised for people like me - I was a sucker for the ads). I got a migraine so quickly after that and it was a humdinger too. I have drunk diet cola or other diet pop a couple of times since and most of them resulted in migraine like symptoms. This is only one potential trigger for some people and you will propbably need other triggers to turn it into a migraine. I got told by one of the prominent UK researchers into migraines that you have major and minor triggers and need a combination to be present to get a migraine.

Migraine auras are unique and varied so saying they are like various effects of vascular pressure such as venal veigle (the effect where you nearly or completely black out when you get up suddeny or climb stairs.ladders quickly). My auras have never been like those when I've blacked out due to venal veigle of which that has happened a lot. If my immune system has been under a lot of pressure due to repeated colds or a really nasty cold then my usually low blood pressure drops badly resulting in a lot of these blackouts or near blackouts. You learn to cope but they are annoying when you find yourself coming round in a restaurant toilet cubicle with your pants only just done up!! Seriously not funny!! OK I did laugh afterwards.

Anyway I can understand how it could be similar with others since migraine is to do with the blood vessels in your brain. IIRC the thinking is there is a kind of throbbing going on when a vessel is expanding (very badly put but I can't remember the phrase or details exactly but I hope you get the idea). It is of course not the same but I can see how it feels the same to some.

Exercise is one of the things that keeps my attacks at bay. If I am keeping myself fit through regular and at periods of my life intense exercise I tend to find my attacks are limited to as low as 2 a year (one year I had none at all but that coincided with an increase in gym activity to 5 days a week with at least one of the other two days spent on long walk in the Lakes and other places. It is always good to exercise as it helps so much with your life I think.

Migraines are known to be stress related, as in it is one trigger. It is also known as the weekend sickness due to the fact that they commonly occur when people are no longer stressed at work. My attacks happened a lot on sundays partly because of this and partly because of my poor eating habits on my half day fridays (used to work late without a lunch which was a trigger for an attack on the sunday).

You had funny turns and got them checked out with MRI scans and cardio checks? You are lucky your GP put you up for them. Mine are very much the type of doctors who act as gatekeepers for NHS money. They rarely let anything through if you are young(ish) male who looks reasonably slim and fit. I am convinced the very fact I am (was) genetically predisposed to being slim (and being very tall helps with looking slim) GPs just put down any visit to me being a hypochondriac. One doctor even told me my migraine symptoms were made up once because her husband got migraines and had never had the same symptoms which meant they were false!! Anyway i digress.

It is good that they checked you out with all those tests. My sister got a spell of migraines and ended up getting straight in to have MRI scans and other tests at a military hospital from what she said (well that was decades ago in Wiltshire where there were still such things). I was a bit annoyed because I had been getting real nasty migraines and lots of them for about 10 years at the time without getting beyond the GP trying a few prophylactics (which never work). It was only about 6 years ago I got referred to a pain specialist who prescribed beta blockers. I never went on them but he offered them since I was borderline between prophylactics and active treatment with beta blockers. I had tried all the GP prescribable meds so only a specialist could prescribe the remaining options. I gave the beta blockers to my local pharmacist and am back on some wafers you put on your tongue to dissolve when you first get symptoms. Don't often work but when they do it is worth it.

I've been a long time sufferer now who has gone through all the stages of trying to sort it out. My only conclusion is you have to live with it because it is rare indeed that someone find the means to completely prevent them happening. I have reached that stage and the only people that suffer are my family. By that i mean migraines are unpleasant for me as the sufferer but I am used to it and know it will go sooner or later. I know my migraines and their variations by now. My partner is much newer to it so she suffers more and my toddler is the one we both try to protect from my attacks. I say this because I have gone through all the processes to find out my own triggers and whilst I have a lot of them under control I still get attacks. To the OP you might be more lucky with it but do not rely on stopping them but do try it. Sooner or later you will have to come to terms with the fact you will get them and when you do sort out your own coping strategies.

Thanks for your enlightening post. I'm pretty sure that it's all those good chemicals that are released after exercise that are causing my migraines. I'm not under any stress, my diet has not changed and I haven't had a migraine since I last cycled to work and back over a week ago. I put it down to my body not being used to exercise, and suddenly it's getting it, along with the release of endorphins etc. I'm going to take it extremely easy from now on, until I can put in a good pace without suffering from migraines. Thanks again for all your interesting and helpful comments.

tangled_metal

Everyone's migraines are unique but if any of the info I have learnt has helped I am only glad to help a fellow sufferer. This is really under estimated as a condition. You can see a lot of research and calculations into the actual financial cost ot economies of migraines. The USA figure from about 5 years ago (when I last looked it up) was quite scary. Even UK figures from the same time were in the billions due to lost productivity and other costs to the system. Despite that it is a sorely under resourced research area, often with the researchers looking into it as a side project from other funded research.

Sorry a little digression over.

Myhooose

For me I managed to get my weekly (sometimes more) migraines under control by cutting out caffeine completely (even decaf contains a little caffeine) and more regular exercise by taking up cycling again. I still get the odd one triggered by over sleep, irregular meal times and after a period of high stress, but my Doctor has armed with some sumatriptan for occasions when they do start to occur.

apreading

sumatriptan probably not something you want to take unless necessary though! I remember when I used to get 'clusters' of week long migraines, the only thing that sorted them was zolmitriptan and that really messed up your head for a while and when I read that it had lithium in it, I figured the less I took the better...

tangled_metal

Well I carry Rizatriptan for those bad attacks. My issue is the guts shut down before symptoms so tablets don't get absorbed. Nasal sprays have no supporting evidence that they work any quicker or better than the tablets but there's some.evidence supporting Rizatriptan as oral wafers that dissolve in Saliva. It doesn't work much but when I get it in time these wafers speed up the progress and weaken the severity of the affects of the migraine. I'll take that over daily tablets to try and stop the attacks. They are ineffective and at best reduced the severity of the attacks, which has happened naturally with age. The beta blockers are serious medication which is the last thing I can try based on available treatments. I've turned that down leaving me to just MTFU and live with the attacks. I've learnt to just stop feeling sorry for myself and TBH I know the drill, I know how long it'll last and how to look after myself to recover quicker without further attacks, I used to get clusters before I learnt that trick.

I think sufferers go through stages, I did. The last one, when all treatment has failed, is acceptance and living with it. I'm fortunate I'm there.

BTW caffeine and similar chemicals are in a lot more foods and drinks. I knew someone who was allergic to caffeine type of chemicals. Full on anaphylactic shock and potential death. She could not drink tea, coffee, orange juice and many more. She basically would only drink tap water, something about plastic water bottles I can't remember.

mjf1017

I noticed a link between cycling and my migraines. I started commuting on a boardman hybrid (flat bar) and over the years, I started getting regular headaches. It reached a point where I had a headache 1 week out of 2. I went years on different medication. Then I had a crash and laid off the bike for a while and the headaches stopped. (They also lessened during the winter when my riding did). I switched to a giant defy 1 road bike and haven't problems since. I rarely get those kind of headaches now. I think that the position of the bars with my arms outstretched and tension building up in my upper back and neck was the cause. This may not be the case for you, but I'm convinced my riding position on the hybrid was the cause of these endless headaches.

apreading

I prescribe that you should give your boardman hybrid to me, to alleviate all symptoms (I love mine!).

First I have heard that a drop bar bike cures migraines - we could do without that argument in the debates that ensue whenever someone asks what hybrid to buy! I guess tension i back and neck could contribute to headaches but would content that changing the position of the bars on the hybrid would have done as much as switching to drops has for you (I will still take that dangerous boardman off your hands for free to help you out though!).

Wynne G Oldman

The migraines seem to have stopped (touch wood). I haven't had one for several weeks of cycling the same route now. I put it down to the shock of actually getting some excercise after doing none at all for around 7 years.

drhaggis

I've suffered from migraines since at least my early teens. I get no aura, but photophobia and nauseas, sometimes leading to vomiting. I feel now the symptoms are not as bad as they used to be, but it happens perhaps more often.

In my case, sumatriptan helps provided I don't wait too much, and allows me to work whenever I suffer a migraine, but I definitely worry about rebound effect. Usually, I get (got) migraines about weekly, but cycling has reduced the frequency by maybe a factor of two. This year I'm keeping a migraine diary, and will check at the end what really happened.

tangled_metal

Got an attack at work. Took rizatriptan the correct way by dissolving it on the tongue. It seemed to work very well! Before that I didn't think it worked but I realised yesterday that I had started the dissolution of the tablet on the tongue but then swallowed it all so not enough absorbed.

I'm not usually in a stable place at the outset of an attack because that's when the visual effects happen. It's really the worst bit IMHO so I'm on real edge and not thinking straight. Certainly not reading right with the visual effects taking over. This time I took the time to read the packet.

Anyway, the visual effects stopped and I'm back at work the next day. That's good because an afternoon attack usually takes me out the next day.

Anyway I doubt it'll work like that the next attack but I'm still gong to stock up on the stuff. I'd rather have the good science that resulted in rizatriptan than medicinal Marianas a link from someone I've never seen posting on the forum before.

PS since I left work 45 minutes early because of the attack I'll be spending my time defending that because I'm back in so soon. That's the other aspect of migraine. People know it as a headache. Others know more about it and even claimed to have had it (self diagnosed and sounding more like a bad headache only). Even those can't get over the idea that if you have time off ill with it halfway through the working day you're looking well the next day. It's like you were just making it up.

That's an issue with long term migraine sufferers that's often overlooked. Employers don't understand and those short periods of absenteeism due to migraines get picked up as a problem along with those who are only bunking off a lot. You get caught up in the disciplinary process. Personally the directors of my company know me well and know I have integrity. So even if they don't understand it I won't get onto trouble with time off for migraines. If I change jobs that's one extra worry.

There's an interesting page on the migraine society website about employment issues and even whether there's relevance of disability legislation. It's possible migraine is partially covered by it in certain cases. Either way their site has a good migraine diary template. About 4 pages of tables to record relevant information on attacks and other things. Worth getting IMHO.