I train with an age group team. Our normal Saturday practices are in a pool around 85º and for 2 hours. The practices may not be hugely high in yardage but very high in intensity. I normally have chronic headaches and lately I've been getting migraines after these Sat practices. I don't know if it's the heat of the pool for the long time or the intensity. I talked to the coach today about getting out after 90 min as I find that helps. He mentioned upping my fluid and nutrition intake. What should I up and what else can I do to avoid the migraines? They are making for very boring weekends for my family as I lay on the couch in pain.
I apologize if someone has already mentioned this, but exercise headaches respond to a specific type of NSAID known as indomethacin.
I wrote about this for Swimmer in the Jan-Feb 2016 issue. Here is the relevant excerpt:
Researchers have learned that neurotransmitters like serotonin and nitric oxide play critical roles in this process. For PEH and closely related headaches, the role of nitric oxide here was discovered serendipitously thanks to the unique efficacy of one medication: indomethacin.
Indomethacin is a member of the NSAID family, a broad drug class that includes over-the-counter pain killers like ibuprofen and naproxen. Like its more famous chemical relatives, indomethacin reduces inflammation and dampens the discomforts of everything from arthritis to dental pain. But indomethacin has an additional effect, one the others lack. It quickly stops the pain of primary exercise headache, cough headache, and sex headache alike. This effect is so specific, in fact, that headache specialists refer to these conditions as indomethacin-responsive headaches.
But why does this one NSAID work so well when all the others don’t? That’s when researchers discovered that indomethacin impacts a specific target the others fail to hit: an enzyme called nitric oxide synthase. How this, in turn, turns off a sufferer’s pain is still far from fully elucidated. The good news, though, is that it works well in a high percentage of cases.
NOTE: you will need to get a prescription for indomethacin--not available over the counter.
I apologize if someone has already mentioned this, but exercise headaches respond to a specific type of NSAID known as indomethacin.
I wrote about this for Swimmer in the Jan-Feb 2016 issue. Here is the relevant excerpt:
Researchers have learned that neurotransmitters like serotonin and nitric oxide play critical roles in this process. For PEH and closely related headaches, the role of nitric oxide here was discovered serendipitously thanks to the unique efficacy of one medication: indomethacin.
Indomethacin is a member of the NSAID family, a broad drug class that includes over-the-counter pain killers like ibuprofen and naproxen. Like its more famous chemical relatives, indomethacin reduces inflammation and dampens the discomforts of everything from arthritis to dental pain. But indomethacin has an additional effect, one the others lack. It quickly stops the pain of primary exercise headache, cough headache, and sex headache alike. This effect is so specific, in fact, that headache specialists refer to these conditions as indomethacin-responsive headaches.
But why does this one NSAID work so well when all the others don’t? That’s when researchers discovered that indomethacin impacts a specific target the others fail to hit: an enzyme called nitric oxide synthase. How this, in turn, turns off a sufferer’s pain is still far from fully elucidated. The good news, though, is that it works well in a high percentage of cases.
NOTE: you will need to get a prescription for indomethacin--not available over the counter.
