Migraine like headaches, indigestion?

[apayne56]

Hi. I've been on the PP diet since last October. Usually I feel fine, but I recently added more hours to my work week. I thought I was doing fine, but when I get enough done, I get headaches so bad it causes nausea. I just did this over the weekend. I got lots done on Sat and Sun and then had to crash on Monday. :(

I normally eat my protein, less than 30 carbs a day, my favorite dessert of raspberries and cream every other day, I haven't had trouble with potassium in a while. I had trouble with high blood pressure when I started but since I've lost 20 lbs I don't have that trouble anymore.

Just wondering if anyone else has those problems? Thanks.

[LisaS]

I've got lots of experience with migraines that bring nausea along as a special friend.
if you haven't had them before - do get checked out by the dr to make sure it is a migraine and not a tumor or aneurysm or uncontrolled HBP -

LC eating has actually helped control my migraines

many people find that they have trigger foods and conditions for migraines - maybe your dietary changes have increased your exposure to a previously low key trigger?
For some these can be: red wine; aged cheeses; MSG; citrus; chocolate;
nuts; preservatives like nitrates and nitrites; smoked and pickled foods;

for others weather changes (e.g. barometric pressure) can be a trigger. So can bright reflective sunlight. So can smoking or being around smokers. So can menstrual cycles. So can too much or too little sleep. So can the ubiquitous "stress".

I see you are in OC - Hi neighbor :D

[apayne56]

Lisa, thanks! Did start menstural this weekend, and have a bit of stress, but I'm pretty much a mole-like creature.... I burn too easily. And the ole hurricane/depression John did make a visit, its so hot here! and humid! Probably just that. My diet has been pretty much the same since last Oct. Good to have a neighbor around!

[LisaS]

for me, prior to LC, John + TOM + Stress would have triggered a migraine for certain. Especially if I slept in to catch up!

[Gaelen]

I'm with Lisa--if this is a new condition, it might be resulting FROM a new condition, such as the added stress (on your body) of the additional hours, the weather changes, or some less-than-happy physical change. My migraines, which I'd experienced more or less regularly for 30+ years, STOPPED when I started low carbing, and I've had exactly four in the last 4+ years. Every one of them was attributable to drug/hormone/steroid med changes or additions. I've only had three headaches of any other type in the last 4+ years--and those were all weather-related. So please get checked out, and rule out anything more serious! If everything physical is as it should be, then perhaps your body is telling you in no uncertain terms that what it thinks is 'enough' work and what YOU think differ dramatically. ;)

[LisaS]

if this is new - please get it checked out before assuming migraine. I know I sound paranoid or like I watch too many medical shows - but have just coincidentally been reading this from a friend (A.) - this is a piece of a note from her sister (B.) :
I have been having headaches for a month.

I went to my regular doctor three weeks ago Tuesday, thinking sinusitis.

He said it was more likely cervical pain.

Taking matters into my own hands, I asked for a chiropractor referral.
Because he would only give me one, I switched doctors.
I was diagnosed at the new doctor as having sinus and cervical pain, perhaps
even migraines.

I went to chiro for a week or two and felt better.

Last Saturday I vomited on the way to work and then felt okay.

Thursday, I vomited on the way to work and then felt okay.

Friday I vomited all morning, called my chiro, went into my new doctor and
they both agreed I needed an MRI and MRA. (brain studies with and without
contrast) Done.

I complied and was told I had a 3.7 cm mass in my left cerebellum, which was
causing edema and therefore headaches and nausea.

[Gaelen]

Lisa, you're not paranoid...although I won't comment on watching too many medical shows. ;)

The bit that you quoted from your friend (and I've got my fingers crossed for her sister, BTW) is a very typical thing--for all the complaining folks do about docs not listening to them, an amazing number of medical personnel DO listen to their patients. And if the symptoms are consistent with something simple like sinusitis (for a headache) or IBS (for GI symptoms), and the reality is that in 99 out of 100 cases it IS sinusitis or IBS, it's not at all uncommon to have a headache or GI symptoms that are really markers for something far more serious misdiagnosed as the lesser evil.

When I had a bad headache that seemed to last off and on for two weeks, it was diagnosed as impacted sinuses and vertigo. I *told* the RNP that I had a history of migraines, that I'd just flown, that I'd had a cold and ear infection before flying. I fit the sinusitis flow chart.
I didn't fit the intracerebral hemorrhage flowchart.
Guess what it really was?
The poor RNP *still* apologizes every time she sees me, even though I've repeatedly told her, hey--we all put our scrubs on one leg at a time. Stuff happens, and after the vomiting started, I *was* correctly diagnosed by my PCP via CT scan. What fun for the techs in the scanning room to have every breathing neurologist in the three-hospital complex crowded into their visualization room, looking at "the live bleed IN the scanner!"

I've never gone back to the gastroenterologist who thought my weight loss and bloating symptoms were probably IBS--there are other docs ordering my GI workups these days--but he discovered first hand that sometimes when you hear hoofbeats, you'd better check for zebras and not assume horses. ;)

Apayne56, please go get checked out!

(we bring it up because we care...)

[Niobe]

You mentioned working a lot more; I've had the exact same thing. I work 100+ hours a week, and if I'm not very careful to space my carbs throughout the day I end up in head-pounding, nauseous agony. (Certain days, when I put in eight hours at the store and then seven at the restaurant, I actually have to increase my carbs a bit because the constant walking puts me into a state of glycogen depletion.) At any rate, you might evaluate how your carbs are spaced out and what your water intake is as well.