Headaches after a day of riding

5/1/2016 1:39pm Edited Date/Time 4/7/2021 12:31am
Does anyone else get bad headaches after they ride? It's always plagued me since I was about 15. After race day I'd have a headache until the next day. Seems to get worse as I get older. And I dont think it's from dehydration because I drink alot of fluids the day I ride. It never affects me while I'm riding, just after i'm done and start loading up.

Anybody else have this problem?
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Zycki11
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5/1/2016 1:40pm
How often do you ride? If you don't ride for a little, your body is not accustomed to the constant head shaking and vibrations of the motorcycle.
5/1/2016 1:42pm
I ride twice a week usually. I put 2.4 hours on my meter yesterday.
plynn41
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5/1/2016 1:43pm
I used to have the same problem, and sometimes still do. I also drank more than enough fluids. But I found taking extra potassium and magnesium cured it for me. I take a potassium and magnesium supplement before race day, and on the race day, and continue to take more fluids than I think I need. It has worked so far.
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Xeno
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5/1/2016 1:46pm
Happens to me sometimes, also not dehydration. I attribute mine to poor cardio conditioning- not getting enough oxygen to the noggin. Try a nasal strip, that helps me get more oxygen when I moto.

The Shop

CarlinoJoeVideo
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5/1/2016 1:47pm
Sounds like dehydration to me, try drinking close to a gallon of water the day before you ride and another gallon the day of riding. Or maybe the fumes are causing it.
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disbanded
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5/1/2016 1:51pm
Your brain is growing
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tobz
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5/1/2016 1:53pm Edited Date/Time 5/1/2016 1:53pm
My neck sometimes causes headaches after a big days riding on rougher tracks
. Proper stretching fixed most of this. I still get them, as recent as yesterday, not as often.
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5/1/2016 1:57pm
Get this every time I ride for the last 30 years, tried everything from varying hydration to supplements and vitamins. Only solution I found was a couple of paracetamol after the last moto. Also have had the same after road bike track days in the past, put it down to concentration and tension
Rdubs19
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5/1/2016 1:59pm Edited Date/Time 5/1/2016 2:00pm


Eat a big breakfast, don't hold back on butter and sugar either. Seriously. Whole milk too.
This won't prevent the headaches, but if/when one occurs, try the Goodys liquid shots. Looks just like a 5 hour energy. Has 1000mg acetaminophen, 50mg caffeine. Nothing else works like this stuff. I can only ever find it at dollar general, but you can probably find it on amazon or something.
Try softer pads in your helmet or a different helmet altogether.
Try some tinted goggles, if you have light colored eyes it doesn't take much brightness to get your head hurting.
Hope something works for you dude. Serious about those Goodys shots too, they're incredible for making it stop.

akillerwombat
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5/1/2016 2:00pm Edited Date/Time 5/1/2016 2:00pm
I used to get a lot of headaches riding (prone to migraines since birth) but I've found that pumping myself full of water (both before riding and throughout the day), trying to stay out of the heat / sun while not riding, and taking a Tylenol about halfway through the day as a preventative helps substantially. Dark lenses are great as well.

That said - the body does what the body does. Sometimes you just can't escape it.
5/1/2016 2:01pm
I thought I was the only one. I don't have it every ride but I do sometimes. Don't know what causes it. I try to drink enough water.
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JPT
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5/1/2016 2:01pm
Used to get migraines coming home from races, whether I was racing or watching. Found out the sun had a lot to do with it. Squinting I guess. Started wearing sunglasses and a hat. It helped.
5/1/2016 2:05pm Edited Date/Time 5/1/2016 2:07pm
My dad has bad headaches constantly. Ever since he was about 21 he says. Doctors don't know why. He just basically deals with them...but headaches only affect me after riding. It's wierd.

It just feels like someone is squeezing my temples. But I go to bed with the headache and wake up with it gone. You know maybe I will try to eat more on ride days. On race day I don't eat much. I never have a huge appetite on race day. But other days I'm like a garbage disposal I can eat and eat and eat. I'm 5-11 160 lbs. Blessed with a high metabolism or I know i'd be 400 pounds...

My race day regimen is like a bacon egg and cheese bagel a hahbrown and orange juice. Water and gatorade at the track. Maybe sometimes some fruit or a banana throughout the day....

And really I thought I was the only one that this happens to, my buddies never complain of headaches on ride day. Just me....glad to see more people having the same problems. Well not glad, but....maybe we can figure out how to fix it!

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akillerwombat
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5/1/2016 2:05pm Edited Date/Time 5/1/2016 2:06pm
JPT wrote:
Used to get migraines coming home from races, whether I was racing or watching. Found out the sun had a lot to do with it. Squinting...
Used to get migraines coming home from races, whether I was racing or watching. Found out the sun had a lot to do with it. Squinting I guess. Started wearing sunglasses and a hat. It helped.
Same.

A big thing for me was getting my eyes checked and getting some prescription sunglasses (which you can get for crazy cheap now). The squinting from the sun combined with eyes that unknown to me were struggling to focus all day was really destructive.
kzizok
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5/1/2016 2:21pm Edited Date/Time 5/1/2016 2:25pm
Does anyone else get bad headaches after they ride? It's always plagued me since I was about 15. After race day I'd have a headache until...
Does anyone else get bad headaches after they ride? It's always plagued me since I was about 15. After race day I'd have a headache until the next day. Seems to get worse as I get older. And I dont think it's from dehydration because I drink alot of fluids the day I ride. It never affects me while I'm riding, just after i'm done and start loading up.

Anybody else have this problem?
Sounds like a tension headache. You may find some reilief by using a mouthpiece like what guys wear in football
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JWACK
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5/1/2016 2:53pm
I used to get these so bad that I was going to quit riding from them. I would get them no matter what and they would be so bad I would get the migraine and then puke and be no good till I went to sleep.... I was in great shape. Trained everyday. Still got them. Then for other reasons I had to go to the doctor. I found out I had the mthfr gene mutation. What this basically means is that my body does not break down folic acid as it should. To make a long story short I was put on a prescription called deplin which is the broken down form of folic acid and my riding headaches have gone away. Absolutely amazing.
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Agent717
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5/1/2016 3:10pm
I don't get headaches but I do have a hard time pissing after riding. Rougher the track, worse it gets.
kzizok
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5/1/2016 3:13pm Edited Date/Time 5/1/2016 3:21pm
Additionally, it could be co- existing migraine and tension headachhe combined. Regardless,, I would still try using a mouthpiece.
coolhand
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5/1/2016 3:15pm
psychosomatic...

Georgie...I thought you were an RN?
KMC440
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5/1/2016 3:50pm
1 asprin in the morning, 600mg ibuprofen at lunch , then a half an asprin or 400mg ibuprofen just before you leave to go home. Stay away from caffeine (which you already know) . This helps me ... and yes I get them too.
5/1/2016 4:41pm
i had the same problems and no this aint a 2st 4st thing but i honestly got them less when i went back to a 2st actually i only every now and them got them on the 2st.
i drank shit loads of fluids but honestly think hydration has little to do with it.
kzizok
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5/1/2016 4:44pm Edited Date/Time 5/1/2016 4:46pm
KMC440 wrote:
1 asprin in the morning, 600mg ibuprofen at lunch , then a half an asprin or 400mg ibuprofen just before you leave to go home. Stay...
1 asprin in the morning, 600mg ibuprofen at lunch , then a half an asprin or 400mg ibuprofen just before you leave to go home. Stay away from caffeine (which you already know) . This helps me ... and yes I get them too.
Caffeine is put in headache meds along with other meds. So there are combo pills with caffieme as one of the sctive ingredients. Fiorcet is one example.
FastEddy
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5/1/2016 5:02pm Edited Date/Time 5/1/2016 5:09pm
Does anyone else get bad headaches after they ride? It's always plagued me since I was about 15. After race day I'd have a headache until...
Does anyone else get bad headaches after they ride? It's always plagued me since I was about 15. After race day I'd have a headache until the next day. Seems to get worse as I get older. And I dont think it's from dehydration because I drink alot of fluids the day I ride. It never affects me while I'm riding, just after i'm done and start loading up.

Anybody else have this problem?
The biggest most common culprit I know of ...is sinus type headaches from the dust/dirt/pollen.
You may not feel it that day,but the next day it might feel like your head is in a vice(that temple pressure feeling).
Try a Neti Pot after riding.
You can clean out your sinuses and nose.
It's actually something good to do anyway,to flush out all that dirt & shit you breath in while riding.
They help with allergies also...

As you get older also,your sinuses sorta become weaker.
The little hairs that protect you inside die for various reasons.
Smoking,drinking,snorting drugs lol,caffeine,allergies,dust etc...can all mess them up.
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5/1/2016 5:24pm
History of concussions? I've had 7 to 9 over my life... I know that may not be a large number for some but always wondered if that's what caused it... I just take some ibuprofen while riding and that seems to work for the most part
bvm111
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5/1/2016 5:33pm
Hydration is not only water but minerals as well... If you drink too much plain water you will flush your electrolytes from your body and cause hyper hydration that is just as bad as dehydration. If you are active you can and should salt your food or supplement with electrolytes in it.... Gatorade and Powerade are crap and contain sugar.

Oh yeah you can't become truly hydrated by drinking water on the way to the track... If you complain of pissing too much when you drink water that's because you are dehydrated and your body is not used to consuming the extra fluid so you piss it out. Don't just slam a bunch of water but slowly increase your total daily intake of water throughout the week/ month.

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Ash124
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5/1/2016 5:40pm
Yes Sir.

Used to get them every time I put in a solid session. Tried copious amounts of hydration with different products, earplugs, vented gear- all sorts.

The biggest improvement Ive come across is with eating plenty of small amounts during the day, which took a while to get used to. Muesli, fruit, chocolate bars and even drinking Coke- which I never do anywhere but the track.


I honestly think I've overdone it with the water and ended up with super low salt concentration. I sweat like a freakin racehorse.

Superdave19
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5/1/2016 5:45pm
Dude I get them too! - had them for years after riding. Not dehydration for me, not lack of conditioning. Still looking for answers..
JPT
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5/1/2016 5:50pm
Migraines always hit me when I let down. When my job was real stressful I'd get them on the weekends, violent pain and vomiting. The race day ones hit on the way home. Something about vascular constriction. That's why caffeine is often included in migraine medicines. Used to take Caffergot which is almost pure caffeine.

Odd but as I've gotten older, 65 now, the migraines have been less and less.
Xeno
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5/1/2016 6:11pm
A lot of interesting suggestions here! I used to get a migraine about once a year that would make me violently ill (usually forced me to the E.R.), but I learned to manage those with my diet.

I take Advil to treat post-riding headaches, BUT- a word of caution: A neurologist explained to me that taking blood thinners like Advil can be very dangerous if you suffer a heavy concussion/brain injury. So I try to refrain from the Advil until I'm done riding for the day.
5/1/2016 6:29pm Edited Date/Time 5/1/2016 6:33pm
I've had two concussions. One at 8. And one at 15. I'm 29 now. Both concussions were pretty hard diggers.

Yes. I Am a nurse, in nurse practitioner school currently. But I'm not a neurologist. I'm in acute care. I treat septic shock. Not headaches. lol. As a clinician you realize you can't know everything. It's ok to go to others who know more. There's so much to know about the body. That's why there's 15 different teams of doctors to be consulted for a seriously sick patient.....


Mouth piece is easy to try. I'll try it. If it continues ill eliminate that. Second thing I'll try is potassium and mag supplements. My labs were just draw. Last week and everything is within normal range. And that was after fasting....doubt it's a electrolyte issue. But I do have real shitty sinuses and allergies....I'm always stuffy most of the time. Inflammation Stuffy. I bet it's a inflammatory response to dust. Maybe I'll take an NSAID and ride. See what happens.....

Wonder if we could all pick one thing to do this week and check back to see if our symptoms are better. I seriously didn't think this many people had this problem.

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