Severe bursting pain in skull

**Prime** · 09-10-2004, 06:24 AM

Diddnt know where to put this. Anyone with a medical background who wants to add some input is most welcome.
I get terrible hedaches while training legs. Im not talking a minor pain, its more like several electric drills burrowing through my skull into my brain. I came to accept that this was something i just had to put up with. Sometimes id take painkillers, sometimes id just put up with it.
I also get pains directly after training, the only way to describe would be like someone getting a high presure hose and sticking it the side of my head and pumping in many cc's of air.
Well i was training legs yesterday and instead of regular sets i was doing sets of ten with a minutes rest then another set. So i was performing considerably more volume then normal. Squats went ok and i got on the leg press. I managed the first two sets fine, then came the third set. That was really tough and i was struggling to get to ten. I finally managed it and racked the weight. As soom as i had racked it and untensed i got this pain in my skull, like i described earlier, but instead of a few cc's it felt like this time it wasnt going to stop. The inside of my head felt like it was being inflated and my brains were gonna burst through my skull. Thats the only way of describing it. I sat on the leg press with my hands clasped around my head whimpreing in pain for about 4 mins before the pain/pressure began to drop. I felt weak and dizzy. My head was throbbing, i went straight home, struggled to get my boots, trousers off etc and more or less passed out on my bed for a few hours. Well its the next day and my head still feels a bit uncomfortable. One thing i noticed yesterday is that when i woke up in my bed my hands felt kinda numb and weak.
Im not trying to be a hypocondriac here so please dont treat me like one. Im only 21 but could this be a sign of high blood pressure?
I think it could have been caused by me holding my breath during the positive movement in the exercise.

**Sta11ion** · 09-10-2004, 07:23 AM

I would go see a doctor, that does not seem normal.

**Hypertrophy** · 09-10-2004, 10:33 AM

My first reaction was going to ask if you hold your breath during the movement, which causes a significant increase in BP, you already mentioned that. That is what it sounds like as far as the pressure.

**Prime** · 09-10-2004, 03:53 PM

Bump.

**Dally** · 09-10-2004, 04:36 PM

I think you have pinched a nerve. A big pretty serious nerve at that. I dont think you should push yourself that hard mang. At least for abit. I had a similar issue like that when I used to do really heavy shoulder press .. like a pinch in my shoulder that went into my temple and behind my eye. Totally weird.

Take it easy bro. It'll heal up in time.

**chicamahomico** · 09-10-2004, 06:13 PM

Good lord man, see a doc asap.

**chances** · 09-10-2004, 07:40 PM

When you hold your breath and strain you are performing what is called a Vagal or Vasalva Maneuver, which causes pressure on your Vagus nerve causing, amoung other things, your heartbeat to slow down. The pain you are experiencing is the heart rebounding and your blood pressure going back up suddenly causing pounding blood vessels to suddenly put pressure on nerve bundles, especially in the temples.

You've got to breath through the positive movement. Try breathing through the positive and if that fixes the problem, there you go. If not, you should go see a doctor. Have you been hit in the head recently (like the last 6 months)?

chance

**Doc M** · 09-10-2004, 10:21 PM

YOU NEED TO SEE A DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY!

Never, never take chances with an issue like this..Anytime there is a loss of coordination, balance, dizziness, etc..and it is on a reoccuring basis, you need to see a Doctor..Don't play the macho on this..It could be something minor that is treatable with meds, or it could be a life-threatening issue such as an aneurysm or damaged vessels..If you are taking ANYTHING that cause your b/p to be elevated..STOP until you are seen by a Doc..I wouldn't even be lifting at this point as this could be what breaks the dam wide open..PM me when you make an appt..

Doc M

**statuZ** · 09-11-2004, 12:54 AM

dude like everyone said you shouldn't take this **** lightly at all, go to see a doctor asap.

**geoneo** · 09-11-2004, 01:43 AM

listen to what chances said about the Vasalva Maneuver he is 100%correct, take his advice btw i'm only a second year med student but the first thing that popped in my mind was that your doing the Vasalva Maneuver, just wondering what is your bp and heart rate normally before working out, do you have any water retention from any gear or supplements??
Go see a doc bros and get your bp checked out immediatly

**Prime** · 09-11-2004, 05:37 AM

Originally Posted by geoneo

listen to what chances said about the Vasalva Maneuver he is 100%correct, take his advice btw i'm only a second year med student but the first thing that popped in my mind was that your doing the Vasalva Maneuver, just wondering what is your bp and heart rate normally before working out, do you have any water retention from any gear or supplements??
Go see a doc bros and get your bp checked out immediatly

BP as of yesterday 130 over 65

**AnabolicBoy1981** · 09-11-2004, 11:51 AM

See a doctor! could be annurism waitin to blow. its when an artery has a weak spot and thae week spot or thin spot balloons out. Eventually its explodes and death is almost immediate. It can stay balooned for years. It's like a time bomb.
It could be a pinched nerve. I had a similar thing when i would do pec deck a few years ago. I thought my eyeball was gonna explode, It ran up my neck through my head ans into my eye. It interuptem my sets big time. I stopped 3 reps shy of failure cuz of the sensation in my eye. Ver weird stuff. Inconvieniennt.
Anyway, are you using a fatburner or gear right now, bith of with increase BP.

**geoneo** · 09-11-2004, 10:18 PM

mmmm your blood pressure is fine, the thing that worries me is that you still had symptoms the next day feeling numb and tingling, seems like something wrong with your circulation for the numb and tingling to occur, either that or you could be pinching a nerve with a blood vessel - bros i'm not trying to scare you but you definately need to see a doc - as you can see by the replies it can be many things - plz see a doc and keep us informed

**dtr98** · 09-22-2004, 09:03 AM

don't know if you got it checked out yet? had something like that a couple of yrs ago, and pain would shoot down my arm, doc said it was an inflamed nerve, get it checked out tho

**Prime** · 09-30-2004, 04:52 PM

Ok went to the doc a few weeks back now. She said it was something some of guys suffer, but usually during sex

Apperently the hedaches altho not common do occur in some males

**chances** · 09-30-2004, 07:14 PM

I have heard of this. It's called the climax migraine, though as the name suggests, it's usually a migraine, along with sensitivity to light, or sound and includes nausea or vomiting. If you're not having these secondary symptoms, I would get a second opinion. Did she explain why you were getting weakness and numbness in your hands? These could be serious symptoms, or they could be because you slept on your hands wrong. This is just too serious to mess with.

JMO

chance