Headaches from Pre-workout supplements

[guylaga]

Just a general question...does anyone else get head aches from taking a pre-workout supplement?

I have re-started going to the gym for longer more traditional work outs at the start of the year after doing 30 minute HIT work outs at home for the past two years.

I picked up a semi-popular brand of pre-work out just to try and the first work out I did, seemed like I had just a little more oomph than usual.

But after that first day the next few days I would get headaches while working out that would get worse as I increased the intensity. I did nothing different and mixed the one scoop of power with about 20oz of water.

I have never had an adverse reaction to coffee, nor bang type energy drinks, so I do not think that the caffeine is causing the head aches but open to thoughts and comments.

 

[Trr15]

Is the caffeine content in your pre-workout comparable to the content in the other drinks? Also, if you’re a regular caffeine user and you’re adding the pre-workout on top of your regular intake that could have an effect.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

I did and quit using a premixed brands, I think was caffine in them on top of my morning pot of coffee...who knows what really in them anyways? Now I just get head tingles but that's because of the amount of BA I use before my workout...it goes away once I start moving.

 

[guylaga]

125mg Caffine in the pre-workout, I typically drink 2 or 3 cups of coffee in the morning.

Bang has 200mg I think and never gave me an issues.

 

[zacattack]

It probably has arginine as a vasodilator. It’s causing your blood vessels to expand resulting in headaches. If it says something like “boosts nitric oxide” don’t use it. Look for some that don’t have arginine and see if that helps. Caffeine also does the same thing, so you’re getting a double whammy.

 

[TheGDog]

If you're getting headaches.. most likely it's making your BP too damn high! You said 2-3 cups of coffee in the morning? YEah... you don't need any pre-workout adding additional caffeine on top of that.

Lotta the pre-workouts will also make use of Niacin and other B-Vitamins because it gives people that "Niacin Rush"... the flushing you can feel in your skin when it comes on. Those part of it might be causing the effect as well?

snap a pic of the nutrition information / ingredients label and post it up here.


On days when you're gonna make use of that pre-workout... you just might wanna purposefully skip one of those coffees in the morning so you're not taking your daily caffeine intake to ungodly levels.

 

[Fry]

Could be your not hydrated enough. You should be hydrating days leading up, not just day of. Maybe the mix makes it worse. Is there medical proof those do anything? wouldnt hurt skipping them to see if headaches fo away. Eat a candy bar like snickers right after a workout would be helpful for your muscles believe it or not

 

[stitchesdraw]

I did and quit using a premixed brands, I think was caffine in them on top of my morning pot of coffee...who knows what really in them anyways? Now I just get head tingles but that's because of the amount of BA I use before my workout...it goes away once I start moving.

Love the BA tingles lol. Gets a guy fired up . Lots of my buds don’t seem to Like it much. But for me personally, I oddly seem to enjoy it hahaha maybe a bit too much. What I’ve noticed those is the caffeine seems to being on a bit of anxiousness.

So now it’s either the morning Java or the magical pixie dust for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RayRayG19]

I do sometimes, depends on how much caffeine is in the pre workout, and how much water i drink.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Yep, I add BA and L-citrulline to WA Hydrate and Recover.. I can't give up my morning pot of coffee.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

On days when you're gonna make use of that pre-workout... you just might wanna purposefully skip one of those coffees in the morning so you're not taking your daily caffeine intake to ungodly levels.

1st off skipping any morning coffees is straight blasphemy...also I am gonna need to you to define "ungodly levels".

 

[guylaga]

I dont think being dehydrated is the issue, I drink ALOT of water through out the day.

I will try skipping my morning coffee tomorrow and see what happens and report back.

 

[TheGDog]

1st off skipping any morning coffees is straight blasphemy...also I am gonna need to you to define "ungodly levels".

When it starts crankin your BP skyward, to a value that's High (for YOU).. you should know when this has happened if you've been paying attention to your body and how it reacts, thru the years.

Or...

When you notice neck-aches/head-aches. (Also when you notice getting these headaches when you DON'T get your morning cup, it's indication you've become chemically addicted to it and should wean back down)
Feeling like you gotta goto the bathroom much more frequently than usual.
Heart Palpitations
Tremors
Acid Reflux issues.
Irritability
And a host of other things.

 

[AZSTM44]

I try to avoid preworkouts supplements as much as possible. If you look at the ingredient list, they've got so much chemicals and compounds in there, it can't be healthy for your body. Any one of those ingredients could be giving you the headaches.

 

[TheGDog]

It's just like any other med or food... ya gotta pay attention to the ingredients list and determine which particular individual compounds don't agree with YOUR body. Could be most folks are just fine with it... doesn't mean that YOU will be.

Example:
I'm caffeine sensitive. I do ...A... cup in the morning... and that typically will make it difficult for me to finally goto sleep at the end of the night. Sometimes resulting in my not going down till even like 2am.

I elect to do it because it does help me "expand by brain" when I'm coding in order to keep track of all the abstract concepts I'm tracking in my consciousness while coding in any given moment. And the staying up late thing is because now being a father and also now having back issues... I'm not burning out that caffeine by working out like a slave.. like I did from highschool on up to about 45yo before things began ripping, breaking, tearing, and other injuries happening have made me pause that, for now.

So my point is... knowing this about myself.. I have to pick and choose and decide if and when I'm going to ingest things with caffeine in them, from what source (coffee vs energy drink vs pre-workout), and when? So like... if KNOW I was to go back to the Gym, I'd have to make the purposeful choice to skip the coffee in the morning, so I'd know I wasn't all OD'ing and sped-out on that isht in the PM when it comes time to get your swole on.

Without a doubt.. a strong pre-workout can DEFINITELY up your output when you're going for BeastMode. I seem to recall reading by as much as 12%. But the deal with pre-workout drinks... it's more about the TIMING and engineering WHEN the uptake of these compounds in happening. That pre-workout makes it easy to determine WHEN the hit from the caffeine and other synergistically supporting compounds starts uptaking into your blood stream.

Since this gentleman said 2-3 cups in the morning... I don't care WhoTF you are... that's TOO MUCH for a Human body. He might... might be able to "withstand" this punishment of his body at this particular age he's currently in. But even at a young age... that body WILL NOT put up with you throwin' back all the caffeine day-in day-out without there being consequences to it. Just that sometimes it takes a while before the damage/effects can manifest themselves.

The way I always remember it for myself is, IF you ingest caffeine, more than just like 1 cup of coffee, you HAVE to have a legit activity to burn it off, otherwise it's going to remain in your system for a significant time. And when it's in your system and NOT currently helping to address the stressors you're placing on your body... that same agitation/hypertension it's creating... isn't directed by the blood stream and your physiology at any specific body-parts / systems that you're taxing ATM. So instead... your brain, heart, and all the smooth-walled muscles (involuntary, like the walls of your arteries and veins) will get very rigid.. and thus when the heart pumps out... those arteries/veins aren't expanding outward with as much "give" and flex to them as they normally would... thus leading to high blood pressure since the "pipe" doesn't expand with each shove of blood into the system, resulting in much higher BP numbers.

In his instance, what I would suggest for now is like just getting a pre-workout that only gives aminos etc. and none of the stimulants. It really isn't until you've gotten yourself to like near that 85-th percentile of fitness where you're pushing for a new Max on X or Y, or making a determined effort to last longer and for more distance in your cardio pursuits that you may then want to consider adding it back in. But.. I'm figuring with freaking 2-3 cups of coffee... first thing you need to do is slowly over time ease it back down to 1 cup a day. Which WILL give you headaches most likely, since you've already gotten your body chemically-addicted to always having that certain amount of caffeine present. So for example, your body has become used to your veins/arteries having a certain amount of tension in them now always. So initially when you start the process of weening yourself back off it... you're likely gonna get caffeine withdrawal headaches. Until your body has had enough time to re-adjust and get back into homeostasis again.

Remember... your body is always... always... fighting to get back into homeostasis at all times. As best it can. So when our inputs cause out-of-the-norm changes, like the way caffeine does for example, the body then reacts to all this extra stimulant action happening on receptors, in a bunch of various way. All of which are NOT something ANY of our bodies can do indefinitely without damage creeping in over time and affecting the system.

Replace the caffeine with very aggro music man.

To the other gentleman's comments of "they've got so much chemicals and compounds in there, it can't be healthy for your body." this is the same kind of un-learned comments ya here all the time from dummies that say isht like "NO! I don't want to be taking any meds" even though they may very clearly present with a diagnosis that warrants X or Y regimens be begun.

First off, whatTH makes you think the foods you eat don't have just as many "chemicals and compounds" in them? They do. You just never bothered to look up what they all contain.

That's just it... the crux of what I'm saying here... it's on YOU... to do the research and learn and understand which each ingredient is and what it does and why, for this product, and why it was put in there.

And just like other things we consume, if this one doesn't sit well with us... we try this other one. And hopefully if you've been paying attention, you looked at the ingredients list... made mental note.. then on next purchase you experiment by selecting a different formulation that doesn't have X or Y in it this time.

So anyhoo... just get yourself an Amino Recovery that doesn't do the whole stimulant route, and I betcha no more headaches. (Jokingly) But all bets are off if you're doing Military Press! (That isht always made me get neckaches the next day! HA!)

 

[Vandy321]

Not a doctor.

if it were me, If the headache increases with intensity of the workout, but I didn't have one the first day, I'd be questioning if it's the pre-workout or is something else going on?

Easy first step would be to remove the pre-workout for a week, if the headaches continue, something else is causing it.

 

[guylaga]

Well here I am to report back.

Skipped coffee today and had no adverse reaction to the pre-workout. Will repeat tomorrow and see if it indeed was a caffeine overdose included head ache or not.

 

[guylaga]

Not a doctor.

if it were me, If the headache increases with intensity of the workout, but I didn't have one the first day, I'd be questioning if it's the pre-workout or is something else going on?

Easy first step would be to remove the pre-workout for a week, if the headaches continue, something else is causing it.

Haven't taken any in a week give or take a day or so, have not had any headaches since.

 

[guylaga]

@TheGDog Thanks for the detailed response.

I will say that I'm not a caffeine sensitive person, and honestly only really drink coffee for the taste. I have never needed that extra push to get going in the mornings. Also there are plenty of days when I skip coffee in the mornings as well.

And I like metal as much as the next guy, but music never seems to give me a push haha.

 

[aftriathlete]

I'm a fitness lunatic, and honestly I got off all preworkouts a few years ago. I don't avoid caffeine by any means, I just drink coffee now. But the preworkout was not only expensive but there is so much random stuff in there that I can't pronounce, I just figured that all can't be great for you. I get enough oomph from strong coffee. I would not be surprised at all if you are getting headaches from it.