Headache during/after freedive

[Rogert]

hello all

i was just out doing some diving with my little sister and i kept on getting headaches. it only seems to be when i push my limits aswell. but i still feel like i can go for longer but because my sister is not very confident i dont push myself too hard. so i come up and i will have a really bad headache for about 5 seconds and thats it, it just dissapears and i feel like i can dive again. any suggestions as to what is going on? any suggestions is greatly appreciated

[adax]

Hi Roger,

I had the same after my first dives (dynamic in pool), but only after surfacing, never during the dive. It was sharp pain in the back of my head. Fortunatelly after some time of very irregular training, it disappeared.

I think it has something to do with the brain blood vessels accomodating to the lack of O2 (or rather while returning back from the low O2 state). I think the vessels also have to get used to it gradually by training (like muscles).

The best way to avoid it is not to push too hard, let the body accomodate slowly to the new situations you put it in.

[Rogert]

yeh mine are exactly like that but its right in the middle of the forehead so it feels like a headache though lol sorry. ok great thanks ill try that

[deep thinker]

Do you feel slightly dizzy too, that can be a co2 buildup in the blood stream. Try lenthening your recovery times.
It could also be a sinus problem, that would hurt if you increase pressure on it, and dicipatate after a while as you come back up and the pressure goes down. Have your sinuses checked, its worth a shot, it could be just a small problem by the looks of it easily corrected with some meds

[island_sands]

hey could also be dehydration.... are you well hydrated before diving?

[Rogert]

no im not really come to think of it. ill try a few glasses before diving. thanks island_sands.

[laminar]

Hi,

Your blood pressure skyrockets after a long breath hold - this is your body's way of keeping you conscious by widening the blood vessels to and in your brain.


That's usually the main cause.

Pete

[Rogert]

so ur saying i should lengthen my rest times between dives to get the blood pressure down again?

[LachlanWA]

Could it be sinus related? I've had headaches fom freediving, and that turned out to be a sinus block. A test for that might be trying a dynamic at the surface to simulate the same oxygen/CO2 balance you're getting. If you still get the same headache then it's probably not sinus related.
Good luck,
Lachlan

[cebaztian]

Are there any sinuses on the back of the head close to the spine?
A WC athlete here in Dahab gets pain there at depth and thinks it is place that isnot equalized.

Sebastian

[jome]

Sebastian, at least for me the pain of a blocked frontal sinus usually radiates so that sometimes it feels like it's coming from the back of the head. Basically feels like someone is pushing a needle on your neck...

[SanderP]

I've also experienced some seriously crazy headaches in the water. They came and went really quickly but the pain was so strong I almost fainted.

I also felt it at the back of my head and it started when I had been underwater for about 10 seconds. I wasn't even freediving, just swimming.

[Rogert]

it could be the sinus problem because im just recovering from the flu and my nose is still a little blocked but also yesterday i extended my recovery times between dives and the headache seemed to disappear.

[tylerz]

I regularly have subtle but uncomfortable headaches after a diving session, sometimes during the diving session as I progress. However, I had associated these with my tendency to dive with short surface intervals, little CO2 ventilating, and far from ideal rest during surface intervals. This tendency has occurred due to a number of factors:
- to prolong dive session by staying active.
- to have a higher dive frequency before session is aborted due to cold tolerance.
- to encourage surfacing early due to CO2 buildup.
- to avoid drifting in currents away from the desirable dive spot.

When I line dive I do not find myself getting these headaches, and I imagine in warmer conditions this would lessen for me as well.

However, that being said, I would love to hear any perspectives that may assist in alleviating these headaches.

[trux]

Just like it is not safe to hyperventilate, getting the CO2 balance to the other extreme is not secure either. High CO2 content influences the binding of O2 to hemoglobin, and so it is capable to transfer much less oxygen to the brain and other organs and tissue. This can become critical in depth, where the high CO2 level in your blood can cause blackout - that's even more dangerous than SWB, since you may be out of reach for you buddies or anywhere else who could possibly save your life if you blacked out on the surface or close to.

Eric Fattah wrote about such case for example in this thread:
http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=68233

Besides it, high CO2 level makes you also more suspectible to narcosis and bents. Read more about it here:
http://scuba-doc.com/CO2acclim.pdf