Headache after dive

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divechilly

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Messages
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Location
North of Boston
# of dives
25 - 49
I did two dives today, both shallow, no deeper than 20 feet. Each was less than 40 minutes. As I did after my certification dives, I have a minor headache over both temples. The headache does not occur during diving.

I don't skip breathe. My equipment has varied from minimal in warm water to a lot in cold water (like today).

The headache has subsided. Are these headaches common?
 
Were you wearing a hood? Most body heat is lost through the head. Another cause could be CO2 retention. If you were breathing hard or did not make a slow ascent it's possible that it would give you a headache. Other causes could be lack of sleep, dehydration or a tight mask.
 
oxygen deficeincy,
you may think you are not skipping breaths. in fact if you breath rapidly you are depriving your blood with oxygen. you need to exhale longer and inhale longer.

time your amount of breaths taken in 60 secs 6-8 is better then 20
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that's funny
on my checkout dives the other weekend I had bad headaches after both dives
was at a max depth of 50 feet for 30 minutes or so
I was breathing deep and slow the whole time
don't know why I got the headaches
(but it didn't spoil my fun)
 
divechilly:
I did two dives today, both shallow, no deeper than 20 feet. Each was less than 40 minutes. As I did after my certification dives, I have a minor headache over both temples. The headache does not occur during diving.

I don't skip breathe. My equipment has varied from minimal in warm water to a lot in cold water (like today).

The headache has subsided. Are these headaches common?

http://www.scubadiving.com/training/your_body/beat_dive_headaches/

Some pretty good tips there.
 
divechilly:
I did two dives today, both shallow, no deeper than 20 feet. Each was less than 40 minutes. As I did after my certification dives, I have a minor headache over both temples. The headache does not occur during diving.

I don't skip breathe. My equipment has varied from minimal in warm water to a lot in cold water (like today).

The headache has subsided. Are these headaches common?

I have found that my headaches after and even during diving are always due to dehydration. As soon as I drink a Gatorade the headache dissapears almost immediately. I try to hydrate heavily before dives to prevent this. I have also found that a tight mask will also cause the headache to appear. This coupled with dehydration makes for a miserable dive.
 
Have you tried taking the wife out to dinner after a day of diving? It helps my headache.
 
pasley:
Have you tried taking the wife out to dinner after a day of diving? It helps my headache.
That's helped my headaches go away!
 
Scuba Diving Magazine, May 2005, has an article on this subject - and treatment.
 
The reasons for a post dive headache many, but the two most common reasons are:

CO2 buildup during the dive; This can be from several factors, some of which you are aware of by your post and the post of others. The most common of course are skip breathing and breathing too shallow.

Dehydration; You would be surprised at just how much water you need to drink, and how much water is sucked out of your body during a dive. Don't hydrate yourself by drinking lots of water when you get to the dive site, by then it's too late. Start the day before, and ensure you drink at least 8 glasses of water the day before, and the day of the dive. Avoid alcohol completely at least two days before you dive, have no more than one cup of coffee in the morning, and don’t cheat by drinking just one of those half gallon coffee mugs.

If you are not skip breathing, and taking nice long inhales. Then dehydration would be my best guess for the cause of your headache after diving. But just to be sure, maybe you may want to see a Doctor and ask his professional opinion, making sure to tell him “everything” you are doing, eating and drinking just before the onset of the headache.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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