high protein diets and headaches

I seem to have daily headaches now. Its so frustrating. I'm not sure if it is the weight loss or the high protein diet. I'm also struggling with constipation TMI, sorry... But was wondering if anyone else has this problem. I eat 80-90 g of protein, less than 20 carbs, and drink 84-90 oz of water a day. I don't want to resort to taking ibuprofen and laxatives daily, not sure what else to try...

I don't have headaches any more than normal.. during the first lo-carb week- yes. Do be aware Ibuprofen and other pain relievers can cause rebound headaches, and I have been caught in that trap before.. it's a pain in the butt to get off them if you've been using them daily for this reason.. I just had to endure a week long headache to get past it. 

As far as constipation, I can only share what worked well for me- early out, a dose of benefiber and miralax a day. Miralax is a non-stimulating stool softener, so it's very safe to use.. After I was "going" well, I cut the mira to 1/2 dose a day or every other. When I finally ran out of my calcium supplements and needed to order more, I ordered Vitalady's Tender Cal/Mg/D3. Those 6-9 capsules a day had enough magnesium that I never needed anything again to help me, though I still take my Benefiber. The Mg in them actually had such an effect that I ended up needing to order some plain cal citrate powder, so I get half my cal from the capsules, and half from my powder added to my morning coffee.. and I still go very well. It may be worth looking into. 

I can't help much with the headaches - I only have these in the early phases of transitioning to low-carb or if I don't get my morning coffee. I do know that when we are rapidly losing a lot of weight we are also shedding hormones and toxins that have been stored in fat cells, so this may be contributing to your headaches too.

For the constipation - this is very common with very low carb diets. Here is what works for me ...

1) Benefiber 3x day - either a tablet, or a serving of the powder mixed into my Crystal Light - I personally can't taste it or feel any texture so it works well for me. I did not find that psyllium powder agreed with me.

2) Colace once a day - this is a stool softener, not a laxative, but it seems to help. I usually just take this when I notice that I am getting a little backed up

3) If I get constipated anyway, Miralax for a day or two usually does the trick - and it is gentle and non-habit forming, so I don't worry about it the way I do with regular laxitives

4) I am at maintenance, so have a little more caloric wiggle room, but healthy fats really do make a difference. For me, this means fish oil supplements, full fat dairy products, not worrying about the fat on my meat, lots of salmon in my diet, and cooking with olive oil, rice bran oil, butter and peanut oil.

Good luck! It sounds like you are doing great with your eating plan!

I started having really bad headaches for about a week after I had been doing low carb for several weeks. My husband suggested I have some carbs and see what happened. They did go away after eating more carbs one day. I went back to eating low carb two days later and have been fine since. If it happens again, I plan to have a carb day and see what happens.

Haven't had the headache issue but have had constipation. Use a little Miralax for the constipation and it seems to help.

Hi Blake-

Headaches suck...I'm a chronic daily migraine sufferer, so I feel your pain, literally. I haven't noticed any change in frequency or intensity post-VSG though (unfortunately, as I was hoping they would decrease...and I now get Botox injections) but what Jo said about rebound headaches from overuse of painkillers is completely accurate. You need to stop taking them. Completely. The first week will be horrible, but then it will get better.

As far as constipation, what works for *me*:
1) At lunch: 500mg Magnesium oxide
2) At bedtime: 500 mg Magnesium oxide, 4 colace and 1 probiotic (I use primal defense ultra).

Without this regime, I only poop every 7-10 days. With this, I can go every couple of days. You may not need all that MgOx or colace so start low and tritrate up. Both are completely safe. I got no relief from Benefiber or Miralax so I had to resort to this...

Michelle

Headache triggers:

Nitrites - in almost all pork products, deli meats or meats that have been processed (pepperoni, salami, meat sticks, some jerkey's)

Smoked meats (often deli type meat)

Dairy for some people. Not for me but have heard for some.

Does tylenol help? You clearly get enough liquids!

Sorry, I'm a migraine/headache person myself. I am getting headaches but an unfotunate side effect of life long headaches and migraines is they have to hurt a lot to notice them. I get daily low grade headaches and right now it's my age. They were gone for years, after 40 they returned. Once they near migraine pain I notice them.

Sometimes I find myself rubbing my temples and I go "oh, I have a headache".

At a little less than 2 months out I started noticing cluster headaches....I am also a migraine sufferer.....This went on for about 2 weeks...Make sure you are drinking plenty of H2O....this helped me a lot.

Constipation:   a whole other topic....for me, It's been a battle, but I think I have finally won.  I take all my benefiber in the morning with my coffee (2 TBSP).....I have been doing colace at night and just increase to 2 capsules a night....I have miralax for when I go a day or more without pooing.  I'm cannot stand to go longer than that.... if I do go longer than 1-2 days then it gets harder and harder to get it out....then I will drop weight....so it's important to me to keep cleaned out because I know that it's keeping me from losing my potential.  I have just recently started eating a few grapes (fiber) before I exercise and this also helps.  I'm only talking like 7-8 grapes.  Another thing that I eat that keeps me going is roasted soy nuts (I know sounds strange)