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Original poster

Why do I always have a head ache at the weekend?

42 replies

BecomeStronger · 29/11/2020 10:27

I was putting it down to reducing alcohol tolerance with age, although I don't drink a lot, it is customary for me to have a couple if glasses of wine on a Friday and Saturday night.

The last few weeks, I've been fine during the week but come Saturday morning I have a headache that stays until Sunday night. This weekend I haven't had a drink at all but I still have the headache.

It's so bad today that I'm wondering if it could be flu (or that other thing people are talking about) but it feels just like it did last weekend and I've been fine in between.

I have a responsible job but nothing I find excessively stressful and nothing's changed

OP posts:
TheDrsDocMartens · 29/11/2020 10:29

I do too. No idea why.

Xiaoxiong · 29/11/2020 10:31

Do you drink a lot of water at your desk in the week, but the weekends you don't have the same routine maybe?

weepingwillow22 · 29/11/2020 10:32

Me too. I was wondering if it could be asymptomatic covid.

Lilac95 · 29/11/2020 10:32

Do you have less caffeine at weekends? I have 2/3 coffee on weekdays at work and perhaps none or just 1 at the weekend and the caffeine withdrawal causes me a migraine. I suffer anyway but this is a trigger for me. Also I tend to drink less at the weekend as I’m busy and not at my desk with water etc

mamaoffourdc · 29/11/2020 10:33

Me too!!

SadSecretSanta · 29/11/2020 10:33

I was going to suggest caffeine withdrawal. I used to get that because I was drinking a lot of coffee during the week, and then none at the weekend. It was horrendous.

tortiecat · 29/11/2020 10:35

I dont want to scaremonger, but have you got a carbon monoxide leak detector installed OP?

missyB1 · 29/11/2020 10:37

Same here - it’s sooo annoying! Like you I don’t drink much these days, but a couple of glasses of wine on Friday and Saturday nights, trouble is my body doesn’t seem to tolerate it very well anymore.
I also don’t sleep so well at a weekend which contributes to feeling rough.

travailtotravel · 29/11/2020 10:39

Caffeine withdrawal. Not drinking enough water. Not drinking water alongside alcohol. Eyesight a possibility too - screen at different distance to TV etc?

Original poster
BecomeStronger · 29/11/2020 10:39

@tortiecat

I dont want to scaremonger, but have you got a carbon monoxide leak detector installed OP?
Yes, we do. A recent addition actually, possibly motivated to finally get round to it by the headaches.
OP posts:
Original poster
BecomeStronger · 29/11/2020 10:41

I don't think I drink less caffeine at weekend (I'm tea not coffee anyway), possibly less water. Hmm.

OP posts:
MuttsNutts · 29/11/2020 10:41

I got the same for several years, used to lose whole weekends with incapacitating migraines. It was caffeine withdrawal. I don’t even drink coffee but drink a fair bit of tea at work and very little at weekends. Turns out I’m super-sensitive to caffeine.

Tried cutting out lots of things, went to the GP, everything you can think of and then stumbled upon caffeine withdrawal online and the symptoms and timings all tied in.

A couple of years of changing my caffeine intake and it has literally changed my life - no more headaches.

BashfulClam · 29/11/2020 10:42

I get headaches as I get weekend caffeine withdrawal. During the week I usually have a coffee first thing to get me going but at weekends I don’t as I get up much later and I get headaches.

Original poster
BecomeStronger · 29/11/2020 10:43

Interesting Mutts. I drink tea black and very weak, so I don't think I can be getting a lot of caffeine from it. I have about 5/6 cups a day in the week but about the same at weekends, I think.

OP posts:
Amammi · 29/11/2020 10:45

We used to get a takeaway every Friday as a treat and I had awful headaches on Saturdays. When I kept a journal for a month to try and track the cause I realised the times I went out instead of having the takeaway (Chinese) I didn’t have a headache next day. GP reckons it was a reaction to the msg

WitchesBritchesPumpkinPants · 29/11/2020 10:47

@BecomeStronger

I was putting it down to reducing alcohol tolerance with age, although I don't drink a lot, it is customary for me to have a couple if glasses of wine on a Friday and Saturday night.

The last few weeks, I've been fine during the week but come Saturday morning I have a headache that stays until Sunday night. This weekend I haven't had a drink at all but I still have the headache.

It's so bad today that I'm wondering if it could be flu (or that other thing people are talking about) but it feels just like it did last weekend and I've been fine in between.

I have a responsible job but nothing I find excessively stressful and nothing's changed

An ex of mine used to get this, the GP said it was 'stress release' & he didn't even have a particularly stressful job!

Looking back I wouldn't be surprised if it was caffeine related. As he used to sleep really late at the weekend, but by that time in the week he'd have had multiple Sutton coffees already.

Good luck finding the cause!

AnnaMagnani · 29/11/2020 10:47

Do you do something different at the weekends:

Drink different amounts of caffeine?
Go to bed later/have lie ins?
Drink more or less water?
Drink more or less alcohol?

Relaxation migraine is a thing so it could be that. Migraine also likes you doing the same thing every day so staying up on a Friday night or having a nice lie in could also be a trigger. Caffeine is not believed to be a trigger so much as changing the amount of caffeine that you have - so if you have caffeine all day at the office and nothing at the weekend that would also be a trigger.

Basically migraine likes you to have a boring life where you go to bed at the same time every day, get up at the same time, never drink too much, never indulge and nothing ever changes.

Original poster
BecomeStronger · 29/11/2020 10:49

I'm not sure it's migraine. I mean, I'm able to look at MN.

OP posts:
MuttsNutts · 29/11/2020 10:53

The tea I drank at work was at roughly the same times every day, Monday to Friday. I’d still drink some tea at weekends but less and at more irregular times.

Migraines would usually start Saturday nights/Sunday mornings for me.

It may not be the cause for you but certainly worth considering.

Blastandbollocks · 29/11/2020 10:55

For me it was posture. Holding head one way at work (monitor) and then at the weekend shoulders relaxed and blood vessels (or something like that - can remember what the physio said) open up. Also like a head cramp.

Cam2020 · 29/11/2020 10:56

Change to sleep pattern? I'm a migraine sufferer and too much sleep is a trigger for me. If I don't get a migraine from it, I often get a fuzzy, hungover feeling (on no alcohol).

Chloemol · 29/11/2020 10:56

I used to get this, basically it was down to having a stressful job and when it got to the weekends I could relax and that led to headaches as a release of the weekday stress

Witchend · 29/11/2020 11:00

If I'm stressed during the week, and don't have to get up on Saturday, I'll often sleep very heavily and then have a headache. Is this likely?

MonicaGellerBing · 29/11/2020 11:04

Me too. I put it down to not getting fresh air first thing. I find if I get up and get dressed and go out, even just a dog walk that seems to stop the headache.

LindaEllen · 29/11/2020 11:11

It'll be something to do with your routine. If you have the same routine every week day, your body will be used to it, and then suddenly come the weekend things are different.

So, it'll be something like:

  • Too much/too little sleep (and change in sleeping habits can change things)
  • Alcohol intake (which can cause dehydration, particularly if you go to bed without drinking water)
  • A change in your diet, or how much you're drinking, i.e. do you forget to drink regularly when you're at home, or do you have takeouts or treat foods because it's the weekend
  • Lighting levels in your home in comparison to outside/your place of work
  • Staring at screens at home, i.e. TV, computer, phone - which is different to whatever would be happening at work

There are lots of things that could make a difference. Hopefully one of those will help!