Feeling nauseous and have a headache at the same time every day

[Winterwonderland2244]

I wake up at 5.30am and I get home from work at 4.30pm. Every afternoon at around lunchtime I get a headache. I then travel home on the bus and train and just feel so ill. I’ve been trying to stop myself from throwing up on public transport almost every day. It’s a mix of headache, nausea, sweating so much and feeling faint. My blood test showed that im low in vitamin D, so I have been taking high strength tablets for around 3 weeks now. I always have b12 injections every 3 months as I was do deficient around 1 year ago. I drink 2 coffees each morning and I try to drink water but it’s hard when busy at work. Today I’ve had 1 litre and the headache has arrived again. I will have another litre now before I get home.

Has anyone else experienced this? Im desperate and can’t understand. Surely the vitamin problem is solved now? Rest of blood tests are fine apparently. Im not pregnant.

Also I'm asleep on the sofa by 6pm every day, I then try my hardest not to nap but I can’t help it. I just can’t keep myself awake after work, just exhausted. All I do is sleep.

Could it be something in your work environment causing it? Carbon monoxide or similar?

I work in a hospital ward I’ve honestly thought of everything. It’s weird because it’s the same time every day. I haven’t noticed it on weekends but I genuinely don’t do much on a weekend I’m just relaxing at home.

Do you eat properly in the morning?

I'm not great at eating breakfast and find that within an hour or so of eating lunch I get a weird headache, feel sick and often a bit sleepy. I keep meaning to get it checked out as I wonder if it's a blood sugar thing.

Sounds awful OP. If you've had blood tests presumably you've seen a doctor about it? What did they think?

Could be to do with your job - does it happen on days you don't work? Does your work involve any unusual chemicals or similar?

Also how old are you? Depending on your age it could be something to do with perimenopause. I'd be falling asleep too if I'd got up at 5.30am, but I definitely got tired more easily when I hit mid-40s, and less so now I'm coming through menopause.

Was also going to mention a possible blood sugar issue. Impaired glucose tolerance means your blood sugar spikes after eating and then crashes which can easily cause nausea/headaches/shakiness. IGT is common and probably won't show up on any blood tests unless you're testing yourself regularly right after eating.

Try switching to very low carb meals for lunch (salad, meat, eggs, nuts) and only drink water to see if that makes a difference.

I am wondering about the blood sugar too. I would like to test a couple of theories out.

I will drink more water
I will try to either change the time I’m eating and/or the food I’m eating
Does anyone think it might be caffeine related? My colleague tested my blood sugar and it was extremely high but at that point I had just eaten lunch so she said that it is normal

If you go without breakfast then dehydration has already set in and maybe lunch and water won't fix it. If you are not eating between 5.30am and lunch that may well be a factor. What is your BMI?

Im 29 and my bmi is 31.9

I usually eat something at 10am, some kind of breakfast and then lunch at 1pm

My guess would be blood sugar too. Try monitoring it a bit so you have some data to work with, and that should help you figure out what's best to eat, and when.

Other things... Have you had Covid? It doesn't sound particularly long-Covid-y, but just something to consider. Are you particularly stressed at work at the moment?

Sounds like hunger !
Eat a decent breakfast: eggs on brown toast and take a handful of almonds to eat on the bus ride home.

Could it be the hospital lights? I had to stay in hospital recently and the horrible bright lights gave me migraines and eye strain. I had to ask the nurses to turn out all the lights in my room as it was giving me awful headaches, nausea and dizziness.

I’ve actually thought of the hospital lights, they are similar to supermarket lights which used to give me a headache too. I drank two 1.75 L bottles of water yesterday and 2 small coffees in the morning. Still got the headache and had to take paracetamol for the journey home. On a plus I didn’t actually feel sick. It could be dehydration and my body might need a couple of weeks to feel better. Im just confused and when I told the doctor he said there is no illness that occurs at the same time every day. I explained that it might not be the timing it might be something I’m doing to trigger it. For example if I have coffee at 7am and 8am then by 12pm I’m withdrawing... so it could be that as an example. I’ve tried having a red bull at lunch but it doesn’t help at all.

Are you taking painkillers daily, or almost every day? I'm not saying that to be judgmental - just that if so, it's quite normal to then have the pain return if you don't take them, unfortunately. Not saying I think it's the trigger, but could be another annoying factor that's contributing.

I usually don’t take anything for it. I’ve took some this week as I’ve also had period pain so had to. I don’t like taking tablets unless I have to

How are you feeling today?

It sounds like diet to me.

@Innocenta thank you for asking 🌸 the same, headache and feeling sick on the bus and train. Im perfectly fine now that I'm home relaxing. It’s really annoying me now I just don’t know what could be causing these weird symptoms.

Have you tried cutting out coffee? It makes me feel anxious, palpitations and shakes at lunch if I have one in the morning. If I have tea I’m fine

Could it be a migraine triggered by the harsh lights? Would some kind of glasses be an option to block it out? Migraine suffered may know.

Ah, you poor thing! I'm really sorry it wasn't any better today.

It's most likely the coffee. To find out if that's it,you'd need to cut it out for a week or so and take note of your symptoms. Note... you'll definitely get a headache from cutting it out but after a couple of days you could find yourself headache and nausea free. I used to be able to drink it fine but ANY caffeine now will trigger a really bad headache that usually gets worse for 3 days, the 3rd day being the worst and nauseous on that day too. Sadly, even chocolate triggers it now. People don't realise how potent a drug caffeine is. Drink lots of water too.
Note- the only painkiller that works for me for this severe migraine type of headache I get, particularly in response to caffeine, is sumatriptan. Doesn't work for everyone and you have to be assessed as safe to take it as it has risk of severe side effects. So it wouldn't be something to do instead of giving up coffee for instance (if coffee turns out to be the culprit), you're always better getting away from the cause... but it can help if you do suffer the headache. But as I said, it's useful for some and has no effect for others

I had this with headaches. I would get up, totally fine. Then it would start just after nine and by ten I'd be floored with it. They got progressively worse and I ended up at Doctors. The triptans didn't help me much so they put me on a daily preventative which helped. I do find harsh, white lights a trigger when I'm feeling 'headachey' and back then, it was months before I could even look at a white light without pain. Warm white wasn't so bad.

I have bought a pot of my normal coffee but caffeine free, would this work if I switch? I’m curious if it is vitamin deficiency, although I am taking the supplements now, I might take another look through my blood results. Im also going to book an appointment at the opticians. So, that’s caffeine, eyesight and blood test I’m going to focus on. Does anyone know if there is another type of blood test that I might need to ask for? If it is the lights at work, is there anything I can do to help? I so have a headache at the moment but that could be down to anything to be honest.