Frequent headaches

[Jars11]

Hi all, it's my first pregnancy and am 16+5 weeks. I was wondering what your experience is with pregnancy headaches, for the last few weeks been having them on an almost daily basis, despite eating and hydrating well, and regular yoga. I know headaches can be a normal thing in pregnancy, but should i be worried at the persistence? They seem to start off around my forehead, nose and eyes, and later wrap around the side to my temples. I've already been to the gp three times about ear ache, ab pain and leg pain which turned out to be nothing, so don't want to go in again unnecessarily. Your thoughts much appreciated!

Im currently 13+5 and I've been getting a lot of headaches. Once was a really bad migraine and I had to have the day off work.

I would just mention it to your midwife at your next appointment, that's what im going to do as the GP will just put it down to pregnancy, midwife may look further into it.

Thanks for posting anxiousandpregnant, i actually did mention it to my midwife when i saw her two days ago, but she just said to see my gp if i wanted to persue it, hence why i'm still unsure. Would be interesting to see if your midwife has anything more helpful to say?

Well I see mine next week so ill let you know! I keep reading up on it and apparently its hormones which is why I haven't bothered talking to the gp about it.

I've had two pregnancies before this one and have never suffered headaches with them, aren't our bodies strange!

Yes do let me know that would be really helpful, in the mean time i'll try not to worry! Hope your headaches ease too :)

Saw my midwife yesterday and she said it is very common due to hormones, exhaustion and dehydration, and to take paracetamol when needed. In later pregnancy and can one of the symptoms of pre eclampsia but far too early for anything like that at the moment. So really ive no real advice lol apart from get plenty of sleep and drink water lol

Well that's reassuring nonetheless and i'll take the tips, thank you for coming back to share. Although after a couple weeks of headaches, the latest nightmare is constantly throwing up in my mouth and painful growing pains. A new surprise every week i guess! Hope you're keeping well :)

Although I can't offer any useful advice, I just wanted to say I was the same between 16-24 weeks. Headaches came every other day and lasted a minimum of 24 hours each time- it was horrendous! Midwife said it was normal but to watch out for any other signs of pre-eclampsia just in case.
They finally eased off around 24 weeks and although I still got them occasionally, they were much less severe. I'm 32 weeks now and I can feel them coming back but blood pressure and tests are all normal so does seem to be 'one of those things'.

One thing that did help was a single cup of coffee or caffeinated drink once a day. Apparently it helps blood flow and and is recommended for people with migraines. As long as you stick to less than 200mg (equal to about a litre of Pepsi max or two cups of coffee) it won't harm baby.

That's really helpful to know strawb thanks for posting. I think the worst thing of all is the anxiety you experience every time 'one of those things' starts happening to you, so it's a real help to hear other people's experiences.

I've been getting headaches a lot during pregnancy having never really suffered with them before. The only concern with headaches is that they can be a symptom of pre-eclampsia but if you have been to midwife recently and blood pressure was fine this is unlikely to be a concern. I have also found a caffeinated drink helps shift them.

Had such a bad couple of days with headaches. I feel like ATM I have them more than I don't have them. Worried this is an early sign that I might get pre eclampsia but probably just me being paranoid

So many people seem to say it's a really common thing and not serious, i went in to the blood pressure clinic last week for assessment and all seems ok, they say just keep on your bp and if it looks like you're at risk of pre-eclampsia visit the doctor. I'm on 75mg of aspririn every day now, should help the headaches and keep p-e at bay, fingers crossed

It is very common! Drinking little more water normally helps (before the headache even starts)

I suffered with headaches and migraines pre pregnancy and from 12 weeks have been having terrible headaches almost daily. I'm just over 19 weeks now and they seem to be easing a little, at least not every day anymore (they've been taken over by wicked heartburn, but that's another story!)

As someone else has said, having a coffee or two a day has helped me, the caffeine really does help keep headaches at bay. Also drinking water, and I mean gallons of it. I have a litre drinking bottle on my desk at work and I'm on my 5th refill today. A couple of pints of water here and there just isn't going to cut it, you literally need to be almost constantly drinking!

I have also found that I get a headache if I haven't slept very well, though pregnancy doesn't really help you get a good night's sleep either!