Headaches...15 Weeks!

I second the recommendations for caffiene and lots of extra water -- sometimes just a little coffee or tea in the early afternoon helped me to keep the headaches at bay.

Good luck!

You really should let your OB/GYN know about this and see if a stronger med (tylenol 3) would help. You have 2 other children and are under a lot of stress. Make sure you are taking your vitamins and stay away from processed foods. Also, camomile tea is very soothing and I use Lavendar shower gel and a lavendar spray mist on my pillow when I have one. Lay down and TRY to get some rest at the onset - take a nap (at every chance you get to regain rest and strength). Do your boys still take a nap? Let yourself get some peace and quiet and try to push away all the other things that you have to do (I know it's hard for us to do that).

I am big into natural therapies and how what we eat, the amount of sleep and stress play on our bodies. I can help you get some great botanical products to help you with this. Drink lots of water too! You need it for you and the baby. Keep hydrated but don't drink a lot of caffeine - avoid it if possible. True, sometimes taking some caffeine with the Tylenol will push it through your system faster. It does work for me as well but otherwise I stay away from it.

As much as possible, only do what you can. Stretching yourself too thin while being pregnant (or not being pregnant) can make havoc on your system. Eat properly with lots of fruits, veggies and whole grains. Don't beat yourself up because the house isn't clean! It will eventually get done. Best of luck to you and take care of yourself. All are depending on you too.

K.

I had headaches with my first daughter and migranes. When i went to the doctor I mentioned it to the nurse and she told me to avoid dairy products. She was right. Once I stopped the dairy products the headaches went away. I never drank milk or ate alot of dairy before I was pregnant so I did not know that I had problems with dairy. Also stay hydrated and make sure you are getting enough protein. These are all things that can cause headaches even when you are not pregnant. Make sure you talk to your doctor also. Hope you are feeling better soon. Trust me I know how crabby chronic headaches can make you!

I always get headaches and when I'm pregnant, they continue and get worse. Ask your OB for Tylenol 3's. I know they're safe during preganacy, I took them through out all 3 of mine. It helps, but for me I had to lay down after I took it or else it didn't work.

I never had headaches with my son (6 yrs old) but with my daughter (3 months) I had terrible headaches. Mine sound like they were similar to yours and just as bad. Some days I even had to shut myself up in my room with no lights or sound they got so bad....and I was scared to drive. I felt it wasn't safe being on the road with a headache so terrible.
My doctor told me just to take Tylenol and lay down. She felt they were hormone related, for which there isn't much of a cure. At one point they got so bad my doctor suggested taking Excedrin Migraine which I never did. It wasn't on the "safe" list. I found that once I got into my 6th month that the headaches got less and less intense. I hope they do the same for you. You aren't too far off.

I had horrible headaches/migraines around 13-14 weeks during my first preg. and my current one. This time I tried to drink plenty of water, I completly avoided caffine, tried to get plenty of rest, and eat regularly. This really seemed to help. My headaches as far as I can tell are normally hormone related, so I only had to do this for about a week. I think I must have a surge of hormones or something at the end of my first trimestore. I actually figured out that my migraines were hormone related because I realized that the only other time I could remember having migraines was while PMSing.

I had a severe migraine while I was pregnant with my daughter. I called the Drs office to ask if I could go to the ER to get morphine to get rid of it and if it was safe for the baby. The nurse practitioner gave me my miracle cure for them and I still use it to this day 2 years later when it gets bad!

She said...
1 Chlortrimeton (green box) allergy pill
1 Tylenol ( I used Excederin)
1 can of Coke (I used Mountain Dew since the caffiene speeds up the medicine)

Within 30 mins of the worst migraine in my life it had made it bearable... for mild migraines it worked wonders and got rid of them and for a regular headache Excederin would work fine for me!

Also pay attention to what you are eating at about the times that they start... if you notice a pattern then avoid those foods... Lunch meats would do it for me because of the chemicals in it same with processed cheeses.

Good luck to you!

Try going to a chiropractor. That helped with my first pregnancy. I still go to one today when I get chronic headaches and it really helps.

Go for the caffine. I had terrible headaches with both. My doc said up to a certain amount of caffine per day was safe - check on the current recommendation.

If you get migranes check with your doc about meds. I took a couple different things for mine when they were bad enough. Certain drugs are safe, but like the caffine recommendation, they change constantly.

FYI, same thing if you end up nursing - you can have caffine and you can have drugs...I respect those who tough it out - I'm a big fan of appropriate alternate routes!

Congrats!

Make sure you are drinking at least 2L of water per day, no caffiene or artifical sweetners. Eat a baked potato 3hrs after dinner, before bedtime, no protein, butter, salt, pepper are all fine. Try that for a couple of weeks, you need rhe extra potassium. I do know Advil is safe during pregnancy but not Aleve. Sounds like it may be a sugar imbalance in your body, which is hard to maintain during pregnancy. I too saw a chiropractor and helped relieved many of my symptoms.

My Dr. let me take Excedrin Tension headache. You could try drinking a little caffeine, coke or pepsi.
Sometimes just taking a couple of minutes outside in the fresh air would help, not take away, but help.
I know its not the best, but you could put a movie on for your boys, and sit in a chair with a cool washcloth on your face and neck.

Just some ideas.
Good Luck!

Both of my pregnancies were like this - same thing, starting in the afternoon and lasting until the Tylenol kicked in or I went to bed. I also had migraines with my first. I took Tylenol, like I said, but I also drank extra water early in the day, and exercised (walked or rode my bike) moderately every day. I worked out about 30 minutes or so after lunch, since that's when the headaches usually started. I think it was mostly the exercise that helped. My OB said the extra oxygen intake was most likely what warded them off.

If you go to an Aveda store they sell this thing called blue oil (and it's really blue oil). You rub it on the back of your head/neck area and temples - lay down for 20 mins. (if you can) and I swear - it's the best magic potion on the earth! 90% of the time, my headaches are gone or very less severe after using it.

have your eating habits changed at all? sometimes those headaches can be triggered by a food allergy. Try eating more natural foods and not as much processed, the chemcials combined with hormone levels may make them worse. And I agree...try a chiropractor or an acupuncturist.

Try Aleve (can't remember if it is preg safe or not though). Believe it or not, Tylenol can sometimes make a headache worse for some people (I had a tension headache for 2 weeks straight...ditched the Tylenol, and believe me I love Tylenol, and started Aleve and BAM! it went away). You can also try to include more potassium in your diet. Bananas, potatoes, and citrus fruits are all great sources.

Make sure you are dehydrated and try to avoid excess caffeine and sodium. A nice balanced diet of fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean proteins could also be helpful to you and your baby. Try to avoid processed food, junk, and refined sugar (simple sugars enter the bloodstream too quickly and violently giving you a sugar rush followed by a big crash which could possibly contribute to the headaches). You could also try to avoid artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharine, and sucralose.