I began the Atkins plan just over two weeks ago and have had a nagging headache since about day three. It laughs at Advil; it barely flinches at Aleve. In spite of the fact that I have lost 8 pounds really easily, I am a grumpy girl with an aching head. Someone tell me . . . does it ever go away?

Deerwalker (soon to be Deerslayer if the ache doesn't cease)

A couple of things to consider are: are you drinking enough water and are you eating enough? A persistant headache on low carb can be an indication of either dehydration or a low caloric intake.
You should be drinking at least eight 8 oz. glasses of water each day.

First consider what Lisa said, she always has a valid point and good advice. Some ppl may not like my answer, but for me, no the headaches never went away. Two weeks of constant throbbing headaches without caffeine (yes I tried decrap...oops I mean "decaf"). So, I added coffee back in and I was fine from that day on, it doesn't seem to have an effect on my loss so far as I can tell. Did you drink caffeine before you started?

I considered the caffeine withdrawal possibility also, but 2 weeks seems a long time for a caffeine withdrawal headache, especially since the clearance time for caffeine to be out of the body completely is much less than that. When I ditched the caffeine for a while, I had a mild headache for 2 or 3 days. Then again, I wasn't a heavy coffee drinker to begin with. Diet Coke, on the other hand....oy! A 2 liter bottle a day.
If I get a headache now, it's either because I'm not drinking enough water or it's stress/sinus acting up.

I really struggled with the headaches. I got earth splitting headaches and was miserable all through induction. Excederin was my drug of choice and it did help.

For me, potassium really got rid of them. I take one potassium supplement a day and my headaches are gone! Someone on the forum suggested this to me and it worked like a charm. Now I get occasional headaches but they are just the regular stress or tired headaches.

Good luck to you. I know how difficult it is to stick with this with that throbbing head. Cindi

Gosh, I couldnt empathise more ..I am awfully prone to migranes and thats what kept me from going onto atkins for 6 months.. anyway , I finally took the plung ( day 13 today) I had a bad headache on Day two , but I drank over 16 glasses of water and that did the trick..never be without a bottle!

Thanks, everyone, for your advice. There's nothing like experience! I'm sure it's not caffeine withdrawal; I kicked the Diet Coke habit more than a year ago. I will try the potassium and increase my water intake, even though I know I'm getting at least 8 glasses a day. It also could be I'm not eating enough. Now that amazes me! But I find I'm just not hungry! That's even more amazing for this previous Chow Hound. I am loving this way of eating. I feel so much better overall than I did on the low-fat brown-rice whole-wheat-bread diets. I am committed to getting healthier, and I know I can do it the low-carb way. Overcoming this headache thing is my last obstacle to a fabulous new me!

Deerwalker

To truly get the value of this forum, I recommend you start a journal and detail all the things you eat during the day. That way, some of the more experienced members will look at your foods and give you their opinions as to whether you are eating enough of the right things, etc.

It's a valuable tool, and it also helps you keep track of your progress on this WOL!

Hope your headaches ease up. BTW, drinking 8 glasses of water may not be enough for you.

HTH,

Pokey One

Good Morning Deerwalker!

Just another quick thought: Eight glasses is pretty good and you should commend yourself for getting that much down. An interesting formula - you take your current weight and divide it by half. That is the number of ounces of water you should be drinking for maximum health benefits. So, ideally you should be taking 102 ounces a day. That would help your headaches as well as speed your weight loss. That's a lot of water! So you might not be able to do it everyday, but somedays would be a big help! Good Luck and I hope you make it out of those headaches. Cindi

Hi,

I've been having headaches and migraines since I was about 5 so I know what you're going through. It wouldn't be unusual for me to have 8-10 extra strength tylenol in 1 day. After 2 weeks of non-stop headaches while I was dong induction, they magically went away. I drink a lot of water (more than 4 quarts a day), no caffeine, and take super Vitamine B & Potasium in addition to the Atkins supplements. I can happilly report that after the induction, I've only had a headached 3 times in 6 weeks time and didn't have to take anything for it. Oh yeah, I started to take walks a few times a week as well after induction so that may had something to do with it as well.

V

Being an admitted Caffeine addict, I looked into Caffeine and withdrawl headaches. I'm certainly no doctor, so take this information with a grain of salt.

Basically, caffeine supposedly makes the blood vessels in your head expand, increasing blood flow to your brain. When you go off caffeine, these vessels contract, restricting blood flow. This restricted blood flow results in a headache.
Suggest to resolve this: Exercise. Physical activity will increase blood flow and alleviate your headache.

Okay, I apologize to anyone who actually has a medical background and thinks I've botched that whole concept. But I do recall that exercise was presented as a solution to caffeine withdrawl.