Does Anyone Else Get An Immediate Headache?

[ruca55]

Does anyone else get an immediate headache after consuming gluten? Almost a sinus type of headache as well as a tension type, up the back the and into shoulders? I struggled with these for years, I can now relate it to an almost immediate reaction to gluten. Is it normal to feel symptoms so fast? Would that be more of an allergy problem vs. a celiac problem?

Thanks

[Jestgar]

Mine was frontal lobe, left side only.

[eatmeat4good]

Mine started on one side then radiated throughout my head lasting 12 to 24 hours. Horrible.

Directly related to gluten.

[mybellemichelle]

Yes! I've been getting the headaches a lot lately, including one tonight. I'm new to this whole celiac and gluten deal, so I never recognized the symptoms before. Mine feels almost like a sinus headache. I generally take some Excedrin, but that doesn't really do anything, I just have to wait it out. Tonight, it was hurting on the right frontal lobe side. I could trace it back directly to eating gluten.

[Myou]

I still find it startling to come across threads where people describe almost exactly the same symptoms I experience. Good heavens.

It just so happens that I've recently just recovered from one of these awful headaches, having had been accidentally glutened actually two nights ago. The headache is typically the first indication for me that something is amiss. It begins almost like a sinus headache, forming just above my left eye (it seems like it's always starts in the same place. Odd!), then it gradually spreads to behind my head to the base of my skull. Finally, it all concludes with a miserable muscle tension, which becomes the most unbearable part of the entire ordeal. I usually end up describing the feeling as "an anvil on my head," where the weight is just too much.

One of the worst things about this particular headache is, unlike other types of headaches...medicine simply does nothing. I can try to take Aleve, Ibuprophen, Exidrin...sheesh, at my most desperate moments, I've taken a few of these at the same time! And there is simply no relief. Typically, I beg my significant other for a shoulder rub, which may give me a few moments of respite...however, it all returns very shortly after.

Generally, the symptom lasts for 12 to 24 hours, with my last one clinging on for about a 20 hour period.

I've theorized that the pain is the result of constricted blood vessels, while our immune systems go nuts, but I don't know for sure.

Thank goodness I'm finally over it today! Oi!