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[The Scout]

If I do any lengthy amount of exercise, I'll get a painful headache across my forehead and at both of my temples. My vision also becomes incredibly blurred. The most obvious cause of this recently is running, but the amount of time exercising is what causes it. I've gotten my health cleared by a doctor, so I know it's nothing major but I'd like to have a solution, a name for what this is, or if anyone else experiences it.

[nenjin]

If I do any lengthy amount of exercise, I'll get a painful headache across my forehead and at both of my temples. My vision also becomes incredibly blurred. The most obvious cause of this recently is running, but the amount of time exercising is what causes it. I've gotten my health cleared by a doctor, so I know it's nothing major but I'd like to have a solution, a name for what this is, or if anyone else experiences it.

What did the doctor have to say about your blood pressure?

I know this feels, I get it sometimes after exerting myself. You could just be sensitive, or you could be carrying tension which, after exercising, transfer into a headache. Anyways, mild to painful pressure headaches, from any cause, suck but aren't necessarily a huge problem. If your vision stays consistently blurry, then you might have a condition worth checking out.

[Ai Shizuka]

Can be a lot of different reasons. Some of them may seem trivial, but are still worth considering.
Hydration: do you drink enough? Before and after running. During it, if you run long distances.
Sun. Especially in summer, obviously. Excessive sunlight in the eyes and heat on the head are common causes for headaches.
Incorrect posture may cause minor muscle spasms/contracture in the upper body and neck, leading to headaches. This is especially true while doing crunches of various kinds.

But the vision blur makes me think you don't drink enough.

I used to have very annoying headaches while mountaineering. It was a mix of not hydrating enough and down-climbing too fast (stuff related to the change in air pressure).

[mauricio]

That usually means you'ven't eaten enough beforehand and used up all your blood sugar.

[Jimmy]

Blurring of vision along with headache is a common symptom of migraine headache.^[1] Typically the blurred vision, or 'aura,' occurs a minute or two before the headache. Your pain is affecting you on both sides of your head, or a 'bilateral' headache. This type occurs in 40% of migraines.

While it's best not to self-diagnose in place of visiting a qualified doctor, check if your headaches fit the following criteria:

• Five or more attacks—for migraine with aura, two attacks are sufficient for diagnosis.
• Four hours to three days in duration
  
• Two or more of the following:
  
  • Unilateral (affecting half the head);
  • Pulsating;
  • "Moderate or severe pain intensity";
  • "Aggravation by or causing avoidance of routine physical activity"
• One or more of the following:
• • Nausea and/or vomiting;
    
  • Sensitivity to both light (photophobia) and sound (phonophobia)

If you fit the criteria above it could be migraines. If not, it's less likely.

[Reudh]

Having had migraines myself for a few years (the attacks are significantly less common these days), I can help a little. There are medicinal treatments like periactin / cyproheptadine that are antihistamines, but have the side-intended-effect of reducing the frequency and intensity of migraines.

You can also get instant migraine treatment packs that work by dilating your blood vessels (most of the time, a migraine is caused by vasoconstriction, or the blood vessels in your brain compressing to increase pressure). These, in my experience, lessen but do not totally diminish the migraine's pain.

Aspirin or similar salicylate drugs can kill a migraine quite fast, though they can have some unusual side effects. Nausea is not uncommon, and in rare cases gastrointestinal bleeding. If you're young-ish, I'd advise you to steer clear of aspirin for treating all but the worst migraines - a simple paracetamol can kill the pain pretty well. Plus, too much Aspirin or salicylates can cause liver damage in some people (though you have to be taking it pretty regularly for this to happen).

Additionally, foods with flavonoids or nitrates have mild vasodilatory effects that can help with headaches or migraines. The best examples of these:

Beet and beetroot, kale, spinach. Personally, I haven't found much of an effect with these except from beetroot juice which is almost as bad as the migraine itself.

[Izu]

I know it's difficult, but it's always the same:
If you have problems then lower your exercise. Maybe start with fast walking only? Drink a lot, 1,5-2 liters a day, but not too much! Eat like a normal person! (: I guarantee it will work out if you make it less exhausting for your body. Don't feel weak, it might just be an inflammation you don't know about, somewhere in your body. Stay fit and slow down and your body will fight it by itself!

/edit: After a while you will feel much stronger and cured, then it's time to be a bit more excessive and you can try out things. But be careful nonetheless

[Ghills]

Exercising 101:  If you're having problems after exercising, dial it down.  Exercise to take care of yourself, and take care of yourself while exercising.

There's too little data here to diagnose the real problem.  Issues with food or hydration, bad pacing, misreading your body's cues, there's a ton of things that could be causing this.   With the information you've given, I can only say that it's time to slow down, take a step back, and figure out where your routine isn't working for you.

[RoofLizard]

If I do any lengthy amount of exercise, I'll get a painful headache across my forehead and at both of my temples. My vision also becomes incredibly blurred. The most obvious cause of this recently is running, but the amount of time exercising is what causes it. I've gotten my health cleared by a doctor, so I know it's nothing major but I'd like to have a solution, a name for what this is, or if anyone else experiences it.

Are you new to running? Are you eating properly?

Either of those could be the cause. If you are overweight don't make the mistake of starving yourself and overdoing cardio, you lose most body fat through good diet not cardio.

I've been running for a couple of years now, when I first began I would get an acute pain in my neck and abdomen. Went to the doctor and was all clear so I just stuck to it and eventually worked past those issues.

[Izu]

I've been running for a couple of years now, when I first began I would get an acute pain in my neck and abdomen. Went to the doctor and was all clear so I just stuck to it and eventually worked past those issues.

You were lucky, but it's best to slow down if you experience pain. That's what your body tells you: Slow down! Especially when it's not simple pain in your muscles or from bad posture (like your neck f.e.) but something more mysterious.

/edit: But it looks like the original poster is already dead anyway

[RoofLizard]

I've been running for a couple of years now, when I first began I would get an acute pain in my neck and abdomen. Went to the doctor and was all clear so I just stuck to it and eventually worked past those issues.

You were lucky, but it's best to slow down if you experience pain. That's what your body tells you: Slow down! Especially when it's not simple pain in your muscles or from bad posture (like your neck f.e.) but something more mysterious.

/edit: But it looks like the original poster is already dead anyway

I know what you mean but I was pretty careful, I would just push a little further each time. That said, you are right to mention posture since you can do a surprisingly nasty amount of harm just moving in a slightly different way to the norm. It's worth reading up before trying something new, I've learned that the hard way a few times 

If the OP is a real scout I'm sure he is ok...

[The Scout]

I didn't expect to get all this feedback. I'm not overweight, being at around 120-130lbs at 5'10". I used to run a lot, but stopped in the past ?two years? Been doing the water drinking thing, and that's really helping.

[Ghills]

I didn't expect to get all this feedback. I'm not overweight, being at around 120-130lbs at 5'10". I used to run a lot, but stopped in the past ?two years? Been doing the water drinking thing, and that's really helping.

Sounds like it's time to brush up on how to exercise properly.  Exercising badly can cause serious, long-lasting damage.  I'm sure your local library has books on how to exercise, or:

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/default.htm
https://www.ehow.com/how_2050428_exercise.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Exercise

[Izu]

I didn't expect to get all this feedback. I'm not overweight, being at around 120-130lbs at 5'10". I used to run a lot, but stopped in the past ?two years? Been doing the water drinking thing, and that's really helping.

Sounds like it's time to brush up on how to exercise properly.  Exercising badly can cause serious, long-lasting damage.  I'm sure your local library has books on how to exercise, or:

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/default.htm
https://www.ehow.com/how_2050428_exercise.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Exercise

Although in the beginning it's enough to just do whatever you feel like as long as there's no pain involved. You can look up all this theory later too. Bodies aren't THAT fragile but they aren't as strong as most people think either. Listen to your body! Let it be uncomfortable and exhausting but not painful or strange! Trust your body, if something scares you then it's probably harmful so slow down. (:

It's all really simple, don't get caught in complicated thoughts (: