headache after diving

[Subaqua]

Hi,
I often have a headache after diving. Usually If I do more than one dive/day or deeper dives. I also seems to be frequent to others persons. Anything I can do to prevent this?

[Zenagirl]

Headaches are often a result of CO2 retention. My husband is a photographer and used to hold his breath for a short time to get a shot. When he did this he always had a killer headache at the end of the dive. It can also happen if you're skip breathing or breathing too shallowly.

[plot]

i figured out my diving headaches came from the sunscreen/bug repellant crap i was using called "bull frog"...

stay hydrated and try to do less work in the water.

[cgvmer]

I found drinking a significant amount after a dive (1L or more) reduced or stopped my headaches all together.

[fire diver]

Yep, all good advice. Drink plenty of water before and after the dive. Make sure you are breathing OUT completely during the dive. Try not to overexert yourself while diving, remember this is supposed to be fun!

If you do all of the above, and are still have headaches, you might want to talk to a diving physician.

FD

[mm_dm]

Awhile back I was using a breath count during dives to extend my gas. I would come up with a headache from CO2 retention. I also didn't hydrate enough prior to and after the dive. Now, I work on my cardio-vascular conditioning during the week and my gas consumption is about the same now without the headaches. I also drink a lot of water all week long.

[WV Diver]

Shallow breathing and not expelling all of your breath and completely clearing all the dead air space of your scuba system are the biggest reasons I have found for big headaches.

[gtjason2000]

I found I often was getting headaches because I was clenching my jaw harder than necessary to keep the regulator in my mouth. After biting through a mouthpiece I learned to ease up a bit and have reduced the number of headaches.

[Xspect]

Please explain about clearing the dead space out of your system

Originally Posted by WV Diver

Shallow breathing and not expelling all of your breath and completely clearing all the dead air space of your scuba system are the biggest reasons I have found for big headaches.

[WV Diver]

Dead air space, aka dead space, are all areas that play no direct role in gas exchange. These spaces include your sinuses, trachea, etc., compound this with dead space from your eqiupment such as your regulator or snorkel and the dead space you have to contend with is increased even more.

Any air not completely purged from the added dead spaces, breathing passages, contain higher than normal levels of carbon dioxide that are mixed with the fresh gas (air) you take in on your next breath. At depth your tidal volume, that air which you take in during each breath, is decreased up to about 20%.

You can see that this decrease in tidal volume accompanied by extended dead spaces can significantly increase the carbon dioxide build up in your system. The higher the levels of carbon dioxide the more frequently and or more deeply your body stimulates your need to breathe.

So if you take long deep breathes the extra tidal volume increases the amount of fresh gas you inhale and helps prevent headaches by decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide that is in the fresh air mix you breathe.

Long, full breathes are good mkay.