Burst vein in head???

Hi all. Yesterday I was squatting, and the next moment it felt like someone hit me on the back of my head. I completed the rest of the session, but I had a throbbing headache at the back of my head for the entire session.

This morning while doing cardio the throbbing was there again, but it was tolerable. I also felt a bit of nausea this morning (but not hectic).

Did I pop a vein? Should I consult a doctor or something? A friend of mine said the same happened to him, and he had to take two weeks off and took Cataflam and Adco-Dol before he went back to gym.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is this dangerous? Any help would be appreciated. :sick:

Could be exercise induced high BP...

Its pressure, that's why when doing your compounds breathing properly is essential even if you make a little noise it relieves the pressure. I would not be too concerned, take some time off, check your BP, stop all stimulants.

If you doing cardio I doubt its BP related, but as Koe said, BREATH!!!

If that happened to me i'd be having MRI's this morning.

BP was 127/71 when I measured it over the weekend (but it did come down from 144/80 from two weeks earlier). I'm not on any stimulants at this stage.

Will concentrate on the breathing - I noticed the pain was worse on the initial contracting movement when I breathe out, so maybe I'm holding the air in a bit before I breathe out.

Do you think I should try pain killers such as Adco-Dol (stress related headaches) to curb the pain until it's gone?

Thanks for all the comments!

Go and see a doctor.

Ok, will do.

Ok, many many centuries ago when I was stil in high school I tried to squeeze in another bicep curl and held my breath in the process and boom... same thing that happened to you. I had headaches for months and I completely stopped all training for three months before it gradually became better. Ever since then I concentrated on proper form and breathing and thankfully it never happened again, but if it does I will go straight to a doctor and if necessary have an MRI done as oom Jack already suggested.

You could suffer a stroke and have serious brain damage or even die if you did burst an artery in your brain.

Your description is exactly what I experienced and now that I'm wiser I will have it checked out asap if I were you.

EDIT: Oh and I had a headache even if I would get up quickly and anything that would raise my heart rate would cause this severe throbbing/pulsating headache that was only cured by resting for a couple of minutes.

how heavy were you lifting? What percent of your max? Any dizziness, light headedness, fatigue etc? Any neck pain or stiffness? It can be either a bp related issue, or even a muscle tear/spasm

Made an appointment, will see what the doc says.

I wasn't lifting heavy, 80 kgs for 12/8/6 reps with 5 seconds rest inbetween. But it was my second last set of these and near failure when it happened, so I was pushing hard relatively.

Will post what the doc says, maybe it could be of help if it happened to someone else.

I popped a vessel in my eye about 2 years ago, while doing militiary press :oops:

Ok, so according to the doctor :

I might have popped a surface vein in my head, which isn't life threatening. Symptoms of a bleeding vein on your brain (which is life threatening) includes fainting, dizziness, nausea together with the pain. You'll also be able to pick up bleeding by checking your eyes (dialated pupils, non-responsive to light) or standing on one foot and checking your balance. If this occurs, then go to ER immediately.

The doc just prescribed pain pills with paracetamol (i'm taking Adco-dol) for the pain. He said I should treat it as a normal headache, and take it easy in gym for 5 days or so (i.e. just cardio or light weights). If the pain doesn't get better after 5 days, I should go back.

BP was also ok - 130/80 after lunch.

Great stuff and thanks for the update.