Many pregnant women get affected by pregnancy headaches. In the majority of the cases they are caused by the pregnancy hormones.
Nonetheless there could be some other causes as well, such as fatigue, tension, hunger, stress, overheating or their combination.
What can you do about headaches while expecting?
It is true that you can’t take medication like ibuprofen or aspirin, but you can take acetaminophen. Still it is best to check with your doctor before you actually take the medication to make sure that it is safe for you. Besides this, there are some other steps as well that you could take.
Rest
To make sure that you won’t be affected by both headaches and pregnancy, you should make sure that you are well rested (as much as this is possible in the given situation).
This is important during the first and last trimester. However, you should make sure not to sleep too much, because that as well can cause headaches.
Tension and migraine
When thinking about these problems regarding pregnancy and headaches, the best thing that you can do is to lie down for a few minutes in a dark and quiet room. I
f you are working, you just have to shut your eyes for few minutes and put your feet up. You can tell your boss that you are brainstorming.
Another thing to do about pregnancy headaches is to use a cold compress on the back of your neck for 15-20 minutes. In order to avoid too much stress you could take a prenatal yoga class, meditate or do some breathing exercises. It doesn’t really matter what you do as long as it’s working for you.
Sinus headaches
If you are thinking about headaches while being pregnant, another solution for your problem may be steam inhalation. This way you could make congestion better. Also think about placing a humidifier in the room to increase the moisture of the air. Make sure that you are well hydrated.
In case you have problems with nasal congestion regarding headaches and pregnancy you should ask your doctor about the nasal decongestant that you could use. While you’re at it, you should be checked out by your doctor to make sure that you don’t have a sinus infection.
Eat
Although this doesn’t seem to be the most scientific advice regarding pregnancy and headaches, you should know that if you skip meals the blood sugar level drops and this could lead to headaches. The same thing could happen if you have too many sweets.
In order to avoid pregnancy headaches, it may be useful to have some healthy snacks at hand, such as granola bars, a container of trail mix or whole-grain crackers. You should have these in your bag, in your desk at work and also at home to stay clear from the temptation of having something unhealthy.
Now you know what to do about headaches and pregnancy and what healthy steps you could take to avoid them.
