Cry cry baby

September 15, 2009 5:44 PM

What causes crying headaches?

I cried all afternoon at work (boo --private office) and now I have a massive headache, despite meds. What causes these insane crying headaches? What a bad side effect to a bad situation!

posted by sweetkid to health & fitness (11 answers total)

I always assumed it was dehydration. I mean, you're squeezing water out of your face. I generally try to drink a glass of water while I soak my pillow all emo-style.
posted by Juliet Banana at 5:46 PM on September 15, 2009 [5 favorites]

Also you're squishing up the muscles of your face when you cry. Just try tensing the muscles in and around your forehead for a few seconds and it'll start making your head hurt - maybe cutting off the blood supply through swelling from unusual exertion of the muscles plus dehydration?
posted by Billegible at 5:49 PM on September 15, 2009

Most likely from the uneven breathing, and the nasal/sinus swelling, that goes along with crying. I googled "crying headache" and it has several results.

Hope you feel better soon.
posted by amyms at 5:50 PM on September 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

Speculation--tension headache? I find an ice pack to the head and a dark room helps when I have one.
posted by 6:1 at 5:50 PM on September 15, 2009

Crying can make your sinuses fill up, which can cause a headache.
posted by decathecting at 5:50 PM on September 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

i vote dehydration. in fact in my experience most headaches are caused by dehydration.
posted by chickaboo at 6:07 PM on September 15, 2009

For me, tension headaches.
posted by Night_owl at 6:15 PM on September 15, 2009

When I was a kid I'd cry and get lightheaded--that's when I knew it was time to stop, actually. Something along those lines?
posted by infinitewindow at 6:31 PM on September 15, 2009

Dehydration?! The amount of water you could lose in tears is insignificant. I'm guessing it's psychogenic or a "tension" headache.
posted by phrontist at 6:34 PM on September 15, 2009

I think it's the tension + sinus irritation. Mostly tension I'm guessing, because I often get really bad headaches if I'm pushed to the point of crying, but don't actually cry.
posted by whoaali at 7:01 PM on September 15, 2009

For me it's sinus.
posted by brujita at 9:59 PM on September 15, 2009