Sudden intake of sugar = headache?

[az81]

I went out for dinner last night for the first time since I started my current diet, and I decided to treat myself with my favourite drink - a lemon, lime, and bitters.

While I'm unsure how the restaurant prepared it, I'm sure that it was most likely lemonade with flavouring added. This was the first time in months that I have had a drink that would be considered high in sugar, and half an hour later, I could feel a headache coming on. A few hours later, the pain was intense and unbearable.

I'm going to guess that this sudden intake of sugar was what caused the headache - is this possible?

[Blitz]

Found the following at : migrainetrust.org

Causes of hypoglycaemia

If we don’t eat enough calories for our bodies’ needs, then our blood-glucose levels drop too low. This can happen if we skip meals, fast, diet, or exercise on insufficient food. Eating a high-sugar meal can cause ‘reactive hypoglycaemia’, because the sudden rise in blood-glucose from the sugary food triggers an over-production of insulin, which in turn makes the blood-glucose levels fall too low. If diabetes patients inject too much insulin into their bodies, it can also cause their blood-glucose levels to fall too low

Note that dieting and exercise are listed above as causes. The 'reactive hypoglycaemia' that is referred to usually occurs slowly (a few days)...so it is unlikely that your headache was caused by the drink. Not getting enough food or exercising too hard are the more likely causes. Your drink wouldn't have contained enough sugar to do the damage (unless you were drinking gallons of it).

Another underlining cause could be just a mild psychosomatic reaction. I know that when I kicked my Coke fizzy drink habit that when I had a small taste many months later that I just didn't enjoy it at all. It was just far too sweet for me.
Yet this was a drink that I drank litres daily without a hint of sweetness about it. My taste buds had returned to normal setting after years of abuse. Perhaps the shock of how sweet your drink tasted suggested to your mind unconsciously a sugar overload and manufactured a headache in response. The mind is a powerful thing and a little suggestion can go a long way (my profession takes full advantage of this fact - you wouldn't believe the stuff I can getaway with just a few 'mind bombs' ).

Kim

[Tams]

Could be a variety of ingredients in the drink.

You'd have to test the theory by isolating the ingredients. If you think it is sugar, find out how much was in the drink, and then consume that quantity and just that TYPE of sugar. There are different types of sugars. Man-made ones can cause harmful reactions, as can other additives. So the only way to know will be isolation and controlled experimentation. Probably not worth the effort given your current healthy road...!!

[Blitz]

An interesting thought Tams.
But you are also right in your last statement...no time in research of this nature while you are on the road to a healthy lifestyle.

Kim