Remedies for headache caused by air conditioning

Sitting all day in a building with air conditioning gives me a splitting headache..
What can I do to feel better?

I should add my head is shaved, not sure if that makes it worse..

Please help!

Is it a brain freeze type headache? I suppose the obvious bit of advice would be to wear a hat... And where the hell are you that you'd actually have access to air conditioning?

yup, get a hat

unfortunately it's used a lot in the place where i work

it's the type of headache that builds up gradually throughout the day..
one of those that makes you think by the end of the day your head will explode..

No it doesn't. Your psychosis against God's gift to man is upsetting the apple cart. Next thing you know you will say that it is giving you the flu. Your turning German I really think so.

ooooh...careful there! It could quickly develop into a deadly case of Kreislaufstörungen!

I recommend you get one of these Wehrmacht style toques.

Time for a Krankenkasse-paid holiday!

I despise Air Conditioning in offices. Absolutely hate it. It's always bloody freezing in our offices and I find I have to go outside regularly to "warm up". Apparently, people here like to wear winter clothes to work every day even though it is over 95 degrees (33 or so in real money) outside.

Working somewhere cold is 100x better than working somewhere that is miserably hot. I'm quite enjoying being back home on vacation and being in a 24 degree (75 or so in real money) house, especially when its 100 degrees outside..

I'm with Eurovol as usual, air conditioning cannot cause a headache, you're becoming German, run like hell!!

It's Föhn. Headaches = Föhn. Stau = Föhn. Bar running out of bier = Föhn. Toytowners talking bollocks = Föhn. It's a normal German thing. Get viv it, Leute.

come on, but if it's not the air con what i am getting the headache from?
i mean, i do feel my lips are drier and am freezing in that office..

i will definitely bring in a scarf and cap today, see if they'll do the trick.

Hmm... dry lips... dry air... nothing to do with air conditioning. Back in my house in Toronto, we had a dehumidifier that ran in addition to our central air conditioner. The air conditioner alone doesn't make the air dry, just cooler.

Having spent my first 35 years living in a house with central air conditioning, driving a car with air con, later working in offices with air con, shopping in malls with air con, going to cinemas and theatres with air con, riding buses and subways with air con... funny how I didn't start getting bad migraines until moving to Europe where there is very little air conditioning. My Canadian doc suspects it is a combination of understandable stress, and perhaps different allergens that I should gradually (hopefully) get used to over the years.

Try some chapstick and moisturizing cream to combat dry skin. Drink more water throughout the day. And as an experiment, pop an aspirin or headache tablet at the first sign of a headache and see it that stops it. If you're working with a bad monitor, that could also cause headaches. Eye strain or the beginning of eye problems often causes headaches so maybe have your eyes checked, and give your eyes a break more often by looking away from the monitor and focusing on different things. Do some simple exercises while sitting in your chair every so often. Change your sitting posture. Get up and walk around every hour or two if possible.

Lots of reasons why you could be getting headaches. Air conditioning isn't one of them.

Or else it could just be Föhn

Germans really are strange - they die like flies of an imaginary condition. Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen sind die häufigste Todesursache

Are you sure about this? Certainly car airco removes the moisture from the air, that's why if the car mists up it clears much quicker if the car has airco and it's also the reason you often get a pool of water under the car. Maybe building airco does the same thing?

Drink lots n lots of water. Thats the best remedy that i know. Tested, works and no side effects what so ever except the fact that every odd hour u keep running to the toilet.

all d best.

Car air conditioners have the dehumidifier built in as part of the system.

From about.com: A system that cools and dehumidifies air entering the passenger compartment. The system uses a refrigerant to cool the air and carry heat away from the passenger compartment. Major system components include a compressor, condenser, evaporator, accumulator or receiver/dryer, and orifice tube or expansion valve.

from: How to Fix Your Car's Air Conditioner
Become familiar with the major components to auto air conditioning:
-the compressor, which compresses and circulates the refrigerant in the system
-the refrigerant, (on modern cars, usually a substance called R-134a older cars have r-12 freon which is becoming increasingly more expensive and hard to find, and also requires a license to handle) which carries the heat
-the condenser, which changes the phase of the refrigerant and expels heat removed from the car
-the expansion valve (or orifice tube in some vehicles), which is somewhat of a nozzle and functions to similtaneously drop the pressure of the refrigerant liquid, meter its flow, and atomize it
-the evaporator, which transfers heat to the refrigerant from the air blown across it, cooling your car
-the receiver/dryer, which functions as a filter for the refrigerant/oil, removing moisture and other contaminants

Air conditioning units may or may not have a dehumidifying function built into the system. You certainly wouldn't need to dehumidify the air when living in a desert, and would only want the air cooled. But certainly cold or dry air alone isn't enough to cause headaches. Otherwise people living in dry desert (hot) or tundra (cold) areas with very low humidity wouldn't be able to function, eh? And we'd all be getting headaches all winter long as temperatures and humidity tends to drop naturally.

Yeah, maybe wear some kind of hat!

If you google Kopfschmerzen and Klimaanlage, a lot of results seem to suggest disinfecting the air conditioning system, though I suppose that is not easily done if it's at an office.

But I also found this:


http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/4/1680_51343.htm

I guess it's not just the Germans who make up stuff, huh?

Not really, people living in those conditions are used to them, it's natural, but going from fresh air to an air conditioned room requires your body to get used to it very quickly and I can certainly see that if it's too cold or too dry it could give you a headache, same as a room that's too warm in the winter can.

Open a window? Works for me. I get terrible headaches from too much AC.

But I work in an environment where it is the equipment not the people that need cooling down. They haven't yet complained that 'es zieht'. But a lot of the equipment is Krout so I suppose it is only a matter of time.

Personally I love to have the opportunity to complain about getting a headache from the airco, the only method we have here is opening a window and that doesn't work to well when it's 30°C outside.

How long have you been having the headaches? Since the a/c turned on?


Bipa's advice is spot on. I've had headaches for years, caused by a variety of factors. Sitting in a stuffy (even if it's cold) office staring at a computer all day can definitely trigger one.

And the fact that the headache grows significantly worse as the day progresses reminds me of the migraines I get. If taking Tylenol or Advil when the headache starts doesn't help, I'd recommend visiting a doctor to see what options you have.

Also, keeping a headache diary never hurts to see if you can figure out the trigger (when you get a headache, write down what food you ate, how long you slept, etc.)

Hope your head starts to feel better soon

Interesting stuff here. So am I some freak of nature? I was often popping in and out of air conditioned areas into 30+ degree C and high humidity which Toronto gets in the summer. Never suffered anything worse than a slight chill, which was easily fixed by carrying or wearing a light sweater or jacket (usually a skirt/suit thing)

I really don't believe that air conditioning alone creates headaches. Eye strain is much more likely. On the other hand, my German husband complains when I turn up the air conditioning in the car. The dogs are panting and drooling from the heat, I'm sweating, and he refuses to turn it up. Obviously my dogs aren't German, either.

Or the other killer: "Zug". And they don't mean a train either:


http://www.gesundheit-themenguide.de/servi...zug_geholt.html

Sensibilitätsstörungen (paraesthesia)? Mad as a box of frogs on the craic...

Definitely make sure you are drinking enough - and I mean WATER, not fizzy drinks (think of your poor teeth), beer (!) or even worse, coffee. I have seen lots of people in offices quench their thirst with coffee... by the jug full.
We are supposed to drink 3 litres of water a day which is quite a challenge, but at least make a conscious effort to try. I know in an office you can just forget to drink enough, especially blokes who tend to be less health conscious - until it hurts.Cultivate the habit of filling up your glass as soon as it is empty so it is always full to hand. Tap water is fine. You do not have to budget for bottled water.

Sorry about that

Round our way each room is individually controlled to 'optimum conditions'.

I tend to get a headache when I am popping in and out of the office all day and then the temperature / humidity difference between the office and reality is quite marked.

my GF gets this. I have given up trying to tell her it's rubbish and re-opening the window/puting the aircon back on. She seems in pain and a bit of a massage of the area turns up a 'knot', so there may be something in it, but how much is psychological (window open, i will get a sore shoulder/back, ergo, i get a sore shoulder/back), no idea. Never heard of it before I came to germany

Regarding hydration, there is a lot of misinformation out there regarding how much water is best for us to drink per day. Google the terms "myth drink water" for example. Water in caffeinated drinks will be utilized.

thanks guys, i'm making sure i'm drinking enough water. today it's going much better, i'm also wearing a scarf becaus i had a very stiff neck yesterday.

i think yeah, water's the best way to go about it. but i can't open the window, they told us it'd make the air con run even more!

arf!

I notice that if I'm asleep with air con on, then my mouth/throat dries out and I often have a cough the next morning for a couple of hours. I prefer to sleep badly in the heat than get the sore throat/cough, especially on holiday.

If I sleep badly in the heat, I'm more likely to wake up with a headache!

Too late, your Germanified.

As for the bahn, I want to smack me some people who get on and immediately close the windows. It is an oven in there and they are closing the windows for some moronic old wives tales reason. I seriously just want to smack them! Overheating is real and dangerous as opposed to some imaginary freaking cold caught from a draft!

I didn't say it was the enviromentally friendly option

Why try to help some dude with his problem when you can whinge about Germans, right?

FFS, planes leave every day. Why aren't you people on them?

We can't. We have to be here to keep the fucking companies running because if left alone to their own devices, Germans are incapable of ever making a decision for fear of being accountable for something. Germans can all feel free to take a plane somewhere though, I've heard Mallorca is nice. Their absence would mean that many of us would probably get more done.

Hear hear! give me air even if it's warm.

For the OP, I used to get headaches when I worked in a/c. I had some allergy tests and discovered I'm allergic to DUST! And, I had my monitor replaced with a newer model and got new glasses. Watch your posture when you're sitting. Don't lean into the monitor. That will bind up your shoulders leading to a headache.

So apparently the people closing the windows in the bahn are not only in Berlin... seriously I cannot understand sometimes how anyone can be comfortable with a temperature like that. Funny how people can still believe things like that in a modern civilised country

Hey, OP..I've been told that 90% of the headaches we have are caused by dehydration. Maybe the air-conditioner dries you out! Drink more water..It can't hurt~ and it might even help!

OOps, Sorry cirBluesky..I guess now you all know I hate to read all the stuff int between the top and the end of the posts..But anyways..I agree with you..just not about the amount..maybe during hot weather, but 3 liters is ALOT of water! He'd be peeing all day and never get anything done!..but then, he might get fired..and won't have to work in the air con..so the problem would be solved..hehe

-Forget all that other stuff. Hit yourself in the knee with a hammer really hard and I assure you you'll forget all about your headache. If you can't bring yourself to do it find the co-worker you know likes you the least and see if they might be willing to help out.

I contend in the workplace 90% of headaches we have is due to working with other people.