Here’s a question about one of the more common master cleanse side effects – headaches.
I completed the Master Cleanse yesterday. I am so looking forward the the soup!
I had a headache that seemed to start in my right ear and go down my neck. I would come and go but I seemed to have it almost every night. It became very intense when I stood up from bed. I can actually still feel it now. Will it go away? Do you know what would cause this?
Other than the headache the Cleanse was wonderful. I lost about 12 pounds.
Thanks for all the information.
Cheryl
Headaches usually happen early in the cleanse, and for most people go away after 3 or 4 days. The severity of the headaches varies from person to person, but there are a few common factors that can cause them.
If you drink a lot of cafien you might experience headaches when you do the master cleanse because your body is going through a withdrawal of sorts.
If this is your first time doing a detox diet you’re likly to experience headaches. In the short time it takes to do the master cleanse your body will go through a massive internal cleaning. This is a good thing, but it can be uncomfortable because years of waste that’s been dormant inside your body is now being ushered out by your bodies cleansing mechanisms.
Stress can also lead to headaches. Like I mentioned above your body will be taxed by the master cleanse so try to not to push yourself too hard.
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
i live in india and keen to do the cleanse but we dont get maple syrup here what do i use instead??
I had headaches several times during my 10 day cleanse and I broke down and took ibuprofen once and aspirin the next time. The headaches went away immediately. I lost 20 pounds during my 10 day cleanse. Be good to yourself!
I just started the master cleanse today and i wanted to know if the lemonade should be as spicy as it tastes. It tates really strong.
i wanted to try this master cleanse.. but i have a dry throat problem and i am a frequent beer drinker. i drink 4-6 beers once a week.. but i am aware that i need to stop it while im on the process, . my concern is .. will that be safe to go back to my habits even just on ocassionally only? cuz my friends bday is coming up .i also have a digestion problem.. i dont poop regulary..
The cleanse will do you good. Hopefully you’vve read the book comltely? If you haven’s you need to prior to starting. All your questions will be abswered there. Why would you want to go back to these activities you call habits?
Ok, I’ve done the master cleanse before. Four years ago I did the minimal ten days. I found the experience to be very positive as I felt more in-tuned with my body and made better dietary decisions afterwards. For two years I maintained a vegetarian diet which was ushered in by the cleanse. I also stopped drinking coffee for some time afterwards because I didn’t feel the need to. I didn’t lose weight on the cleanse itself but I lost quite a bit in the subsequent months (probably 40 lbs) having more control over myself.
However, I have attempted the master cleanse twice in the last few months but was unable to continue past the end of the second day due to the most extreme headaches. Furthermore I cannot explain why I experienced these headaches which are cured immediately when I eat solid food. They appear to be connected to a need for protein or starches. I’ve been looking around for answers but I keep seeing the same ones of substance withdrawl, toxin buildup (bs), or a first outing.
I don’t get headaches often at all and these were as bad as it gets. This last time, in the end it felt as though I were having an allergic reaction to something. The skin on my face and scalped burned. My head throbbed and could be put in no position to relieve the pain.
I know it was not the cleanse that was responsible because of my earlier experience. But, I wonder if there is a physical condition such as diabetes that could be the cause of this. Or is this simply food withdrawl? I would have thought that a withdrawl from food would be impossible since the lemon and maple syrup provides plenty of caloric intake.
Hi~
Last night I had the worst headache I have ever had in my life. My husband was out of town and I must say I was worried I might have to go to the hospital. I then got up from bed and vomited. More information then you need but I vomited so hard the lemonade/cayanne came through my nose. Yikes~ I did take two asprin. I am not sure what helped but it did subside somewhat! I had to sleep sitting up with my travel pillow. I still have a faint to medium headache today. Also I think I was dehydrated. I am pressing on. The blogs with this cleanse/journey have been amazing!! Thanks:)
Just wanted to say to everyone…keep it up ! i am on day 4 of the cleanse and i have had a mild headache for the last 8 hours or so. also, does anyone know if there is a difference in sea salts? un-iodized ? does it have to say that or is sea salt all the same besides the size of the crystals ? i am using epsom just because i couldnt find a straight answer anywhere. and i read and talked to a few people that said i could us epsom.
Just wanted to say to everyone…keep it up ! i am on day 4 of the cleanse and i have had a mild headache for the last 8 hours or so. also, does anyone know if there is a difference in sea salts? un-iodized ? does it have to say that or is sea salt all the same besides the size of the crystals ? i am using epsom just because i couldnt find a straight answer anywhere. and i read and talked to a few people that said i could us epsom.
The recipe I got for the lemonade said to use non-iodized sea salt, which I found at Whole Foods (formerly Wild Oats). I got it in the fine crystals. I use the senna leaf tea with some sea salt instead of the straight salt water flush. That’s been working just fine for me. I have a mild headache in the front of my head and behind my eyes today (day 5), which makes it hard for me to focus at work since I never have headaches. It’s such a weird sensation. I am almost tempted to eat a piece of chocolate for a quick fix but I will be strong because I have lost four pounds so far and love the results I see. I’m already fitting into clothes I haven’t worn in a couple of years. Keep it up everyone and good luck.
you want noniodized sea salt due to large quantity, iodine is need for your thyroid but taking too much is dangerous. Also, sea salt won’t stay in your system due to its tonicity, it flushes through your system and cleans you out. (as long as you drink enough water)
question though: i didn’t make it past 5 days with the cleanse due to really low blood sugar, and its been over 5 days since I stopped. I am just now within the past couple of days getting horrible horrible headaches in the back of my head. Nothing is really helping and I don’t want to take too much tylenol or motrin. ????? why?? Im eating a normal, healthy diet with enough fluids.
It’s hot outside!!! Sooo, should I be drinking water in addition to the lemonade or not? I’ve just finished day 1, and I can’t find anything definitive about the effects of drinking additional water, besides Burroughs “extra water may be taken as desired.” Love water, i’m happy to drink it if i get thirsty, but do you think it will compromise anything? In what amounts? Hope you veterans out there can help!!! Thank you guys!
Drink all the water you want in addition to the lemonade. It won’t hurt you and in fact helps flush out your internal organs.
I had a terrible headache today when i woke up and I was really hurting almost to the point of nausea. I have been on the cleanse for 3 days now and was a big coffee drinker so hopefully that is gone now. I did take some advil and was able to go to sleep. Now, the headache is gone!! I feel so much better and am grateful for all of you doing this at the same time. I have done the cleanse before, and drink all the water you want. The last time I was doing the cleanse I was in very hot weather playing sports everyday and I just drank plenty of drinks and lots of water and I was fine. Good luck, namaste~
It’s important to drink quite a lot of filtered water during the cleanse. I’m on Day 21 of mine, and try to drink 8 8oz glasses a day in addition to the lemonade mixture. Having lots of water helps to flush you.
This would be my second cleanse. My first, which was a huge success, resulted in me living a more healthy lifestyle and losing about 100 pounds.
Now, flash forward to today, I started my second cleanse and have hit some bumps. I started to get a headache in the afternoon. It was faint at first and then built up some major steam. I took a nap to try to stop the ache, but it wouldn’t work. It was so bad, I threw-up.
I believe these headaches are a direct result of caffeine. What a terrible thing caffeine is.
It is a bit discouraging this time ’round as I never had any side effects the first cleanse. But, I’m not giving up.
It’s good to see that I’m not the only one with some headache and puking issues.
You definatly will have severe headaches after 2-3 days without caffeine.
I was addicted to caffeinefor a number of years. After I quit, I had a severe headache for a numberof days. When I asked my DR why he told me it was a swelling in the brain that occurs because of withdraw.
I am just getting started with MS,. I am in he ease into phase. I made my first batch of juice this AM. Tase is not to bad but the pepper is going to kill me.
I appreciate all the i put on this blog and hope to read more soon.
I am sure it will help me get through these next 10+ days.
I’m on day 2 and have had an enormous headache that started as of last night. I took a couple of advils earlier. My headache feels better but it still hurts a little. It’s mostly behind my eyes and it doesn’t help that I have a lot of work to do and have to stare at my bright computer all day. It’s all part of the detox and it will get better. The same thing happened the last time I did the cleanse and it was exactly on day 2. Just keep drinking the stuff and it’ll be okay.
..i thought my head was going to explode earlier this evening…& only 36 hrs. into the cleanse…its my 6th time fasting & my 3rd on the m.c….my head hurt so bad i became nauseated & im not a puker…so i finally took some ibuprofen w/ only mild relief….THEN…i realized w/ my other fasts i had the same experience (but only when drinking coffee & have been lately)…but i did an enema w/ those other fasts…so i did an E & felt 95% better 10 minutes after i was done…i did a pretty vigorous skin brushing this morning…& its been warm here lately (finally!)..so maybe i was also dehydrated.
..hang in there folks…i keep telling myself to remember the suffering the next time i look longingly @ a chilly old style & chicago style hot dog….mmmmmoderation : (
Is it a good idea to NOT workout while on the diet?
Hi, this is probably the 3rd time I have done the master cleanse. But I have always done an abreviated version 3-5 days. I am very active for my job and feel that 10 days would begin to compromise my health. Has anyone stayed very active durring the cleanse? What were the effects for you? I also have a family and am trying to take care of their food needs as well. That is proving to be challenging, having my 2 year old shoving food in my face, “your turn?” haha!
Today is day two of the MC for me . This being the first time for me, your coments are very helpful . I have experienced moderate headaches and was wondering if it is okay to take something?
I was wondeering about the headaches, why do u have them, and what could i do about them
Alright, I am doing the cleanse and it is only day ONE and I have a killer headache! And like most of you, I never usually get them. Besides this, I DO NOT DRINK caffeinated beverages usually. So it is not from caffeine withdrawal – sorry all you caffeine haters. And yes, hot and tingly burning sensation – I am getting that as well. It has got to be the cayenne pepper. I am going to cut back on that. And seriously? All you crazy people that are puking should probably double check that this cleanse is ok with your doctor.
Okay, so a bit of a sting…after a couple days it does pass (get it…pass ) that’s from the cayenne pepper. I did loose the weight, but not the reason for the cleanse. My brother in law, whose a fitness fanatic hooked me up with this. I did get really bad headaches AFTER the first three days! I mean killer headaches. I stopped drinking decafinated drinks sometime back and changed my eating habits…mostly veggies and organic meals from my local health food store. My main reason was because of the change in diet, I wanted to cleanse of all the other bad things out of my body. Now that I’m eating properly and not putting all the junk in the trunk…lol, I can enjoy the benefits of the good stuff. I lasted 6 days due to the really bad headaches. The weight loss of 6lbs was just a benefit. If you can go the full 10 days without headaches, then you can do this. I am giving it another try in about 3 months. Happy Cleansing!
First time doing the MC, today is day 2. I do not intake any caffiene nor smoke. Bad headache today though, full head from front of forehead to back of neck and shoulders. Maybe too much pepper as I add extra. I use the pulp of the lemon as well, put it all in the blender and mulch it up which gives the drink some substance to it. hope this headache goes away but pretty easy to not eat food. Not going to the bathroom much, after the salt water in the morning but not the rest of the day. I drink the tea at night and today I drank during day and will tonight. I drink 75 oz of lemonade and about 40 additional of water, plus the salt water and tea.
I’m on day 2 of the Master Cleanse. Yesterday (day 1) I had the worst headache ever. I had to go home from work and yes, I’m an avid coffee drinker. My headache was blinding and I threw up all the lemonade. Finally, I took a couple ibuprohpen and it took the edge off, but the headache was still there. Today, the headache was not as bad. Still a dull pain, but not throbbing. I used my lunch break to rest in my car and that helped alot. I drank some lemonade when I came back in. I’m feeling better this afternoon. I’m going to keep pressing on!
I have done the cleanse at least once a year for many years now. I have stayed very active, including very intense boot camp type workouts during some of them and felt just fine. You know yourself and modify accordingly if need be. I have never experienced headaches during the cleanse but am doing it now and have had one for days 2, 3 and 4 with the worst being today, day 4. I am not a caffeine drinker so withdrawal is not the issue for me. Any other thoughts given a long history of doing the M.C. without them??
I am on day four and I haven’t lost any weight….is it possible to go the whole ten days and not loose any weight?
I am on Day 2-3 of the Maser Cleanse and I have an incapacitating headache! It’s in the back of my head and neck, and also at my forehead and behind my eyes. It’s so bad, I had to call in sick to work. I feel like I’ve done so much work and made so much progress, I don’t want to quit the cleanse. The headache is so bad now, I’m going to take an old Percocet that I had from a past surgery. Is this really so terrible? I can’t take this anymore.
If u have not lost weight – u are not doing the uniodized seasalt flush in the morning and the stimulant laxative tea at night. These are very crucial steps in losing pounds. The lemon mix itself is just to loosen the waste on the walls if ur digestive tract.
Ok. So back in 2008 I had the lap band surgery, at about 260lbs.
Now Jan of 2010, last weight in at the doc I was 237.
Well I’ve been having complications with the band, and have been told to do an all liquid diet for a few days. So instead of drinking yucky Chicken brooth for a week, I decided to try the MC for a few weeks.
I’ve tried it once before, but quit the evening of day 2, after having a headache for 2 days. I couldn’t take it anymore. I ate and took Advil. Later that evening I found a support site where a person has the same symptons but decided to just take the Advil and keep going.
Thus, this time…and it’s only 10am for me, and I’ve only had 2 serving of the mix and the Headache is ON AND POPPING. I’ve taken about 600mg of Advil, but it’s still there.
If this thing is suppose to last only a few days, I don’t see the harm in taking the Advil, if I’m going to be on the cleanse 2 weeks.
Note: I am a avid Coffee drinker (but not on the cleanse thou)
THESE ARE TENSION HEADACHES!
From concentrating long and hard on things, RELAX
The body is going through a detox and chemical changes, there is more than just this reason, but most of the time the body is used to us reacting to it with food, substance or sorts and since we’re only reacting to it through drinking it’s affecting us. Not to mention the day may give us more tension and stress. I’m not a Dr. however,
My advice, and I have one over my neck and shoulders right now,
Is a magic bag or a hot bag to warm up and rest over your lower neck and shoulders to reliefe the mild pulsing headaches.
For the more brutal ones, like I had yesterday- Just try to sleep it off, relax, chill out!
Thanks for the other posts they’re really encouraging me to stick with it, it’s 730pm on day 3 and let’s hope I don’t have another headache tomorrow!
Km
OK….. preparing to start the MC tomorrow…. Kind of nervous, but my body really needs this! Hopefully, my headaches will not be very bad.
I have done the Master Cleanse before and have had headaches the first round of the MC as well as this round of MC. The headaches are something that is just par for course with the MC. Most people that I personally know who have done the MC typically have pretty significant headaches from day’s 2-5. Also, most of the food cravings and so called hunger pains are also felt within day’s 1-5. If you can get through the first five days than you should have no problem finishing the entire MC. The first time I did the Cleanse I did it for 18 days, but this time around I am going to be doing it for 25 days. Typically the weight that you loose you will gain about half of it back because it is water weight. The longer that you do the MC the more actual body fat that you will end up burning.
I definitly think it is a good idea to be active and to exercise daily as most of the toxins are released in the morning after the saline flush; meaning that there are toxins that your body hasn’t released yet or until the next morning…hence the headaches…perhaps the majority of the toxicity buildup is during the first 5 days. So by exercising you should be able to loose some of the toxins through your sweat glands.
If you are doing the MC to loose weight…and that is not the right reson of doing the MC…but if you are you should definitly be drinking the saline solution in the morning along with the herbal laxative tea in the evening before you go to bed and DEFINITLY WORKOUT AND EXERCISE!!!! I can’t stress how important that is.
My first round of the MC I lost about 26 lbs. of which half came back fairly quick and the other half eventually came back by continuing old bad eating habits…stear clear of the fast food drive throughs. This round I am anticipating about 2 lbs per day with my daily workouts in which i have been doing prior to even starting the second round of the master cleanse. I feel great with more energy than evera and just ignore the headache, it will go away even if it takes up to day 5. I recomend no asperin or IBprofin as that is not good for your body to absorb without a solid food in your stomach…if you have done this or are contmplating taking something like that ask your self if you would otherwise takie it on an empty stomach?
Omg! This is the worst headache. Like my brain is pulsating. Throbbing within my skull. Im trying not to pop a lortab. Especially on an empty stomach but uh somethings got to give.I’m on day two. I am not hungry and I don’t have any cravings but the headache is a killer. I didn’t think I was gonna make it through the night. I know I’m in the cleaning process this sucks.
Dont worry Jennifer! I am recovering from cancer last year, and just started a different cleanse program (eating vegan and supplements) 3 weeks ago. I had the WORST headache I have ever had in my entire life. Not only that, but my body ached, especially my legs. My body was hot and i felt like i had the flu and ran a marathon at the same time. if you havent done a Coffee Enema yet, DO ONE NOW. i finalyl broke down and did the enema 4 days into it, and once i stood up my headache was 85% better, my legs were 100% better, and i felt like all the badness just came out of my body. Make sure its organic coffee. look up on the internet how to do a coffee enema. i swear to you, it will make a world of difference.
Whats happeneing is all those toxins in your organs are flushing out, and entering the bloodstream to be filtered and cleaned. But your body neesd help getting these toxins out of your blood (now that they are out of your organs). The enema will flush them out from your liver and make you feel sooo much better. i promise.
I am breastfeeding my 14 month old about 2 times per day. She eats 3 solid meals a day and is mid-wean so she does drink Milk throughout the day in place of some nursing sessions. I am on day one of my cleanse – 7 hours in – is it ok to do this cleanse while Breastfeeding her? my email is Jaimee.m.cohen@gmail.com – can someone email me and let me know. Thanks.
With much excitment and anticipation I started my first Master Cleanse today. I am a coffee drinker and just an hour after I started work I had a terrible terrible headache. I was working on something complicated and it got worse and I was so slow. If I don’t fix it I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish it. So I surrendered and grabbed a coffee. Within an hour the headache’s gone. Tomorrow is weekend and I will start again. I hope the headache only lasts for a few days as I won’t be able to take any time off at work next week.
Hello, its day 2 for me on MC and I already cant stand the taste of the cayenne pepper. I feel so nauseated the hour after drinking the lemonade, but havnt vomited yet. I burp alot though..eww. The headaches started last night and basically are always there, I had a nap so I might forget about the pain…kinda worked. Im hitting the wall already as I do not want to even think about my next lemonade drink. I really want to clear my body and be healthier inside so how do I stay with it????