Can Menstrual Migraine be Cured?
By: Tsou JinyeuTotal Views: 40, Word Count: 667,
Many women are wondering about the question, can menstrual migraine be cured? This disorder is mostly found in women. Although only women suffer from hormone headache, both men's and women's headaches are driven by hormones. Study shows that women suffer from migraine three times more frequently than men. In US, 60% of women suffer from menstrual migraine. This situation occurs during the period or immediately after their periods. It occurs not only due to hormonal changes, serotonin is the primary hormonal trigger in everyone’s headache. It is observed that migraine is an inherited disorder which affects the way serotonin is metabolized in the body. In women’s body, this is the way through which serotonin interacts with hormones.
Estrogen is responsible for menstrual migraines. This is the female sex hormone which regulates menstrual cycle fluctuations. Whenever there is a change in the levels of estrogen and progesterone, women are likely to feel severe headache problems. As oral contraceptives affect estrogen levels, women on birth control pills can experience more menstrual migraine. There are few symptoms of menstrual migraine. It starts with one sided headache followed by nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to bright lights and sounds. This feeling can proceed to menstrual migraine.
The Premenstrual Syndrome headache occurs before periods and is associated with various other symptoms that are different than typical menstrual headache. These symptoms include severe headache along with fatigue, acne etc. You can feel pain in the joints too. Due to this syndrome, patients often experience decreased urination, constipation and lack of coordination. In such cases, patients may experience increase in appetite and craving for chocolate or alcohol.
There are several treatments available for menstrual migraine. Following are some treatments for curing menstrual migraine.
Acute Treatment: There are certain medicines that seem effective for such problems. These medicines are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, dihydroergotamine, the triptans, and the combination of aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine. These are some most widely used medicines for menstrual migraines. If these cannot serve the purpose, you can consider treating it with analgesics, corticosteroids, or dihydroergotamine.
Preventive Treatment: Preventive treatment is applied for women who experience constant and severe migraine attacks. For such victims, preventive treatment is must to avoid further complications. The doses of medicines are decided, depending on the severity of attacks. For women having frequent migraine attacks, short-term prophylaxis taken perimenstrually can be effective. The agents used for short-term prophylaxis include naproxen sodium 550 mg twice a day, a triptan, such as frovatriptan 2.5 mg twice on the first day and then 2.5 mg daily. Dihydroergotamine (DHE) can be taken via nasal spray or by injection in quantity of 1mg twice per day long with the magnesium of 500 mg with the same intake. The medicines like triptans, ergotamine, and dihydroergotamine can be taken at a time without major risk of developing dependence. To make this treatment more effective, it is better to start the dose of medicines before 24-48 hours of expected menstrual migraine. Fluoxetine can be an effective headache prevention which should be taken between ovulation and the onset of menses, if associated with premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
Hormonal Therapy: This is the last option for treatment on menstrual migraine. Hormonal therapy is used if the preventive therapy treatments or preventive measures are unsuccessful. Hormonal therapy includes the intake of estrogen from external source and to be taken by mouth or in a transdermal patch. Many doctors prefer Estradiol to their patients as it doesn’t convert the other active forms of estrogen. Women, who use traditional estrogen oral contraceptives for 21 days per month, should take supplementary estrogen on the last day of pill intake in that month. Another way is to take the supplementary estrogen daily for at least 4-5 months without any break. You should consult your doctor before starting the treatment for the duration of the dose.
These are some ways to cure the menstrual migraine. Though there are many opinions regarding this, it is better to start the treatment under the guidance of your doctor.
About the Author
Dr Tsou Jinyeu is a well known gynecologist and has been in this field since 1995. His special interests are – genetic and birth defects, high risk obstetrics, lupus in pregnancy, premature labour, premature delivery, triplets and ultrasound diagnosis. He is graduated from the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine. Nowdays he is working as a medical doctor at Elmhurst Loyola Center for Health
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