Menstrual Migraines

[marileew]

Hi there,

Question for all the female migraine sufferers out there...

Does anyone else find that their migraines get worse around their period?

Do you find that your migraine symptoms change around your period?

Do you find that even the migraine pain itself changes around your period?

The menstrual migraines I get are completely different from my regular migraines... every time I get one, I swear that it has nothing to do with a migraine... but my migraine medication (zomig) seems to do something although I quite often need to take it in combination with much more serious prescription pain killers.

My menstrual migraines almost feel more like tension headaches... or hangover headaches... they aren't situated around one eye like usual... although after hours the pain can sometimes localize around one eye or the other... but usually it is an all-over headache that feels as if someone has shrunken the skin on my head and is expanding everything inside my head. They always reach 10/10... often end me up in the ER... and I need to take stronger and stronger prescription pain killers for them. They have often driven me to thoughts of suicide before. My doctors say that eve though they don't "feel" like one of my regular migraine... they ARE a migraine.

So... do any other woman have a similar experience... not necessarily my symptoms or anything like that... but just a total change in YOUR symptoms around your time of the month? I'd really like to know that I'm not the only one who experiences such a dramatic change in my headache pattern for one week every month...

[hsimth]

hi,
i suffer from bislar type migraines i know its not the same thing but a couple of months i got a seroius one my worst one ever. you know what u should do look for ur triggers and also look at ur diet (avoid things like cheese, chocolate). and even i u want keep a menstral dairy jot down the time u get the migraine and what time the month it was after say 5 months look at it see if theres a patern. and also when u have a miragine ur stomach tends to shut down so thats why the pain killers arent effective. u should take them just before u get the migraine and also dont take too strong painkillers. I know taking them just before is said easily but u dont know when u get them they just come but because u suffer from menstral type migraines there a bit more reacurent. u have to find out ur triggers mines is light and also when i get exited. i know how u feel the pain hurts its like someone is hammering ur head through the inside.

[marileew]

Yeah... I've been keeping a headache journal for a long time now... my doctors and I totally can't figure out the tiggers other than for the menstrual migraines and that's just the whole hormones thing which just sort of lasts for the whole week and we can't really do anything about it... my doctor just gave me a new medication to try and I just went off birth control again (I've gone off birth control a few times and it's never reduced the migraines before... but, I thought, why not give it a shot again, can't hurt... and I'm not at risk of getting pregnant right now, and I can go right back on it next month if the migraines end up getting WORSE or something)... so maybe the hormones thing will get better... who knows.

But... I've been journaling for almost 3 years now and there is absolutely no pattern other than the fact that my migraines go all loopy and totally change just around my period. Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be any long term pattern to food or situation.... it's pretty frustrating. Things sometimes will appear to be triggering them for a short period of time... like a few months at a time... like chocolate triggered them for about a year... but it didn't before and it doesn't seem to now... and, tea NEVER used to trigger them, but I have a feeling it does now so I'm avoiding it... and driving (if i'm the one who is driving) always triggers a migraine these days but never used to... I've gone on an elimination diet and everything... all the elimination diet did was stress me out and make me lose 25 pounds... but my GP and I didn't figure out any triggers. It was a fairly depressing experiment.

But yeah... the pain totally does feel like that eh? Oh well...

It is true what you said about maybe taking the medication prior to getting the migraine around my period though... I hear there is a triptan that can be prescribed that you take for the first three days of your period as an actual preventative medication... maybe I'll talk to my doctor about that.