Contents:
- Medical Video: Womens Wellness: What women need to know about migraines
- The main trigger for hormonal headaches in women
- 1. Menstruation
- 2. Combination birth control pills
- 3. Menopause
- 4. Pregnancy
- How do you know if my headache is due to hormones?
- How to prevent hormonal headaches from menstruation?
- Treatment for hormone headaches
- 1. Estrogen therapy
- 2. Antimigrain drugs
- 3. Continuous birth control pills
Medical Video: Womens Wellness: What women need to know about migraines
Did you know that most headaches in women are caused by hormones? This might be able to answer the questions of many women who often feel headaches, even migraines, at certain times without obvious causes. But what exactly causes this hormonal headache, and why does it often occur in women?
The main trigger for hormonal headaches in women
1. Menstruation
According to experts at the National Migraine Center, more than half of women who routinely experience migraines will experience more severe migraines before or during menstruation.
These experts find that migraines usually appear between two days before menstruation, up to the first three days of your menstruation. This is caused by decreased estrogen levels at this time. Migraine during menstruation which is actually a hormonal headache is usually more severe than migraines at other times when not menstruating, and may even appear two or three consecutive days.
2. Combination birth control pills
Some women feel their headaches improve after taking birth control pills, and other reports say that headache attacks become more frequent during the "off" birth control pill, when estrogen levels drop.
3. Menopause
Hormonal headaches will usually get worse as you approach menopause. This is because your hormonal cycle starts to get disturbed and often goes up and down.
4. Pregnancy
Hormonal headaches will usually attack in the early weeks of pregnancy, but will improve even completely after the first trimester. Take it easy, this hormonal headache is not harmful to the baby.
How do you know if my headache is due to hormones?
The best way to detect hormonal headaches is to record your headaches. Mark the calendar whenever you get a migraine attack, and also mark the days you menstruate. Do this recording for three months to see if this migraine attack always comes before and during menstruation. If yes, chances are that the headache is caused by hormones.
How to prevent hormonal headaches from menstruation?
After taking notes and you find that you do have hormonal headaches every menstruation, there are some things you can do to prevent migraines from attacking in your menstrual period:
- Eat more often, with smaller portions. Don't forget about healthy snacks every time between meals to prevent your blood sugar levels from decreasing. Not eating for a long time can trigger a headache attack. Also, don't miss breakfast.
- Keep your sleep schedule organized. Avoid sleeping too long, especially too little.
- Stay away from stress. Do the things you like for relaxation and keep away from stress.
Treatment for hormone headaches
Some of these treatments can be used to treat and treat hormonal headaches so they don't appear again.
1. Estrogen therapy
If your menstrual cycle is regular, migraines during menstruation can be prevented by adding estrogen before menstruation and on the first two days of menstruation. This can be done with estrogen supplements that the doctor prescribes, usually in the form of a gel that is rubbed onto the skin, or patch that is taped. Avoid hormone therapy in the form of tablets because it is feared that there is even a risk of triggering a headache.
2. Antimigrain drugs
This drug is usually taken before menstruation. Does not contain hormones, but can stop the development of headaches. This drug usually contains triptan and mefenamic acid.
3. Continuous birth control pills
If you use birth control pills that have a "holiday" where you don't need to take pills, ask your doctor to replace them with ongoing birth control pills, to prevent migraines from attacking on days when you don't take pills.
