Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: Tulip on February 16, 2022, 03:29:11 PM
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1. Has anyone tried temporarily increasing their oestrogen for migraine treatment?
2. Why don't doctors give oestrogen supplements to young women who get hormone related migraine?
That's a rhetorical question really, although if there is a reason anyone knows of..
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Tulip, the world of migraines, hormones, the menopause and HRT is very complicated.
Treatment depends on the type of migraine. If you suffer from menstrual migraine without aura then the treatment is usually a constant, high, stable dose of transdermal oestrogen. This type of migraine is usually caused by falling oestrogen and progesterone withdrawal. Pre menopause, women usually start using a high dose of oestrogen on about day 14 of their cycle and stop at the end of the bleed - the treatment is different because they are still producing their own hormones.
If you suffer from migraine with aura, this is usually caused by volatile, spiking oestrogen and it's usually treated with stable but not necessarily high doses of oestrogen and progesterone and it's better to avoid a cycle and use a continuous combined form of HRT.
Some women find the contraceptive pill works well for them with both types of migraine. I believe the thinking behind this treatment is overriding the cycle.
Professor Anne MacGregor is an expert on hormonal migraines and it's worth having a Google and reading up on some of her extensive research.
I hope that helps.
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:thankyou:
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Ah Mary, sadly, I became very knowledgeable about migraines, and I absolutely agree - the entire endocrine system is an enigma wrapoed in a puzzle.. mine were much worse on the pill - yet no doctor ever thought to take me off it, let alone offer an alternative.
Anyway, the one good thing meno did was to take the migraines away, along with my memory, brain, happy-go-lucky attitude, boobs, etc.. 🤣 I was just thinking, could they/I have just balanced my oestrogen instead of me having 40 years of hell?
In peri meno I had them about 75% of the time, and everyone thought I was exaggerating!! 😢 I hate to think of all the other ladies who go through it, they're horrendous.
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Nose bleeds and migraines are something that I dread :-\