Migraine is pretty frequent among the people between ages 18  and 35. And though it’s common among both females and males, the statistics show females are more prone to migraine. The reason for this are the hormones. While in men the hormones stay more or less constant during the month, in women menstruation causes a destruction of hormonal processes. That’s why lots of girls get bothered with migraine during menstruation period.

The headaches usually occur a few days before the menstruation period starts and during the period itself. The cause of the migraine is the drop of the estrogen level, which is typical of this cycle.

The main way to fight the menstruation-caused headaches is to use Triptans. They should be used in advance to the headache attacks, while they might be repeated during the period, to stop the immediate migraine causes. Another way of solving the situation is to use medication to stabilize the hormones. For this the most commonly used pills are the estrogen pills or patches.

Another cause of hormonal migraines is the use of oral contraceptives. These medications do use a lot of estrogen, which causes the raise of the level of this hormone, which in its turn  causes headaches. That’s why doctors advise women to use different kind of contraceptives changing them once in a while. In this case the estrogen level will be turned back to normal, thus there will be a chance to reduce the frequency of the headaches to the minimum.

Pregnancy is also a great period for headache prevention. During this period most women claim to have no headaches at all assuring that migraine frequency is getting highly reduced.

The same situation should be discussed during the menopause period. To prevent headaches women should take estrogen medication continuously, as their body is having lower estrogen levels. This is especially true when we are dealing with those women who are also facing hysterectomies.

While taking the medication you should also consider a few factors, including the blood pressure, smoking or drinking habits. And you should always remember that hormonal treatment might cause lots of problems concerning the weight and overall activity.  That’s why consult a doctor before taking certain medications.

Photo credit: Telegraph