Hormonal Migraines - What Has Helped You?

Aspirin was the ONLY thing that ever worked for me. 3 of them and I was set.
No migraine drugs, holistic therapies...nothing else made a difference. I needed the anti-inflammatory in aspirin to solve the problem.

My aunt suffered from migraines for over 25 years, or at least that's what she was told they were from her Dr. at that time. She recently had to change insurance companies and Dr.'s and the new one said she wanted to look into something else that may be causing her headaches. He ran numerous tests and found out she was allergic to gluten. Since she's been on her gluten free diet, a little over a year now, she's never had a migraine.

I've had them since my period started. Can you imagine being, like, 13 with these horrible migraines? I think I'm sensitive to hormones, and it seems to be heredity. I had them during my pregnancies also. In fact I had a pretty bad one last night, thank goodness it went away today. They usually hang around for at least 24 hours, but the norm is two days. I get one right before ovulation and one a few days before my period.

Nothing works for me, and I've tried everything. Although, I've found that magnesium supplements takes the edge off, but nothing takes them away entirely. Oh, and going to sleep if able right before it really gets cooking. I also can't watch TV, no light, no sound.

Sorry I have no suggestions, but I know what you're going through! They are just horrible and are unlike any other headache. These suckers are vicious.

I have struggled with the same thing. I'd start getting migraines when I got my period, and some months, I'd keep having them, for up to 17 days straight. I look back on that now and wonder how I survived.

I tried everything. Four different preventative meds all failed. I started chiropractic, but then decided after research that it was kind of junk science (not to mention expensive), so I quit. I did acupuncture, and it didn't help at all. The one non-medical thing that worked was physical therapy massage. The problem was, it took a lot of time, and to continue it would have been really expensive. I also did a few biofeedback sessions, and that was pretty helpful.

I tried eliminating caffeine, and it made no difference whatsoever. I have not tried diet modifications because no food is a trigger for me (my triggers are stress, hormones, lack of sleep, and sometimes heat & humidity).

I see a neurologist for the migraines, and I have a prescription for imitrex, which is a rescue med that actually works. You need something stronger than ibuprofen!

Also, I do botox shots, and that has worked best of all. Good luck to you; this kind of pain is really difficult.

I second what Megan said about the magnesium. I suffered for years with these debilitating headaches and tried EVERYTHING under the sun. I finally saw a nutritionist. Once I started taking magnesium daily, and taking additional doses during my period, the headaches went away. I finally got off the b/c pills, stopped the magnesium, and no headaches - so I know they were the trigger.

Have you been to your gyn about the heavy flow? Acupuncture is good for headaches, but if there is something bad going on with your uterus, he can't help you with that.

You need to put your feelings about being anti-meds aside and have testing done to make sure you don't have uterine cancer or bleeding fibroids. Find out the real scoop and what your alternatives are.

Two years is a long to cope without knowing what's really wrong.

Dawn

I have major migraines, two or three times a week. I used to get them every day, I've done a few different things for them that might work for you.

I know you said you didn't want to go the drug route, but but this might be worth it to you. I take a magnesium supplement daily, about 500mg a day roughly. I also take Vitamin D, 1000mg and Vitaming B (also called Riboflavin, I think, but you can double check that in a pharmacy). Also iron, but i forget how much. You can check the dosage on the back of a bottle at the pharmacy. My neurologist said that a lot of women are deficient in these vitamins, plus magnesium helps combat migraines. It seem to have helped with me.

Someone below suggested going gluten free. I have reduced the amount of gluten in my diet considerably, and I think that has helped too. I haven't made the leap and gone entirely gluten free, but I am close. I have found that I am less cranky and it does seem to help the migraines.

When the migraines hit, I take an extra dose of magnesium, and because mine are so debilitating, I do need to take narcotics to cut the pain.

I used to have especially bad migraines around my periods, and the flow was very heavy, and it turned out that I had fibroids. I wonder if this mighrt be the case for you. Have you been checked for fibroids? they can cause heavy bleeding. I finally decided to have a hysterectomy to deal with it, which I know may not be the right choice for everyone. There are other ways to deal with fibroids.

I know there are non hormonal ways to deal with heavy bleeding, and I am wondering if those might be an option for you? They might help with the migraines too.

Anyway, I hope this helps. I'm sorry you're having to deal with it. Migraines are no fun. Good luck. Feel free to PM me if I can be of further help.

I used to feel your pain. I saw an acupuncturist every other day for a week or so, then increased time between appointments from there. Its been 3 yrs without the monthly migraine. Good luck

Do some research on Maca Root. It helps with so many things related to women and their periods as well as perimenopause/menopause. I'm not sure, though, if it helps with headaches. I take it to help with PMS symptoms and to balance out my hormones.

Do you drink any pop soda at all, either regular or diet? Regular will give you caffeine, and drinking diet gives you Aspartame or other artificial sweeteners. Aspartame and artificial sweeteners are known to cause headaches in people who are susceptible to them. I used to have daily tension headaches and was also a faithful drinker of Diet Mt Dew. Once I quit drinking diet pop, my tension headaches went away. As of March 2012, I am totally off any and all soda pop, to include regular. I now drink black and white teas as well as herbal, iced.

I've heard that for some women, extra magnesium helps get rid of headaches, so that's definitely worth a try.

Some people get headaches because they have a food allergy or intolerance they don't know about. Some people are allergic to the foods in the nightshade family; if you're allergic to those foods, many people experience headaches. Getting a test done by a naturopathic doctor can help you uncover any hidden allergies/intolerances.

You're getting headaches because something is off/not right. You won't be able to fix the headaches until you find out what is causing them in the first place. Taking something (like a pharma drug or an OTC pill like Ibuprofen) only covers or masks the symptoms; it doesn't cure the underlying problem.

Do a search on natural remedies and women/perimenopause/
menopause. There are some wonderful herbs that help regulate a woman's system and can take the edge off, and some of those might also help with your headaches--if they are truly from hormonal imbalance.

A Web site with lots of information on this subject is womentowomen.com ; you'll find lots of help there.