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Archive for » 2009 «

Menstrual Migraine

By mary · %A %B %e%q, %Y

Menstrual MigraineI had my first menstrual migraine attack a month after going off birth control pills. In fact, I gave up birth control pills because migraine is one of the possible side effects and it tended to occur more and more often. I think I had migrain 3 or 4 days every second week or even every week. And, really, I forgot about migraines for the entire month, which was heaven for me! But the day the period began I experienced a real menstrual migrain, the one without aura.

Causes of Menstrual Migrain

Menstrual migraines are generally linked to hormone levels changes (estrogen). By the way, when you stop taking birth control pills, estrogen levels change so that may trigger menstrual migrane as well. In perimenstrual period estrogen levels are low, which is considered to be the cause of menstrual migrains.

However, doctors say that menstrual migraine mechanism is not yet properly studied and nobody knows for sure what triggers the attack. But changes in estrogen levels result in change in levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter. Low levels of serotonin a linked to bad mood and depression (remember perimenstrual mood changes?). Low levels of serotonin the have also been linked to menstrual migranes for some time.

Diagnosing Menstrual Migraine

A true menstrual migraine attack occurs during your periods, within 5 day span (from 2 day prior to 3 day after the beginning of the period). It has all the symptoms of the migraine without aura: nausea, sensitivity to light and sound etc. The headache can the quite strong. Keeping a migraine diary to mark down the regularity of attacks during the period is a good idea. If migrain occurs at different times over your period or you have the aura, that is not necessarily true menstrual migrane that occurs when the periods begin.
The good news about menstrual migraine is that you know for sure when to expect the attack. The bad news about menstrual migrains is that it is harder to treat becuase of the trigger and ways to remove it are still under question.

Triptan drugs (Rizatriptan, Maxalt) seem to be one of the most effective ways to abort menstrual migrane so far.

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Category: Migraine: Personal Experience  Tags: , , ,  4 Comments

My Latest Migrain Attack: Remedy

By mary · %A %B %e%q, %Y

It occurred about a couple of weeks ago, this migraine attack was the one with aura (I have such migraines once is a few months).

I woke up and realized that something was wrong…diziness, stage vision and a strange feeling of being “not myself”. I realized what it was all about and by the time I had aura I had sweet coffee and an antispasmodic ready. I took it all very quickly, put a dark sweater around my head, closed my eyes and set down into the chair. Aura implies severe pain so sitting is better than lying in this case (at least for me). Several minutes later the pain began, but it was not as severe as I usually . Probably in an hour, when I realized that the pain wouldn’t grow, I took a hot shower and felt better. Slight pain persisted until evening, but it was nothing compared to the ususal migraine condition. I know coffee is not recommended, but it helps me best. Migraines are very personal…

However, I always have anti-migraine meds that abort migraine attack because it may start during the sleep and you wake up with headache or migraine may start somewhere where you cannot prevent headache. In addiction, aura is not always “available” to warn you about the coming torture…Anti-migraine tablets the only way out for me when the pain begins.

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Category: Migraine: Personal Experience  Tags: , ,  One Comment