Migraine Relief: 10 Myths and Facts By Diane Wedner, Lifescript Health Detective Published September 17, 2014 Migraine pain myth #3: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) causes migraines. Reality check: The two conditions are sometimes connected, but “not all women with periods have PMS, and not all women with migraines have PMS,” Dr. Saper says. Migraines are sensitive to hormonal fluctuations, which occur before a woman’s period. An attack that comes within two days before or three days after a period, known as a “menstrual migraine,” is similar to other migraines but usually doesn’t include an aura (visual disturbances). Women who experience menstrual migraines can sometimes get relief from continuous birth control pills, which reduce the number of periods to four per year. Here are other treatments for menstrual migraines. Migraine pain myth #4: Women get migraines because they’re more emotional. Reality check: “That’s nonsense,” Dr. Goadsby says. “The ‘hysterical female’ argument is embarrassing.” “Women, like men, get migraines because something’s going on in their brains,” says Glaser of the MRF. “They’re usually born with that trait. The question is: If you have the trait, what triggers the migraine?” For both men and women, emotional stress may release chemicals that provoke migraine-causing vascular expansion in the brain, according to Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). “If life is stressful – you have a bad marriage, you’re hurt – you may be more vulnerable to migraines,” Dr. Saper says. The letdown after a stressful period also may be a migraine trigger. Remember, though, that “lots of women are stressed and don’t get migraines,” Glaser says. “You have to have the trait.”
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 14:02:07 +0000
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