Birth Control & Migraine Relief

Migraines afflict millions of people worldwide. Exhaustion, stress and food reactions are all common causes for migraine sufferers, but there are also a large number of migraines in females that are related to the menstrual cycle. WebMD reports that about 70 percent of migraine sufferers are female. Of those, 60 to 70 percent report their migraines are related to their periods. These "menstrual migraines" can be affected by birth-control pills, but the results can vary from person to person.

Birth Control and Migraines

• Estrogen is suspected of being heavily linked to migraine onset. Women who suffer from premenstrual migraines have reported them occurring when their estrogen and progesterone levels are at their lowest. Conversely, women in menopause who went on hormone supplements to increase their estrogen levels reported a much higher occurrence of migraines. While there is a definite link between hormones and migraines in many women, that link is different for different people. Some women who have never had migraines before have become chronic sufferers of them after taking birth control. Others who had suffered from them for years found their symptoms to be gone once they started birth control. Many migraine sufferers reported their migraines were gone during pregnancy.

  If you don't have a history of migraines but start getting them after starting birth control, talk to your doctor about possibly switching medications. There are different birth-control options on the market and another type may work better for you. Many women who started getting migraines after taking birth control reported migraine onset in the last week of their cycles. Many birth-control pills that are taken daily use placebos in the last seven days just to keep you in the habit of taking it daily. Since there are no actual hormones in the medication, estrogen levels fall off sharply, and this is believed to contribute to the migraine.

  If you are a regular migraine sufferer who is already on birth control or about to start, talk to your doctor about experimenting with different types to try to find one that does assist in eliminating the migraine symptoms.

  For those who have tried various types of birth control and still suffer migraines but do not want to stop taking their pills, use of a non-steroid anti-inflammatory medication can assist. Always consult your doctor, but physicians frequently recommend this for those who need it. The most common time for anti-inflammatory medication is from the 19th day of the current cycle through the second day of the next cycle. Stronger medications can be considered if necessary, but don't go on a long-term birth control like the Mirena Coil until you've determined that it should not bring on migraine attacks.