Hormone Therapy for Migraine Headaches

About 29.5 million Americans suffer from the debilitating pain of a migraine. Of this total, three out of four sufferers are women. There are several different reasons why women are more prone to migraine headaches as well as several different treatment options available. Though the exact cause of migraines remains unknown, there is a link between migraine headaches and estrogen levels in women, and hormone therapy is one option of treatment.

What is a Migraine?

• Migraine headaches often are described as "an intense pulsing or throbbing in one area of the head." For migraine sufferers, it is so much more than these words describe. With symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and visual disturbances coinciding with the actual pain, migraines are often debilitating.

  Women are three times more likely to have migraines than men. Though specialists are not certain what causes migraines, it is accepted that the levels of the hormone estrogen in women contribute to that higher rate. Women's menstrual cycles dictate an increase and decrease in estrogen levels. When a drop in estrogen levels at the beginning of menstruation occurs, migraines can be triggered. In fact, nearly 60 percent of female migraine sufferers report that for them, migraines coincide with menstruation.

Hormone Therapy

• With migraines associated with the hormone estrogen as one of many possible causes, hormone therapy can play a role in treatment. Aside from traditional treatments such as pain medications, stabilizing estrogen levels throughout a woman's monthly menstrual cycle can help prevent migraines. Taking estrogen two days prior to and three days into menstruation has shown effectiveness in preventing the onset of a migraine headache. Also, for women who take oral contraceptives, eliminating the menstrual period by continuously taking the pill and not allowing menstruation is a preventative method for migraine sufferers. Therefore, women can go three to six months without a menstrual period and have a reduction in the associated headaches.

  Women undergoing menopause often have a decrease or termination of migraines unless the menopause is surgically induced. Then cases of migraines often worsen. Utilizing hormone replacement therapy at this stage, though, does not guarantee a reduction in migraines. Nearly the same number of sufferers reported that their symptoms increased as did those who reported a decrease with hormone replacement therapy.

Precautions

• Though about 60 percent of women associate their migraines with their menstrual cycle, providing a link between estrogen levels and headache pain, it must be noted that less than 10 percent of women have headaches with menses alone. Many factors affect the frequency and severity of migraines. Utilizing a birth control pill containing estrogen or another type of hormone replacement therapy are two options available to migraine-suffering women. Depending on the type of migraine and the woman's medical history, these therapies may not be appropriate. Speak with your health-care provider for further information.