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Headaches With Menopause

For many women, the onset of menopause can be trying enough, but for those who frequently suffer with migraines, the onset of menopause can be a time of pain and despair. Migraine headaches often increase with menopause, or often reappear after several years of being headache free. To make matters worse, the headaches may not go away after menses stop. Peri-menopause migraine is another name for this syndrome.

  1. Causes

    • Fluctuating hormone levels, especially estrogen levels, are one cause of the increase in migraine headaches during this time in a woman's life. Often hormone replacement therapy can cause these migraines to increase, while causing other menopausal-related symptoms to decrease. These headaches may last for as long as 48 to 96 hours.

    Symptoms

    • Symptoms of a menopausal migraine headache include a pulsating, throbbing headache that will not go away; weakness or fatigue; severe sensitivity to light; pain in one particular spot that may last a day or more; or nausea and vomiting. It is usually easy to differentiate between a regular headache and a migraine headache because regular headaches will usually go away in a short time, with or without medication.

    Types of Migraines With Menopause

    • Menopausal headaches are usually one of two types: headache with aura or headache without aura. An aura is an unusual neurological phenomenon that occurs about half an hour to 1 hour before the headache actually starts. The aura usually presents itself in either some form of visual disturbance as flashing lights, halos of lights around objects, or disturbed or distorted vision. Non-visual auras can present themselves as speech disturbances, dizziness, or partial paralysis of the muscles of the face or neck. Headaches with aura happen suddenly without warning.

    Treatment

    • Because of the link between hormone replacement therapy and cancer, it is now more common for physicians to recommend lifestyle changes to help control menopausal migraines versus medications to try to balance the fluctuating hormone levels at this time in a woman's life. These lifestyle changes may include stress reduction and a diet high in foods that promote increased estrogen production.

    Alternative Medicine

    • Alternative medical techniques may include small amounts of caffeine, massage, herbal supplements, acupuncture, or even hypnosis. While all of these in some form may help, herbal supplements are by far the easiest regimen for most women to follow, and for some the most effective treatment.

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