Migraine headaches tend to be hereditary; more than half of migraine sufferers have a close family member who also has migraines. Therefore, your risks are based upon certain hereditary factors. The disorder affects females three times more often than males, and symptoms appear as early as puberty or early adulthood. Many women are at higher risk just before, during or just after a menstrual period because of hormone fluctuations. People who are between the age of 25 and 55 are at risk more than any other age group. Migraines may be more common among people with certain other conditions like epilepsy. However, people with easily-affected nervous systems are also the most at risk for the disorder.
Migraine Headache Causes
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Riverside Center for Neurosciences answeredSee All 2 AnswersIf your migraine headaches are closely linked to your menstrual cycle, menopause may make them less severe. As you get older, the nausea and vomiting may decrease as well. About two-thirds of women with migraines report that their symptoms improve with menopause.
But for some women, menopause worsens migraine or triggers them to start. It is not clear why this happens. Menopausal hormone therapy, which is prescribed for some women during menopause, may be linked to migraines during this time. In general, though, the worsening of migraine symptoms goes away once menopause is complete.
This answer is based on source information from the National Women's Health Information Center.
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Dr. Howard S. Smith , Pain Medicine, answeredSee All 7 AnswersFood scientists have identified chocolate, some types of cheese and dairy products, monosodium glutamate (MSG), nuts, citrus foods, meats, and alcohol (usually red wine) as possibly triggering migraine headaches. If you suffer with migraine headaches, I’m sure you’re aware of this strong link between the food you eat and the onset or intensity of the migraine. Although the exact connection is unclear, it’s thought that chemical sensitivities cause reactions in blood vessels and nerves increase the diameter of the blood vessels in the brain. These actions result in the pounding headache and other symptoms you feel. -
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Riverside Center for Neurosciences answeredSee All 2 Answers
More than half of migraines in women occur right before, during, or after a woman has her period. This often is called "menstrual migraine." But, just a small fraction of women who have migraine around their period only have migraine at this time. Most have migraine headaches at other times of the month as well.
How the menstrual cycle and migraine are linked is still unclear. We know that just before the cycle begins, levels of the female hormones, estrogen and progesterone, go down sharply. This drop in hormones may trigger a migraine, because estrogen controls chemicals in the brain that affect a woman's pain sensation.
Talk with your doctor if you think you have menstrual migraine. You may find that medicines, making lifestyle changes, and home treatment methods can prevent or reduce the pain.
This answer is based on the source infromation from the National Women's Health Information Center.
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Riverside Center for Neurosciences answeredIn some women, birth control pills improve migraine. The pills may help reduce the number of attacks and their attacks may become less severe. But in other women, the pills may worsen their migraines. In still other women, taking birth control pills has no effect on their migraines.
The reason for these different responses is not well understood. For women whose migraines get worse when they take birth control pills, their attacks seem to occur during the last week of the cycle. This is because the last seven pills in most monthly pill packs don't have hormones; they are there to keep you in the habit of taking your birth control daily. Without the hormones, your body's estrogen levels drop sharply. This may trigger migraine in some women.
Talk with your doctor if you think birth control pills are making your migraines worse. Switching to a pill pack in which all the pills for the entire month contain hormones and using that for three months in a row can improve headaches. Lifestyle changes, such as getting on a regular sleep pattern and eating healthy foods, can help too.
This answer is based on source information from the National Women's Health Information Center. -
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See All 3 AnswersThere's still some debate among migraine experts about whether stress is a migraine trigger. In fact, there's a debate scheduled on this at the upcoming International Headache Congress. In the end, what really matters is correctly identifying triggers. Before accepting that stress itself is a migraine trigger, it's a good idea to rule out other possible triggers that may be encountered during stressful times, such as:
- messed sleep patterns,
- missed or off-schedule meals,
- drinking too little and becoming dehydrated,
- consuming too much caffeine, and
- crying.
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What role does family history play in migraines? In this video, Mark Green, MD, director of the Center for Headache and Pain Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, talks about the influence of genetics in migraine headaches.