Jun 8, 2009

Woman's Hormones & Headaches?


Last night I had my 1st migraine after more than a year of not having one. Amazingly, since I got pregnant, gave birth and being a mom for over a year... never for once I had migraine. Pounding, clustered, left side pain kind of headache. Usually it is just the normal stress headache of being a wife and a mom. But last night, it was the real McCoy; The legendary migraine that is related to my menstrual cycle!

Menstrual headaches are primarily caused by estrogen, the female sex hormone that specifically regulates the menstrual cycle fluctuations throughout the cycle. When the levels of estrogen and progesterone change, women will be more vulnerable to headaches. Because oral contraceptives influence estrogen levels, women on birth control pills may experience more menstrual migraines.

Migraine attacks in women are more likely to occur in the perimenstrual period and occur exclusively so in some women. The acute treatment of menstrual migraine is similar to that of non-menstrually related attacks, but the response to treatment may be less favourable. Perimenstrual prophylaxis, with NSAIDs, triptans or estradiol, is effective in decreasing attack frequency and severity. I always take synflex, since I’m allergic to Ponstan. Ponstan will increase the nausea and I my face will be swollen. So, Synflex had been my buddy since I was a teen, but since I’m a breastfeeding mom I’ve mellowed down a bit on the Synflex intake. So last night when I had the “attack” I had 1 piece of 700mg paracetamol, but it work like Nada..nothing happened....and I braved myself and let the pain took it’s course.

Back on the relevancy between the women’s body and headache, the female reproductive system comprises the vagina, uterus (womb), fallopian tubes and ovaries. Hormones secreted by the ovaries and a small gland in the brain called the pituitary gland control the menstrual cycle. The average cycle is around 28 days. After a period, rising levels of the hormone oestrogen help to thicken the lining of the womb (the endometrium). At mid-cycle, an egg is released from one of the ovaries (ovulation). If the egg is unfertilised, falling levels of the hormone progesterone make the womb lining come away. This is called a period, or menstruation. The cycle then repeats.

From such information, I’m concluding that the drop in my hormones balance is causing this migraine right? From my reading, I may create balance to the hormones if I can increase certain type of nutri during my period. All this while I have made the habit of taking double dose of pramilet during period, but why am I still having this headache? Hubby told me that he read in some articles, having extra vitamin Bs may help. So today I’m gonna try & have a few extra intake of Vegemite and extra portion of green vege. See if it works. If mommies out there is having the same prob, give my theory a “fair go” and post a comment on this topic, i would really appreciate it. Later I’ll post a comment here on my updates.

p/s-doa2 the pain goes away soon. I only have 10days to my research paper’s submission date..HELP & DOA needed!

10 comments:

Ely Hasrul said...

i demam aritu sbb period la.. sakit satu badan huwaaa..i doakan u cpt baik..hish kaco la nk submit paper la nk migrain.. xdek tips.. berendam air panas maybe?

Unknown said...

sama geng..penghidap migrain..gud info..mmg hormon mainkan peranan penting dlm serangan migrain ini...harap2 kita sembuh kan mama miya..tak sggup rasaanya..

fiza said...

Siannya mama-miya, get well soon, i'll pray for you.

My_Aqeelah said...

yup sekapal nampaknye. Usually i amik ponston jer. My worst case sampai kena jab (after vomitting trillion times ;P saje exaggerate..but muntah sampai kuar kaler hijau jer). Masa tuh makan ponston pun tak jalan, sleeping pun doesn't help at all. Mata pun nampak bintang2 ajer. Hope you get well soon.

Anonymous said...

seems like the pain dah subside & i tak rasa sakit kepala dah bila bukak lampu. the pain still tak go away 100%, dia cam slowly decrease...alhamdulillah takde sakit yg menyucuk & denyut2 dah.

i cooked thai style stir fry mince beef with peas & brokoli. then i makan 2 bijik pramilet...so wondering, if the extra nutri from all those food telah stabilkan semula hormones ku? secara tak langsung mengurangkan sakit kepala ku?

Dayah @ Real Ummu said...

saya tak penah kena or takada lagi migrain..tapi penah ade kwn yg teruk migrainnya masa kat hostel dulu sampai takut saya melihat dan tak tahu nak tolong camne..

MamaMIya.
get well soon. insyaAllah, moga Allah mempermudahkannya...

Mizz_Ila said...

sian .. mayb sana skrang tgh winter kot. ko rasa cam sejuk sgt tahap beku otak.
watever.. take yr rest .. sleep tight.. & remember..happy ..happy yrself. sometimes emotional control ni ubat paling mujarab..

selamat menyejukkan diri di sana..
beware dgn H1N1 yg dah serious kat sana tau..

Hanz Jamaludin said...

Hi Dear...how's everything? hope your migraine has gone. Is it working taking those steps you mentioned for migraine treatment? keep us posted on its progress & all the best in your paper assignment.

Anonymous said...

to hanz--> i have no idea if the steps are working on not, but the headache had decreased little by little with no help from painkillers at all. All I did was, taking double dose of multivitamins & having extra portion of green vege. I think I'll try the same trick on next period, and see if it does help in avoiding migraine.

to mummy ila-->mmg we all tgh beku ni..sepanjang hari dok berkelubung dalam elec blanket & pakai baju 3 lapis. H1N1 count kat sini dah over 500 cases but no worries the virus yg sampai sini not as strong as the one in mexico. strand yg sampai sini katanya kurang 1 strand...so insyaallah flu ni takkan bawa maut.katanye demam denggi lagi berbahaya dr this flu yg kat aussie ni.

Unknown said...

kakyong pun jrg sakit kepala.. kalo sakit sgt2 tu.. what i do is : basahkan kepala , pastu balut dgn tuala, minum air masak with selawat 3 kali.. pastu baring without bantal... layan sampai tidur..

i hv no idea adakah sakit kepala ni ade kena mengena dgn makanan or apa2... tak pernah buat research pun sbb, Alhamdulillah, jarang sakit...

take care yer... hopely the pain has gone pd masa kakyong komen ni.

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Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor nor am I a lawyer. I am not a scientist nor am I an expert. I am just a wife and a mother, who is putting her thoughts and findings in a blog. All of the posting on this website & my blogs were written by me for educational purposes and as my sentimental library, but are not meant to diagnose nor treat any medical disorders. Any other materials that I may have quote from other published materials are for educational purposes only and not for any other manipulative reasons. Anyway, whatever weird stuff that I published are the real stuff that I believe works for me. Tips and tricks that might work for me. You are free to put it in your head if you thinks its valuable, but if you think its rubbish... Please don't mock me. Do please shut your pie hole.
 
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