Posted on 07/30/2004 7:52:44 PM PDT by neverdem
VITAL SIGNS
Many women who suffer migraines tell their doctors that their headaches are related to the onset of menstruation. Two studies released yesterday lend support to that link and to the idea of timing medication to the menstrual cycle as a preventive measure.
Both studies were published in the journal Neurology.
The lead author of one of the studies, Dr. E. Anne MacGregor of the City of London Migraine Clinic, said that in general about half of women with migraines say their headaches come on more often and with greater severity just before menstruation. Earlier studies had not found evidence of the connection, Dr. MacGregor said, because women with migraines connected to the menstrual cycle and women whose migraines were not connected canceled each other out.
The new study overcame that difficulty by comparing the onset and severity of attacks within a group of 155 women who all had suspected menstrual migraines, she said.
Entries in diaries the women were asked to keep showed that they were more than twice as likely to suffer migraines during the first three days of menstruation as they were on other days, and that the menstrual migraines were more than three times as likely to be severe as those at other times.
The second study found that fewer than half the women who took an anti-migraine drug, frovatriptan, before and during the onset of menstruation suffered headaches, compared with two-thirds of women given a placebo.
Dr. MacGregor said women suffering migraines should use diaries to discern patterns in attacks, and a fertility monitor if they are uncertain about predicting menstruation. Even without preventive medicine, "women in our study reported that this helped them to feel more in control of their migraine," she said.
PING
If you have problems with migraines, don't give up trying to find a solution. I suffered with them for years, and suddenly by accident I found a medication that totally got rid of them - a blood pressure med. It was like a miracle for me.
I suffered with these in my childhood and into my early adulthood. They were so painful that I had to be taken to the hospital. I haven't had one in a few years now....Thank God!!!!
Migraines are one of the most terrible things I have ever suffered. I think the pill contributed to mine- I got off of them and have been great ever since.
There are many triggers for miagraines. I used to have them associated with my menstral cycle but the worst ones were food allergy related. I had classic miagraines with an aura & also during the spring pollen season & because of various other inhalants. Miagraines are a nasty ailment to deal with but I thank God mine are better now. I rarely have one anymore.
I was prescribed Cafergot as an adolescent.
That ergot compound had no effect.
Took LSD two years later and haven't had a migraine since.
No more halos and vomiting. Thank God.
That was in the 80's.
triptans are wonder drugs for me. I think back to the days of pain brefore them and wonder how I tolerated it.
I'd had the 'behind the eye' migraines since adolescence. But I also had headaches I chalked up to tension - but the usual headache remedies didn't really work. Once I started taking the triptans those headaches disappeared too.
Birth control pills, hormone replacement therapy, etc. those female hormones have been noted to cause migraines so the studies makes sense.
Mine are totally random and started when I was *very* young -- far too young for it to be related to that.
For some reason, drinking something with caffeine in it at the onset seems to take some of the edge off an impending migraine. I also have some strong meds, but they make me loopy (rather, loopier than usual).
Better not get one during the convention! ;)
oh yeah, let's all do LSD...
Excedrine w/ caffeine really works well.
For a few years I was taking Imitrex. That really worked as well but watch, in a few years someone will come out with a study and say that all Imitrex users will have early onset Alzheimers!!!
Apparently the blood vessels in your head dialate, causing migraines. Therefore the caffeine works on constricting the blood vessels. You could feel the drug Imitrex constrict the blood vessels in your neck, face and head. Very strange but it worked.
Yes, I happened upon that caffeine cure by accident about 10 years ago or so.
Ah, one of the modern miracle drugs.
FYI, LSD was an experimental migraine treatment.
I would have rather avoided it.
That's the only thing that used to work for me, but then they quit making it and all I could find was the aspirin/Tylenol Excedrin. Is the aspirin/caffeine one available again?
Even if there is a "cure" women will still say they have a head ache.
I really think the reason women outlive men is because they only have to walk on their own half the time.
Absolutely! Excedrine Migraine, it's called.
Did they REALLY!!?? Yikes! That is scary. Although, I can imagine someone taking it out of desperation in the midst of a migraine.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.