Dealing with Hormonal Headaches
Hormonal headaches can be very painful and can seriously affect the quality of life of women who experience them. Only women experience hormonal headaches. These headaches are caused by changes in the levels of estrogen and progesterone, two important hormones, in the body.
Often hormonal headaches occur about a week or so before a woman’s menstrual cycle and symptoms can be similar to migraine symptoms like light sensitivity and throbbing pain. These headaches can make it hard to get through your day.
Hormonal headaches are a problem for many women. These headaches are not completely understood but it is thought that they are related to taking contraceptives in some cases. The causes of hormonal headaches are still being researched by doctors and scientists.
Contraceptives can cause an increased number of hormonal headaches and cause them to happen on a more regular basis. This is not true for all women, though, so while there is a link there are obviously other causes that affect hormonal headaches as well. Because causes are not truly understood, it is hard to prevent hormonal headaches. In order to prevent headaches, doctors need to understand what is causing them in the first place.
Hormonal headaches can be successfully treated with a variety of medicines. Sometimes over the counter non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs can reduce the severity of the symptoms. Often doctors will recommend taking these drugs during the week before your menstrual cycle to prevent the symptoms from getting bad. This is a helpful way to prevent hormonal headaches or at least reduce the severity of your hormonal headaches. Drugs recommended for treatment include Aleve, ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Another benefit of NSAID drugs is less pain from cramping associated with your menstrual cycle.
Migraine treatments like triptans also are used to treat hormonal headaches. These medicines do not treat the cause of the hormonal headaches but help relieve the associated pain. It is important to not over-medicate yourself with triptans and NSAID drugs when you have hormonal headaches or you may cause more problems. Too much of either or both kinds of drugs can cause what are called “rebound” headaches where the symptoms come back and are even more intense.
Hormonal headaches are likely to occur before and after childbirth due to changes in hormone levels at this time. Women’s hormones fluctuate quite a bit before, during and shortly after childbirth so they often experience hormonal headaches at this time. Menopause is another time when hormones fluctuate and hormonal headaches are likely to occur.
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- Available Headache Treatments
- Contact us
- Dealing with Hormonal Headaches
- Determining the Causes of Headaches
- Frequent Headaches Make Life More Difficult
- Headache Clinics: Help for People with Severe and Chronic Headaches
- Headache Medicines Available for Treating Headaches
- Learning About the Different Headache Types
- Pinpointing the Causes of Migraine Headaches
- What are Cluster Headaches and How are they Treated?