Self Help

The onset of menstruation is the single most significant trigger for women who suffer from migraine. About 60% of migraine sufferers in their childbearing years have headaches associated with their menstrual cycles.

When you compare the migraine rates of children to those of adults, you’ll see that female hormones figure prominently in the picture. Pre-adolescent girls and boys get migraines at about the same rate. But after puberty, during a woman’s prime reproductive years, from ages 15 to 50, females outpace males in migraine incidence by a 3 to 1 ratio.

Hormonal changes are the main reason women experience more migraines than men. Clearly, an estrogen connection exists. For many women with migraine, their first migraine occurred in relationship to some hormonal event such as the onset of getting their period, the use of oral contraceptives, pregnancy, the postpartum period, or taking estrogen supplements as hormone replacement therapy during menopause.

Hormones can trigger headaches in women who are genetically susceptible to migraine. However, not every woman reacts the same way to these commonplace triggers. In some cases, estrogen replacement therapy and oral contraceptives can actually prevent migraines, while many women find relief from migraine headaches when they are pregnant.