MENSTRUAL MIGRAINES

In diagnosing a benign headache, it is helpful to know that both tension and migraine headaches are twice as common in women as men. By comparison 19 of every 20 cluster headache sufferers are male.

Seventy percent of migraine sufferers are women in their childbearing years, m 60 percent of women migraineurs, the attacks occur during the week preceding, or during, menstruation. Other women experience migraine at the midpoint of the menstrual cycle, during ovulation. Migraines related to the menstrual cycle are often called menstrual migraines.

Menstrual migraines usually end by the third month of pregnancy, and the arrival of menopause liberates most women from further migraines. These clues indicate that migraine is related to hormone instability. And. indeed, taking estrogen or birth control pills can increase the frequency and intensity of migraine in women.

Most headache specialists believe that migraines are due to an inherited biochemical or hormonal imbalance. As a result, migraines tend to run in families. Thus children may experience migraines at a quite early age. Symptoms are similar to those in adults. Any child with migraine

should be checked by a pediatrician to rule out the possibility of a disease-related headache.

Efforts to define a migraine personality have been unsuccessful, but many migraineurs seem to have low blood pressure, flexible arteries, cold hands, low blood sugar and unusually sensitive nerves. Women may experience menstrual irregularities. Classic migraineurs tend to be perfectionists, compulsively tidy and well-groomed, and may speak in hurried phrases. Many high achievers have been migraine sufferers.

Our personal observations indicate that the majority of people who suffer chronic headaches, both tension and migraine, are unable to handle stress in a relaxed way. Perhaps this is one reason why headaches are more common in younger than in older people. Headaches are most prevalent in women aged 20 to 30 and in men aged 30 to 40.

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