Diagnose me please…

[myheartburnstheretoo7]

So I get this weird thing every few weeks. For context, I am 49, female and BMI 23.
I get a headache - more niggly than pounding - and stomach ache and sort of nausea. I feel exhausted, drained and just want to sleep.
It lasts a day, I go to bed and wake feeling completely normal.
WTF is it?
No link to menstrual cycle that I can tell (I’m on mini-pill).
Disclaimer - I know I could see a doctor but it’s so random and always the same symptoms which then always disappear within the same time frame. So asking MN first!

I had exactly this (from about 45) and was the start of perimenopause symptoms. Headache was like a pressure in my head rather than pain. Started hrt and rarely happens now (now 52). It’s when you said happens every few weeks it sounded v familiar

I think it sounds like a migraine that could be linked to hormonal changes in your cycle, regardless of being on the mini-pill. I use Migraleve tablets which are really good. You take the pink tablet at the first sign of a migraine, and if it doesn’t clear it then you take the yellow one. I don’t think I’ve ever had to take the yellow one.

Thank you! I had a blood test back in April to see whether I was in menopause (because doc wanted to see whether I could stop the mini pill) and it showed I was definitely not. But maybe peri-menopause wouldn’t show up on a blood test??

That’s interesting as a friend mentioned migraines - but I thought they were always characterised by a severe headache, which I don’t get?

Migraine. Speak to a pharmacist about Migraleve in the first instance. You need the pink tablets to take away the nausea and thetry and sleep it off. There are also Migraleve yellow tablets but these are the same as paracetamol and codeine tablets and more expensive than them, too, which you take after four hours if you still have a headache. Migraines due to hormones are incredibly common at your age and, if you keep a note of the date each time you get one, you will probably find that you see a roughly monthly or bimonthly pattern. Oh, and migraines can take many forms - a severe headache is just one of them. The nausea is almost as classic.

Thank you all. I will get some Migraleve and start dating the episodes - starting with yesterday’s!
(I have had one ‘classic’ migraine in my entire life, when I was 14. Lost vision in one eye for a few hours, hideous headache, vomiting. I feel for anyone who gets those regularly.)

Unfortunately, this is me with a migraine! Minus the vomiting, but I get nauseous. Like PP said, you don’t always get severe headaches with them, I don’t (thanks to the Migraleve!), but I do feel awful and have to have a few quiet hours in a dark room, with a nap, and I slowly start to come back to normal. Good luck!

I’m sorry for you and thank you for the luck! It’s quite debilitating so I have high hopes for Migraleve.

Apparently blood tests don't show because hormones all so up and down at that point