menstrual migraines

[haircliporband]

I suffer for the day before and 1st 2 days of each period with a migraine. Am vomiting, unable to keep even water down and needing to lie in a dark room which is obvioulsy not ideal with pre school children.

Any advice welcome.

Hello. I get menstrual migraines, too, so you have my sympathies!

Are you aware of any other triggers? Other than the time of the month, I mean. Are you migraines worse, for example, if you're tired or stressed or have eaten something in particular?

I also suffer from migraines as a result of hormonal changes in my cycle. I have heard that hormone replacement therapy can help but we're TTC at the moment so it's not an option for me, might be worth investigating for you though?

I take sumatriptan, (too many according to my GP) when I have an attack, which has been life changing. Have you heard of them? Also known as Imigran recovery. I recommend them to every migraine sufferer, they're brilliant.

yy, sumatriptan is WONDERFUL

Don't know if you're still there, OP, but the reason I asked about other triggers is that it was explained to me that most people need a build-up of triggers to cause a migraine: it's very rarely just one thing.

Your main trigger is obviously the onset of your period. Same with me.

So, say you're at Migraine Probability Zero most of the time, but when you're period's due, you go up to Migraine Probability 8.

You need to get to Migraine Probability 10 to get a migraine (this isn't true, obviously; it's just an illustration), so there are probably a couple of little things, each with a Migraine Probability score of 1 or 2 that could push you over the edge.

With me, it's lack of sleep and chocolate.

Once I'd worked this out, I found that if I make sure I'm well rested and avoid all chocolate round about the time of my period, I can avoid getting a migraine every month.

It doesn't always work but it's worked better - and with fewer pills - than anything else I've tried.

Hope that makes some kind of sense.

That's an interesting concept Porpoise. I will experiment with that.

It's good, innit?

And it seriously works for me.

You need to keep a diary for a bit to work out what your triggers might be.

From what I remember, food triggers could be choc, red wine, cheese, citrus fruit. Or just not eating regular, good meals.

Then there are physical/emotional triggers: tension, travelling, stress at work, poor sleep, change in routine, bright lights, smoke, eye strain...

oh and dehydration - not drinking enough.

Sample diary here

thanks for this advice. i have never tried sumatriptan and will get some to try. How do you manage to keep them down or do you get the headache before the vomiting?

porpoise - i have had almost the same level of migraine at evey period for last 6 months since stopping breastfeeding. Having said that i have caffine and chocolate daily and similar amount of sleep every night and am unaware of varying food or sleep patterns. Are your periods very regular then and how many days before do you need to cut out chocolate?

I suffer from these too or did but for the last 4 months I've been taking 300mg magnesium everyday a d I've not had one. I read a study (sorry can't remember where) that those suffering menstrual migraines often had depleted magnesium, particularly before and during your period. I asked GP before starting and he ok'd it and, so far, it's worked despite DH being away 50% time with work so life has been a bit stressful which is normally a trigger for me.
Definitely worth a try.

For years I had the same problem. I went on the GI diet and found that the many headaches and migraines stopped. It has been a god send, I was only trying to lose weight.