Migraines and Utrogestan

[Lougle]

I started Utrogestan this month and my migraines have almost doubled on last month (15 vs 8 so far with a few days to go). Is it likely to be the Progesterone, and will it settle in months to come?

I have a neurologist appointment today and I know I'm going to get told off for taking too many triptans this month because I've already taken 12.

I am interested to see what is said.

My situation is I had monthly migraines for years around menstruation time so they were definitely hormone related. Had hysterectomy and went onto HRT. Not had migraine for years. However I've started to get them again and they are becoming unmanageable. I've been prescribed more oestrogen so I'll see how I react to this.

There was another thread on here last week about taking the progesterone vaginally instead of orally which helped some. I suffer too but mine are oestrogen linked.

I halved my oestrogen and increased my progesterone because the coil isn’t working and my migraines halved interestingly.

Interesting! Thank you.

My migraines drastically increased on the 12 days a month utrogestan cycle, so my GP trialled me on daily utro and they improved. She felt it was the ups and downs of the hormone levels that were triggering the migraines and by keeping it steady all month that should help. It was a gamble but it worked for me. (I should add that I am 53 though, so approaching the time when a lot of women are put on combined continuous anyway.)

Interestingly, I have recently started getting really bad migraines consistently on my Evorel patch changeover day (the four day changeover, not the three day one). So I think I need to go back and discuss going up an oestrogen dose. That said, I was told yesterday that my GP surgery has no routine appointments available for booking until August! So it seems I’m not going to get it sorted any time soon.

@Lougle Sorry for late response but I’ve just seen your post. I really feel for you. It’s almost a year now since I started HRT - utrogestan and patches - and even though my migraines were not a factor in me starting it, I was amazed that almost overnight they disappeared. Although I’ve had them for over 30 years, since the onset of the menopause they got increasingly worse and more frequent, year on year, so to suddenly and unexpectedly be pain-free was amazing. Having said that, for me the first 6 months on HRT appear to have been a kind of honeymoon period - more recently the migraines have been creeping back and I’m back on the triptans again. I can’t say whether it’s the utrogestan or patches that hold the key but it’s clear that there’s no “one size fits all” with HRT and the side effects that go with them. They do say you need to stick with it for 3 months for your body to adjust and settle down - but I really hope you find some relief from your migraines before then x