Menstrually-Related Migraine

Hormones, in particular a drop in estrogen, can act as a trigger for underlying migraine headaches. There is a drop in estrogen at the onset of the menstrual period, which is often why many women feel migraines occurring before or during their menstrual period. These are typically normal hormone fluctuations that can aggravate a hypersensitive “migraine brain” and lead to a migraine attack. Because remember, migraine is a disorder of the brain, NOT a hormone disorder. The goal for managing menstrual related migraine is to stabilize the brain with migraine prevention. This way, no matter what is going on with your menstrual cycle, the brain will be so stable that the likelihood of these estrogen changes leading to a migraine becomes less and less.