Menopause Issues, HELP!?
Question by Chenanagan: Menopause issues, HELP!?
I had a hysterectomy at age 32 and have 1 ovary. I have my hormone levels tested several times a year and I am always within proper levels. The past month I am getting hot flashes all the time, I can’t sleep and my migraines I have had for 24 years have seemed to worsen and none of the prescription medication works. I cannot take hormone treatments as they trigger migraines for me. I must be starting menopause. What can’t I get answers to the headache pain that is daily and never goes away? And not being able to sleep even with sleep aid? Since I have not had a menstrual cycle in 16 years, I will be 48 this February 2012, I can’t say it’s due to my cycle. I have to see a doctor but don’t really want more drugs, black cohosh did not work, I need help. The hot flashes make me hot from head to toe, so I fan myself, go to the door and open up for the cooler air or throw my covers off at night. I usually answer questions, this will be a first for me but I appreciate all advice and what to do. I am more grumpy but not much, at least yet. Ha ha. This head pain though is something that I can’t live with and don’t want harder drugs than I already use for migraines! Love to all who can help me!
Best answer:
Answer by Q
The good news is: you probably CAN take hormone treatments. See, studies have shown that menstrual and menopausal migraines are caused by having rapidly dropping estrogen that gets low. So when you take estrogen pills, your body digests it right away and you get a large jolt of estrogen, which makes the migraine usually go away. Then, throughout the day your body uses up the estrogen until it gets low and this causes a migraine. You can experiment for yourself and see that you’ll probably get a migraine about 16 -20 hours after you take an estrogen pill. So taking oral estrogen isn’t a good idea for women who have hormonally-related migraines. What you can do instead is try estrogen patches. These release estrogen in a way that is the most similar as we can get with current technology, to how your own ovaries released estrogen. That is, small, constant amounts throughout the day and night. Estrogen never gets too high or too low. Also keep in mind that the most commonly used patch, Vivelle Dot, has enough hormones for 84 hours, which is three and a half days. For simplicity’s sake, the recommendation is to change it on the third day, and then 4 days later. So you’ll always be changing it on the same days of the week. But with migraneurs, you might get a migraine on that 4th day because the hormones run out after ~84 hours but you don’t change it until 12 hours later. So you may want to change it every 3 and a half days instead. What I am saying here has been proven in medical studies, but it’s just not very well known–gynecologists know about hormones but not about migraines and the brain. Neurologists know about migraines and the brain but not hormones. So try this out, you’ve got nothing to lose. If it doesn’t work, you can stop. Try a higher dose initially and then you can work your way to a lower dose.
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