Migraine

Just curious, really . . . for those of you who get menstrual migraine, when does it happen: before your period, during, after, some combination?

For me, it's pretty much 4-7 days before, and then the pain stops when my period starts (or within the first day or two).

I really hope this ponstel and MigraTen my neuro has me on (along with the botox I'm getting next week) will help with my menstrual-related migraine next month. Since I'm pretty sure ponstel is an NSAID, I need to ask him why it's ok for me to take it every day in light of what I thought would be a MOH risk too . . .

Mine usually hit during, particularly the first couple of days. Sometimes I also get hit a day or two ahead, as well.

24- 36 hours before mine starts - I'm doomed. It's the one every month I never manage to escape. Severity varies from I can sort of cope to oh-God-give-me-morphine thoughts (Not that I've ever had morphine, but it always sounds like a good thing at that point)

Yeah I know, aren't they excruciating? Yesterday I started my period and I swear, my head hurt so bad I was near tears - - day before was the same. Vicodin didn't even help! :-( My head and neck feel sooo much better today. :-)

its usually game anytime 5 days before my cycle and then the first 2 or 3 days of my cycle. then i'm fine. occasionally i have to go to the hospital for some kind if intervention but now that my doc has given me a ton of options i can usually manage on my own. i also just started birth control this cycle.

best.

I'm more likely to have migraines during ovulation (around day 11), then again around day 19, 20, day 26 (about 2-3 days before menstration) then again around day 3 or 4 (just after my clots & blood flow stop- as my flow is about 2 days average nowadays), but then the migraine may stop if I have breakthrough spotting on day 5 or 6. My migraines can last anywhere from 3 hours (the short ones are usually "sudden midhead pain" so I'm not sure if they are migraines)... to two weeks long, average is about 2-3 days.

If I have paresthesias, acne, extra sleepiness, obsessiveness or major depressive swings that month, I am more like to have severe migraines. Of course my menstral cycles have been really more erratic the past couple years (compared to my body be very regular), so I can really tell if that month my hormones are off...

Whenever I have testing in the past, my body decides it is going to be irregular, just to fool the doctors. So I cannot prove anything & often feel like I'm talking to a brick wall- insisting something is wrong & then doctors saying I'm o so healthy. Arrggghhh!

I know my body... I generally have a low temperature, so I can tell when my temp elevates during ovulation, etc- but my high temp is "normal" for a "normal" person.

I also have mittleshmerz & ovarian cysts & heavy clots which gynocologists in the past tell me is normal & just say I need to be on hormones... but I think anyone who says this stuff is normal has not experienced this stuff- just like doctors who say paresthesia are a "minor annoyance" & just to "live with migraines".

Oye- this silly medical field- sometimes doctors need to trust that some of us can read our body signals & not just write us off as overreactive. :-(

OH boy I have the worst time with menstral migraines. Mine start a day or two before I start, and will go the week of and often the week after. Usually I migraine for 2 weeks straight during my period.

Unfortunatly I cant take anything for my menstral migraines according to my neurologest. I have HM, and the hormone treatments or birth control pills put me at a higher stroke risk. So basically Im hopeless.

I also have a history of cysts and tumors on my overies. I think my menstrl migraines got way worse about 6 years ago when a tumor caused a torsion of my falopian tube. I had the right side overy and tube removed. Since then the menstrl migraines have been getting worse and worse.

What info is there about historectomys helping migraines? I have seen several articles saying not proven, then some saying it may help. Anyone have any experience to share?

For me, it's usually 1-2 days before I start, and 1-2 days at the end; once in a while I'll have one in the middle, too, but I haven't quite figured out if those are really menstrual or if they are due to other triggers.

Hope the meds help!
~Rachel

Alexandra
I can really sympathize with the "weeks long" deal. I had one a few months ago that started the day before my period (2 hours before I got on an international plane flight no less) and raged on for 12 days.

Amy

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Porquipine: For me, it's pretty much 4-7 days before, and then the pain stops (usually) within the first day or two, but sometimes it will be several days.

I use Ponstel also, but my Gynecologist says that this is a very powerful NSAID and should not be used more than 3 days a month (menstrual week) and only 1 every 6 hours. Can you tell me what MigraTen is? Do you take that in relation to your menstrual migraines?

Thanks,
Sandi

Hi.

MigraTen is a prescription acetaminophen - caffeine - isometheptene compound pain reliever.

Hope this helps.

I'm not sure Migra-Ten is still available. A year or so ago, when there was a shortage of these products, only Midrin and Epidrin continued to be available. That may have changed now, but I'm not sure.

Sandi, I know doctors' opinions can vary widely - - the doctor who prescribed ponstel for me is Lawrence Robbins (Northbrook, IL). I believe he is supposed to be one of the "Top 10" migraine/headache specialists in the country, for what that's worth. (I don't remember what ranking that's from, but it sticks in my head from somewhere.) Anyway, I've placed my trust in him. So far I haven't keeled over from the daily ponstel; it does seems to help. He said to take it twice a day as a preventive.


On the phone, Dr. Robbins referred to the other menstrual-related drug I take as "MigraTen." Not sure if it's actually marketed as that. On the bottle it just says "isomethept, caffeine, apap cariv."

Well, mine seem to come with my period on the same day (sometimes the day before) and can last weeks longer if not knocked out early by medical intervention.

In fact, I just started a new menstrual migraine this Wednesday. At first, it was a regular migraine; now, it is a full blown hemiplegic migraine (drooped left side of face, numb, weak arm and leg, hard time talking). Like momsbreak9, I can't take most rescue/abortive meds due to increased risk of stroke. Unfortunately, I waited too long to call my migraine specialist, because I thought it would "just go away on its own."

Did I mention I'm new to the whole migraine business? For the first 8-months, I was told this was a stroke or stroke-like event. It wasn't until last month when I found my migraine specialist that I knew for sure that I was having hemiplegic migraines.

Still learning ...

--Jaclyn

From the age of about 20, I had a migraine the day before my period started or the day it started, and it controlled down to zero with aspirin or ibuprofen. I knew it happened, but really never considered it a problem. Oh for those days to come again!

Everything went haywire when I became perimenopausal. I was at risk of daily migraines the week before my period (which was unpredictable)and/or the week of my period. When my doctor started me on preventive Amerge during my period, it at least brought the migraines during my period under control.

With the progress I've made with preventives, all of the migraines are coming under better control. This time I had a knock-me-flat migraine three days before my period started, and one today--day three of my period--which was quite mild. I probably wouldn't even have noticed it or thought to treat it except for the accompanying nausea. And my other major trigger is barometric pressure; since we had a thunderstorm today, I had both of my triggers to contend with at once.

So there's hope, even for menstrual migraines.