Menstrual Headache

Migraine headaches are more common in women, around 60-70% of women with migraines report such issues during their menstrual period. When diagnosed results were shown that attacks occur mainly on the 1st or 2nd day of the menstruation in at least 2 out of 3 menstrual cycles. Usually there is an increased frequency before, during and after menses. Hormones have potent effects on central serotonergic and opoid neurons, modulating both neuronal activity and receptor density during the menstrual cycle. There is a category of migraine that is called a true Menstrual migraine. This is a migraine headache that occurs regularly, each month but only between the 2nd day before the menses and the end of menstruation. Menstrual migraine is thought to occur in about 14% of women. In a resent survey it was said that about 10% of female migraineurs have pure menstrual migraine. Migraine was recently identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the world's leading 20 causes of disability, with an impact on quality-of-life, career, and social activities extending beyond the sufferer to their family, friends, and community. Only 50% of migraine sufferers currently consult a physician about their condition and many rely on suboptimal over-the-counter (OTC) medications in an attempt to manage their headache.

PMH (post menstruation headache)

The PMS headache comes before period and is associated with a variety of symptoms that distinguish it from the typical menstrual headache. The symptoms such as headache pain accompanied by fatigue, acne, joint pain, decreased urination, constipation and lack of coordination. Some times One may also experience an increase in appetite. Well these symptoms usually disappear when menstruation begins.

Some of the Treatments for Menstrual Headache

• Prophylactic treatment with a triptan for 6 days beginning 2 days before the anticipated start of the menstrual migraine reduces the incidence of migraine by at least a half. The triptans act as agonists for 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptors and include sumatriptan (Imitrex), rizatriptan (Maxilla), lmotriptan (Axert), naratriptan (Amerge), zolmitriptan (Zomig), eletriptan (Relpax) and frovatriptan (Frova).
• Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen or naproxen sodium, plays a vital role in the treatment of menstrual migraine because they affect prostaglandins, substances that may cause cramping as well as adding to the headache response

It is common for women to pay more attention to headaches around the time of their menstrual periods, failing to report shorter, milder headaches that occur at other times. Most common treatment includes pharmacotherapy; however, some also rely on non-pharmacologic therapies.