Menstrual migraines are migraines brought on either before or during the woman’s period. Symptoms can cause a dull throbbing or severe pulsing headaches, sensitivity to light, nausea, fatigue, dizziness and more.
Premenstrual migraines regularly occur during or after the time when the female hormones, estrogen and progesterone, drop to their lowest levels.
In addition to a drop in estrogen, birth control and hormone replacment therapy for menopause can change the frequency or severity of migraines.
What makes menstrual migraines so tenacious is that it is directly linked to your menstrual cycle. Simply suppressing the pain in “standard” migraines is not enough to tame these types of headaches.
If your doctor has prescribed NSAID’S Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatories (Orudis, Advil, Motrin, Naloxon, Naprosyn, Relafen), triptans-selective serotonin receptor agonists (Axert, Relpax, Frova, Amerge, Maxalt, Imitrex, Zomig) and you are still experiencing uncomfortable symptoms or would like to try a non-drug solution, it is reassuring to know that acupuncture and Chinese medicine has been used in treating menstrual migraines.
Normalizing Female Hormones
The key to treatment of menstrual migraine lies in normalizing the menstrual cycle to reduce the symptoms of migraines. Regulating the cycle and its irregularities is the key to reducing the pain and frequency of the headaches. Many times, people are trying cycle regulation medication and pain medication and yet, still, they are having uncomfortable symptoms every month. They might have had some benefits from the medications, but they are still experiencing pain. Not to mention the common “side effect regrets” that I hear from many patients. They don’t like how they are feeling while on the medications but they do not want to feel worse by stopping the medications. This “damned-if- I do” and “damned-if-I don’t” situation is one that many women struggle with.
Acupuncture for Menstrual Migraine
Acupuncture is used to free up poor blood flow to the head and uterus to reduce the pain.
Some women present with shortened cycles, some with prolonged cycles. Some with a lot of painful cycles and others with little to no pain. When treating hormonal headaches, you must treat the hormonal issue that is causing the headaches to occur to begin with. Most women do not consider their menstrual cycle to be a problem. However, many symptoms such as clotting, cramping during the cycle, shortened cycles, prolonged cycles, endometriosis, or the presence of fibroids or cysts could be a factor in regulating your cycle. Even if you’ve been using birth control to regulate your cycle, it could still be affecting your estrogen and progesterone hormones.
Chinese Herbs Can Regulate the Hormonal Imbalance
Chinese herbal medicine can be used to help balance the hormones by regulating the cycle abnormalities or by reducing stress, and reducing the symptoms of migraines. Treatment is highly individualized according to the pattern you have occurring in your body. With high quality herbs to ensure purity, Chinese herbs have less if any side effects that can be used to treat the root cuase of your menstrual migraines.
Effective Treatments for Menstrual Migraines
If you are suffering from menstrual migraines and you are looking for more help. I invite you to have a no-pressure consultation and evaluation with me, to see how acupuncture and Chinese medicine could benefit your menstrual migraine. I have been treating menstrual migraines in my Ridgewood New Jersey office so you don’t have to run into New York City to find a practitioner. I have been providing acupuncture and Chinese Medicine for over 23 years. Call me at 201-444-7150 or simply email me at Joshua@acupunctureYES.com. Even if you’ve never considered acupuncture for your menstural migraines, I am here to help you smooth out the process. Using acupuncture and Chinese medicine for menstrual migraine can be used to create a better future by reducing or eliminating your pain.
Learn More About Joshua Goldstein Licensed Acupuncturist