Women’s Health Issues

Over 21 million American women suffer from Migraines- three times the number of men. Migraines often produce terrible, throbbing pain with nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. About 15% of suffers report an “aura” before an attack, including vision changes and the general sense of an oncoming headache. Recent evidence points to hormone levels, specifically estrogen, and a woman’s menstrual cycle. Menstrual migraines often occur a few days before- through the first three days of a woman’s cycle. Then, as a woman approaches menopause, headaches tend to increase in frequency and severity as hormones fluctuate before the ovaries finally shutdown, no longer producing eggs. Common migraine triggers encouraging onset within the menstrual cycle include alcohol consumption, bright lights, caffeine, cheese, chocolate, fasting, lack of sleep, MSG, orgasm, stress, sulfites, and weather changes.

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