A throbbing pain – usually on one side of the head – that gets worse and worse until you feel like your head is about to explode. Light and noise become intolerable and you can become very nauseous with vomiting as a result. We are talking about migraine: a (chronic) brain disease that can cause multiple symptoms such as headache, nausea and vomiting, hypersensitivity to light and sound and sometimes visual disturbances such as seeing spots.
Women have migraines more often than men
Are you a cis woman? Then you have a greater chance of getting a migraine attack. Researchers think that female hormones have an influence because women have migraines almost three times more often than cis men. Researcher Antoinette Maassen has studied menstrual-related migraines at different times of the cycle. And guess what? There is actually a connection between hormones and migraines. The menstrual cycle affects one of the cranial nerves involved in migraine. Ah!
Migraines in women have an image problem
As many as 33 percent of women suffer from migraines in their lives, but they are often not taken seriously. ‘I notice that migraine is seen as a specific female ailment. With the negative effect that the outside world sees it as an affectation, with the frequently heard advice ‘take a paracetamol and do your job,’ Maassen tells the Netherlands Patient Federation. Only with a migraine it is not a matter of grit your teeth and keep going. Exertion makes it worse, making it impossible to function.
There is not yet a cure for hormonal migraines
We know there is a link between hormones and migraines, but current drugs only work on the systems involved in both men and women. This while hormonal changes in women are probably involved in two-thirds of attacks. “If we could find a drug that could switch off the hormonal factor in migraine, it would therefore benefit a lot of women – and probably also men with migraine,” Maassen tells Women INC.
Take migraines seriously
You can suffer from migraines all your life. For example, the attacks often start during puberty and occur more quickly during menstruation. Usually there is a peak around the menopause and the attacks generally decrease after menopause. “Menstrual migraine is a huge disease burden for many women, if you add up all the attacks, patients lose a total of three to four years of their lives due to menstrual-related migraine,” Maassen tells Women INC. Bizarre!
You don’t have to just accept the complaints. ‘If the GP cannot resolve the complaints, a referral to a specialized headache neurologist may be a good option.’ You’ve got this!
Bron: Women INC, NOS
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