I'm Hormonal | functional hormone insight + advice

Menstrual migraines: hormonal causes and how to manage them | Ep. 37

• Bridget Walton, Functional Hormone Specialist & Menstrual Cycle Coach • Episode 37

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Do you suffer from migraines? Are you wondering if they could be related to your menstrual cycle? Join me, Bridget, for this conversation on how your hormone fluctuations can unfortunately lead to migraine pain. We'll look at the causes of migraines as well as what you can do to prevent them from coming back. 

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to I'm Hormonal, your source of information about women's hormone health and how to support your body. Naturally, I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm a certified functional hormone specialist and menstrual cycle coach. I am on a mission to hold these hormone conversations with as many menstruators as possible, because you deserve easier access to accurate information about what's up with your unruly menstrual cycle and with your fertility mysteries. Don't you think it's time that we figure this out once and for all? Hey there, and welcome to today's episode. We will be covering migraines, so if you're somebody who suffers from migraines from time to time throughout your menstrual cycle, or maybe if you're trying to figure out whether or not your migraines are cycle related, then today will be a good episode for you and have some good takeaways on what you can do to, first of all, understand why you have migraines and how they relate to your cycle. Second, look at how you can prevent migraines in the future. So stick around for that. In the meantime, though, I want to say welcome again to you. Thanks for listening. I am really grateful to have you here and a special welcome to you if today is your first time listening. My name is Bridget and I am a women's hormone coach, and I started this podcast last year so that I could share the information that I know with you gals and you menstruators out there, because there truly is. There are so many things that we can do to support our hormone health and understand just what is going on, and my goal here is to see that these ideas that we have about well periods are just painful or we're just moody at the end of our cycles, you know, we don't have to just accept that as a fact, and my hope is to explain to you and help you understand how you can impact that. So that, out of the way, I want to give you my normal disclaimer before we get into the content. Just please remember that the information I share with you here today and always, is for informational purposes only, and it should not be used as a replacement for any sort of one-on-one support from a certified practitioner or from your healthcare provider. So, that being said, if you are in the market for somebody to work with one-on-one, then you can check out the link in the show notes and connect with me, or you can go to BridgetBaltoncom and connect with me there.

Speaker 1:

Without further ado, let's dive into our topic for today. So, starting off with talking about the causes of menstrual migraines, the first thing to note is that high levels of estrogen and high or drastic fluctuations in estrogen can be contributors to menstrual migraines. Also, this will couple with a situation where you have relatively low progesterone. So I'll say that one more time and then, if you're new here, I'll just give you a reminder of when estrogen and progesterone are dominant in our cycles. So high fluctuating estrogen and relatively low progesterone levels kind of set the scene for menstrual migraines. Estrogen is our hormone that is dominant in the first half of our cycle. It is a builder. It helps our bodies get ready to ovulate right. Kick that egg out of the follicle on our ovaries and it's from that follicle which turns into your corpus luteum. That is the new little baby endocrine gland which produces progesterone. So progesterone is dominant in the second half of our cycle.

Speaker 1:

Another thing that comes along with high fluctuating estrogen is higher levels of prostaglandins and histamine. So estrogen, prostaglandins and histamine all correlate. Let's look at what are prostaglandins and histamine all correlate. Let's look at what are prostaglandins and what is histamine. So prostaglandins are hormone-like compounds. They can have a range of effects, from opening and closing blood vessels to causing menstrual cramps. Right? So when our period starts, our body is releasing prostaglandins to help get our endometrial lining moving. Similarly, that's what's behind period poops, too prostaglandins, since everything's in close proximity. Anyway, prostaglandins in addition to histamine, which you're probably familiar with. That, because when you talk about allergies, histamine comes up, but it's another compound that's released by cells in response to injury or allergies or other inflammatory reactions and that can also cause contractions of your muscles. So this is all to say, that prostaglandins and histamine, when high, can lead to headaches on their own, but especially in concert with high estrogen levels, that can lead to migraines.

Speaker 1:

One last thing to note here on the topic of high estrogen and what comes along with it. But note that during ages 40 to 55, plus or minus, depending on your specific body when you're going through perimenopause, that's when you're most likely to see this sort of hormonal landscape. So if you are in that phase of life, going through perimenopause, then maybe that's a good clue to you too, that okay, yeah, my migraines are cycle related and look at troubleshooting from there would be quick estrogen decline. So right before our period starts, our hormone levels are dropping low. So that would be where this estrogen decline happens, and when estrogen drops like that, it can also impact our levels of serotonin and glutamate. So serotonin, that's a neurotransmitter which is essential for our nervous system, our regulation of our mood, and more Serotonin. When it's low, it can also correlate with migraines. So that's kind of independent of estrogen, but you see how they walk hand in hand here. Anyway, it can correlate with migraines, anxiety, depression. It also has a correlation with IBS, which I thought was interesting, and even disordered eating. Now, that's all about serotonin. Looking at glutamate, which gets disrupted when estrogen drops low. Glutamate is another neurotransmitter and it plays a role in learning and memory, also mood regulation and our mental health. Now, if you're like, okay, bridget, let's back up here, remind me what neurotransmitters are. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that allow our neurons to communicate with other cells in our body. So neurons to communicate with other cells in our body. So they're sending messages. This is all to say that, again, when estrogen drops low as it does before our period begins, glutamate and serotonin are impacted, and so that in and of itself can lead to migraines.

Speaker 1:

Let's move on and talk about the ways that you can know if your migraines are cycle related. So first of all, you know, pause me or go ahead and open up your app where you're tracking your cycle. Also, if you're somebody who isn't tracking your cycle yet, I would recommend still going into the app store, or whatever platform you use, and download an app. It's so helpful to track your cycle, build awareness of when your symptoms are occurring, when your migraines are occurring, so that you can correlate it to the hormones and hormone fluctuations rather, as we'll talk about here. So go ahead, open up your app or think back on when your migraines have been occurring.

Speaker 1:

Open up your app or think back on when your migraines have been occurring and you really want to look to see. Does it correlate with the start of your period, so the start of your menstrual phase, or are they occurring during your luteal phase? But towards the end of your luteal phase, that can be indicative of menstrual related migraines because, as we just reviewed, at the end of the luteal phase, in this couple of days before your bleed begins, your hormone levels are dropping and so that change in estrogen levels, that drop can disrupt serotonin and glutamate. I won't recap it all, but that's one thing to look at. I won't recap it all, but that's one thing to look at. Similarly, are you having migraines during your period itself, when levels are really low? One thing to consider as you look at your charts there, or another thing to consider, would be are your migraines popping up during months when maybe you're having more stress or you had more stress, a lot more going on? If you were having a stressful month or something else was wacky in your life and you were not ovulating or you did not ovulate that month, then your progesterone levels increase for that cycle would be lower than, of course, what they would be if you did ovulate. So that's all to say. Hey, progesterone is really calming for us. Progesterone is great for your anxiety, your mood, for, like, overall, supporting your nervous system. So if you're finding that you're having migraines during months when you suspect you didn't ovulate, or if you track your temperature you know that you didn't ovulate, then that's definitely an important piece of the picture or piece of the puzzle to consider.

Speaker 1:

If you're having migraines at the end of your bleed so your period is just finishing and you're having migraines, then you should be considering whether or not you have an iron-related deficiency and do a little bit more investigating there. Iron deficiency can also reduce serotonin levels which, as we discussed, can lead to headaches, but a couple of things that you can eat. Well, of course, there are iron supplements. Eating meat, eggs, seafood, spinach, sweet potatoes, broccoli, dandelion greens, tofu and more are a couple of the higher iron foods. With that, though, ask yourself, is there another reason why you're not able to maintain proper iron levels? Are you bleeding more than what is normal and so you're losing more iron than normal? So, if this is you still some more investigating to do with your healthcare provider or your practitioner, so keep that in mind. The moral of the story, though if you're not tracking your cycle yet, start tracking your cycle. That's my first recommendation, so you can see how your migraines change throughout the month.

Speaker 1:

Now let's look at some more things that you can do to prevent migraines. So magnesium if you've been here before, you've heard me talk about magnesium a bunch of times. Magnesium can be good to supplement with, and specifically magnesium oxide, which is really common, for supporting or preventing migraines. Pairing your magnesium supplement with taurine can also be especially effective. A second thing, or a second supplement to consider would be B2, which is riboflavin, may help prevent migraines, as well as melatonin, which can be good for helping to reduce inflammation.

Speaker 1:

On the note of melatonin, right, melatonin is the hormone that helps us to sleep at night. It opposes cortisol. So in order to support your melatonin levels, think about things like inviting, avoiding blue light after sunset. So that means LED screens or LED lights screens, tvs, phones. Grab some blue blocker glasses, if that is accessible to you, and start using lower lighting in the evening, and that'll help you produce more melatonin the evening. And that'll help you produce more melatonin. Two more things here supporting ovulation so that your body is naturally producing more progesterone is going to be key. So there's a whole lot to go into there of how to support ovulation, how to understand if you're ovulating at all. You can check out some of my other episodes for more details there, but I would be remiss to not mention that.

Speaker 1:

The last thing that I have here on my list would be trying out a gluten-free diet. I know this seems intimidating for probably a lot of people. I mean, here in California we have options, but maybe you live somewhere that doesn't have as many gluten-free options. Anyway, I just want to note that one study indicated that 89% of participants eliminated their migraines after going on a gluten-free diet. So gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, other components or other not components, I guess, foods, that's plants, maybe that's a better word than components but something to consider. If migraines are really really impacting your quality of life and preventing you from doing what you want to do and enjoying your life, then that could be something interesting to investigate.

Speaker 1:

All right, my friend, that is it for today. If you found this conversation to be helpful, consider sending this episode to a friend or a sister. She would appreciate it, and I would also appreciate you helping me to grow. The I'm Hormonal community appreciate it, and I would also appreciate you helping me to grow the I'm Hormonal community. Also, if you haven't, go ahead and consider subscribing to I'm Hormonal if you want these episodes to show up automatically in your feed. Again, my name is Bridget Walton. I am so grateful for you listening and especially for those of you who have made it all the way to the end here. So thank you so much and I will see you here again next week.