Headaches During Menopause

When a woman enters perimenopause around five-to-ten years before menopause, she might experience a flood of headaches due to a horde of factors. Such headaches have the power to debilitate the women experiencing the episodes in the sense that they might start attacking slowly on only one side of the head and then growing to stretch further. Due to this, women might feel difficult to complete their daily life tasks. Despite the fact that women experience headaches in many ways, the experience, if compared between any two, tends to be always different.

But, we women are lucky in the sense that this debilitating and common symptom of menopause can be treated. For this to happen, it is a prerequisite to know about the different types of headaches, symptoms, causes, and treatment. So, check them out!  

• Types Many women suffer from menstrual migraines that are related to hormones. These tend to flash on the first or second day of menstruation retreating after the five-to seven days cycle is over. Some types of migraines are migraines with aura (neurological phenomenon) experienced before 30 minutes of the head pain and featuring bright lights around objects, migraines without aura occurring on one or both head sides characterizing fatigue or mood swings before 24 hours and nausea and sensitivity to light, Carotidynia, headache-free migraine, and Ophthalmoplegic migraine.
• Tension headaches are very common attacking 88% of women, which results in disperse mild pain across the head. One feels as if something very tight is attached to the head. One more sign of this type is feeling pain in the back of neck normally at the skull base.
• Sinus headache is also the most common and frequently experienced type of headache among menopausal women. Sinuses refer to air-filled cavities present in the cheekbones, forehead, and behind the nose bridge; which produce a thin mucus running out of the nose. So, a sinus headache is defined as the inflammation and blockage of these holes. It is also called congestion headache.
 
• SymptomsListed below are the common symptoms of headaches.
• Aching, pulsating pain
• Extreme pain due to usual physical activity
• Pain onset in a fixed area of one side of the head and then dispersing
• Pain up to 24 hours or many days
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Sensitivity to light, sound, and odor
• Perspiring hands and feet
 
• Causes Any woman, who enters her menopause transition and notices herself out of action with headache pain every now and then, must know that the primary cause of headaches is the fluctuating hormonal levels. Only this cause has so much power that it can make you experience the worst or most painful migraine headache.
  
  In this transition, estrogen and progesterone levels rise and fall before they actually turn out to stabilize at their lowest levels after passing through menopause. Such instability affects the brain in many ways leading to headaches. Besides this, there are many other causes and triggers of headaches, which are listed below.
• Bright lights
• Loud noises
• Strong odors
• Stress
• Anxiety
• Relaxation after stress
• Weather changes
• Alcohol, caffeine (excessive or withdrawal)
• Lack of or excessive sleep
• Skipped meals or fasting
• Aspartame, a component in sugar-free sweeteners
• Food containing nitrates (hot dogs and lunch meats), monosodium glutamate (MSG - fast food, Chinese food, seasonings), and Tyramine (aged cheese, soy products, fava beans, hard sausages, smoked fish, Chianti wine).
 
• When to Visit a Doctor?If you notice any of the following symptoms during menopause, you need to inevitably visit a doctor for alleviation.
• Experiencing an unusual or worst headache
• More and more worsening headaches
• Much extreme head pain than normal
• Headaches leading to awakening from sleep
• Headaches with stiff neck and a high fever
• Confusion
• Dizziness
• Weakness
• TreatmentIf you are a victim of headaches, you will be happy to know that many treatment options are available that aid in alleviating and eradicating pain and symptoms. A most common inclination is seen towards the counter options like aspirin or Tylenol, but these do not remove the primary cause of headaches.
  
  So, the best approach is to start with the least risky option - lifestyle changes – that involves avoiding environmental or dietary triggers, mitigating stress with yoga or meditation, massaging, and exercising. Then, combine this with the natural and alternative medicines that rectify hormonal imbalance.