United States: Of the US women who are struggling with Migraine, about one-third of them reported having it coincided with their periods.
According to a new survey, it is revealed that Migraines that coincide with menstruation are likely to be more frequent and worse. However, about one in five of the respondents in the survey said that they used medicines to help prevent their headaches.
As per the US News reports, Dr. Jessica Ailani, the lead author, stated, “If you have migraines related to your menstrual cycle, discuss this with your gynecologist or neurologist. There are treatments that can help and if the first treatment tried does not work, do not give up.” She is working as a professor of clinical neurology at Georgetown University School of Medicine.
More about the new study
Ailani and her team particularly focused on information collected from women, specifically those aged 25 years and above, of the 2021 US National Health and Fitness survey.
The researchers discovered that out of the women who said they experience migraines, almost a third of them said that their migraines commonly happen during their menstrual cycles.
Having spanned more than half of these cases (52.5 percent), women were, in most instances, premenopausal.
The study was financed by Pfizer, which also manufatures migraine medication. The study findings were made public at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Denver on Tuesday.
Migraine frequency heightened during menstrual periods – Study
The frequency of migraines accruing during menstrual periods was noted to be an average of 8.4 headache days per month. Such migraines are also noticed to be mostly severe, where more than 56 percent of women reported the severity of their migraines to be as moderate to severe on a standard scale.
Moreover, most women tried to take over-the-counter products (about 42 percent) or meds prescribed by physicians (about 49 percent), as the study observed.
Ailani and the team also observed that only about 21 percent of women consumed drugs that were aimed at preventing migraines.
As per a Georgetown news release, Ailani said, “In my opinion, this is because preventive therapy is a long-term commitment by both a woman and her clinician to improving the disease process,” as the US News reported.
Moreover, “Migraine is a lifelong brain disease without a cure, and the goal of preventive therapy is to reduce disease burden and improve quality of life. Unfortunately, newer disease-specific treatments are costly, so generic older treatments are often used and come with greater side effects,” she added.
Not only that, as per the expert’s team, there are many women who, while suffering from Migraine, simply endure the pain without ever consulting with a headache specialist.
Ailani added, “As a headache specialist in the U.S., IMigrainecan do better for women in my clinic, but what can be done for the millions of women who don’t get into a headache clinic? That is our true next step,” as US News reported.