Do you feel as if you are on a hormonal merry-go-round? Women who suffer with migraines can so often attribute it to their cycle. When your mood-improving estrogen spikes, you feel great and can “conquer the world.” On the flip side, when your levels are low, you find yourself feeling out of balance, which results in migraines and headaches.
It seems that the estrogen/progesterone balance plays a pivotal role in whether or not you experience hormonal-related headaches and migraines. Some women start getting migraines before their monthly cycle starts (which is when estrogen levels dive), while others have them mid-cycle or at both times. Whatever your “cycle” is, if you are one of those people who suffer from menstrual/hormonal migraines, you already know how disruptive and excruciatingly painful they are. Of course, our natural response is to reach for a pill of some kind. While that may help temporarily, there are some natural ways you can balance your hormones to avoid the use of medicine.
If you are under the care of a physician, you should talk to your healthcare provider about taking a closer look at your estrogen/progesterone balance. There are some tests you can have that will give you your hormone balances. Depending in what you need, it’s possible that applying a natural progesterone cream to the skin may help. However, it is recommended this be done under the guidance of a healthcare professional.
Once you have an understanding of your hormonal profile, you can use supplements to help the nutritional deficiencies that could be contributing to your migraines. For example, magnesium, CoQ10 and 5-HTP are often used in those instances. Also, check out Myomin by Dr. Chi. This balances your hormones and has great value for prevention of ovarian cancer. Myomin is an all-natural herbal formula designed to naturally support the reduction of estrogen production in both men and woman, and includes herbs that may metabolize unhealthy estrogen levels and promote hormonal balance.
Diet also plays a role in many areas of our life, but did you know that diet can have a dramatic effect with hormonal-related migraines and headaches? Simply eliminating things like sugar, red wine and other tyramine-rich foods such as aged cheese, smoked fish, processed meats, etc. can help. If you try this for 30 days, you will probably notice an improvement in hormone-related headaches.
Stress can directly influence hormonal balance. It is important to find ways to cope with PMS-related mood changes and swings and eliminate stress during those times of your cycle. Some recommendations include practices such as meditation, yoga, and exercise. These practices help to keep you calm and centered. Also, try watching a funny movie. A good laugh helps reduce stress and lifts your mood.
Lastly – hydrate. Your goal should be to drink half your body weight in water per day. Dehydration is one of the biggest causes of headaches and migraines. This relates to every type of migraine and not just the hormonal-related ones. Hydration is of the utmost importance.
While not a fully comprehensive list of natural ways to help relieve hormonal-related migraines, some of these ideas are a great place to get started. Try these for a couple of months and see the effect some of these practices have on your hormonal migraines.