Many women struggle with migraine headaches. For some, migraines are tied to their monthly cycle and can be especially intense.
I experienced awful migraines and other negative side effects caused by hormonal imbalances (estrogen dominance) in my mid to late thirties and it was no fun! At that point, I thought this was normal and just wrote it off.
But, the awesome news is that you can stop those painful monthly migraines if you know what to look for! The key is to find the root causes of your migraines and take targeted action.
There can be lots of different causes of migraines that are tied to your cycle. And for women experiencing perimenopause in particular, high estrogen and low progesterone are common culprits. These fluctuating hormones can cause terrible migraines along with other nasty side effects like PMS symptoms, weight gain, mood swings, insomnia, and more.
Common Causes for Monthly Migraines
Monthly migraines may be caused by a number of changes that naturally occur in our bodies. Some of the more common causes include fluctuating estrogen, low progesterone, stress and inflammation.
You can definitely help your body deal with all these migraine triggers by showing your body some love and making some specific lifestyle changes.
Let’s look at these common migraine triggers and the best natural treatments for each.
Estrogen Dominance
Estrogen dominance happens when you have too little progesterone to balance out the effects of estrogen circulating in your body, or if you have a higher concentration of dangerous estrogen metabolites. It can happen even if you have low estrogen.
I have experienced estrogen dominance in my mid to late thirties and it was not fun! My periods were super heavy and would last seven days, and of course, my migraines came back with a vengeance!
I learned to recognize the signs of estrogen dominance and knew I needed to love up on my liver and gut to turn things around.
Estrogen dominance causes migraines, as well as other negative health effects. Some other scary results of estrogen dominance may include blood clots, mood swings, ovarian cysts, fibroids, weight gain, allergies, infertility, depression, accelerated aging, and more.
Low Progesterone
Monthly migraines can be triggered by low levels of progesterone. In addition to migraines, low progesterone can lead to many other negative symptoms, including depression, anxiety, low libido, vaginal dryness, tender breasts, and more.
Estrogen is balanced by progesterone to keep everything in our bodies in check. Normally, estrogen and progesterone do a beautiful dance together each month and balance out each other.
During the first half of our cycles – the follicular phase – estrogen is higher than progesterone. But, during the second half of our cycle – the luteal phase – progesterone comes in to balance that estrogen. However, that only happens when we are ovulating.
In order for progesterone to be produced and balance out that high estrogen, we need to be ovulating. When women enter perimenopause, ovulation begins to slow down, and eventually, ovulation will stop. When ovulation slows down, you have less progesterone in your body, and when ovulation stops, the production of progesterone stops.
Low progesterone can lead to irregular periods, fertility problems, sleep disturbances, metabolic issues, mood swings, and more.
Stress
Most of you have lots of stress in your lives (I know I do, too). Stress can negatively impact your body in countless ways and can definitely cause migraine headaches. And the pain of migraines can cause more stress, creating a vicious cycle.
Chronic stress impacts everything! Stress can mess up your gut, liver, and thyroid. Too much stress activates the production of cortisol and cortisol actually steals your progesterone. And of course, when you have lower progesterone, your estrogen takes over and our hormones are out of balance.
When you are experiencing periods of increased stress, your adrenals have to handle a heavier load. This can cause your adrenals to be overstimulated. They can become sluggish and less effective in responding to your stress. When your adrenals are not able to properly regulate stress, migraines are more likely to happen.
Inflammation
Excess inflammation in our bodies can have many negative health effects. Some studies suggest neurogenic inflammation may increase the frequency of migraines. (1)
Natural Treatments for Estrogen Dominance and Migraines
Struggling with estrogen dominance?
My Hormone Balance supplement is my #1 recommendation to nurture and support your body daily, to bring your estrogen and progesterone back into balance. Used along with Progest-Restore (see below), this duo can really help turn around your migraines and get you relief!
Think you might have low progesterone-induced migraines?
I created Progest-Restore as a perfect solution to low progesterone difficulties! The superstar ingredients in Progest-Restore support healthy progesterone production. By supporting the production of healthy hormones, low progesterone is corrected naturally.
Dealing with stress?
To naturally support your adrenal function to reduce stress, I recommend Adrenal Love. This supplement contains adaptogenic herbs and nutrients to help support healthy cortisol levels. Your adrenals will be nurtured naturally to help restore your energy and stress response.
Trying to cool inflammation?
Following a gluten-free diet can help reduce inflammation in your body, thereby helping to prevent monthly migraines.
Another wonderful way to reduce inflammation is with magnesium supplementation. Using a properly formulated Magnesium supplement helps reduce migraine severity as well as migraine frequency.
Magnesium and Vitamin B supplementation are natural ways to help reduce inflammation in your body and can help prevent monthly migraines by reducing the inflammation causing them.
My specially-formulated Magnesium Restore supplement has the most absorbable form of magnesium for your lovely body. It will help gently bring your body into proper balance without causing tummy upset that most other forms of magnesium supplements cause.
Another helpful supplement is our Activated B Complete that includes a proprietary blend of folates and choline that support your body’s cellular health. B vitamins are crucial to hundreds of body processes including proper hormonal balance.
Conclusion
Many women suffer from monthly migraines. I know firsthand how terrible these migraines are and how they impact all aspects of your life and can truly be debilitating.
Migraines can be tied to your menstrual cycle and monthly fluctuations that happen naturally in your body. Some common causes of monthly migraines include low progesterone, estrogen dominance, stress, and inflammation.
You can find relief from monthly migraines by addressing their root causes! Eating well, reducing stress, and using natural hormonal supplements all support your body and can provide tremendous relief!
FREE DOWNLOAD: Dr. Mariza’s Top 11 Supplements for Hormone Health
Ready to take charge of your own health?
References:
1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31263254/
No comments yet.