What Is the Relationship Between Hormones and Headaches?
Headaches in women, particularly migraines, have been related to changes in the levels of the female hormone estrogen during a woman’s menstrual cycle. Estrogen levels drop immediately before the start of the menstrual flow.Premenstrual migraines regularly occur during or after the time when the female hormones, estrogen and progesterone, decrease to their lowest levels.Migraine attacks typically disappear during pregnancy. In one study, 64% of women who described a menstrual link to their headaches noted that their headaches disappeared during pregnancy. However, some women have reported the initial onset of migraines during the first trimester of pregnancy, with disappearance of their headaches after the third month of pregnancy.
