Women have Frequent Migraines Before and During Menopause

Migraines get worse few years before and during menopause, a new study suggests.

The new study, according to researchers, confirms what women have been telling doctors all along that migraines seem to go from bad to worse during menopause.

The study was conducted by University of Cincinnati researchers and will be presented at the American Headache Society annual meeting in Los Angeles, HealthDay reported.

"In women who have migraine, headaches increase by 50 to 60 percent when they go through the perimenopause and menopausal time periods," said Dr. Vincent Martin, professor of medicine and co-director of the Headache and Facial Pain Program at the University of Cincinnati, according to HealthDay.

About 12 percent of the U.S. population suffers from migraines and women are three times more likely to suffer from migraines than men.

The study was based on data from 3,600 women, aged 35 to 65. Researchers asked them about their migraine history and their menopausal status.

Researchers found that around eight percent of premenopausal women in the study had frequent migraines when compared to 12 percent women in perimenopausal ( just before the onset of menopause) and 12 percent of those who have hit menopause stage.

The findings might seem paradoxical given that young women are more likely to get migraines just before the onset of menstrual cycle as the hormones in the body drop during this period.

According to researchers, both perimenopausal and post-menopausal women have lower estrogen levels in the body, which might explain the increased frequency of severe migraines in this group.

Hot flashes, fatigue, forgetfulness, loss of memory along with anxiety and depression are some of the common symptoms of menopause. Most of these effects can be managed by estrogen replacement therapy, according to Medscape.

Health experts said that it is important to put the numbers in perspective.

"Although the relative differences [in headache frequency] between groups look big, the absolute numbers are not," Elizabeth Loder, chief of the division of headache and pain in the department of neurology at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, told HealthDay.