So.... The change? Bit early or what? (Hormonal Migraines)

HSSS said:

As another peri menopausal migraine sufferer (increasingly getting worse as peri menopausal symptoms increase) I’m also looking at b12 levels as a potential trigger. They fall at more than double the rate they should and keep hitting the woefully low nhs level but can’t get anyone to take it seriously. The heavy bleeding also leaves ferretin at low levels. The migraines get worse as these levels do. Just another possibility to investigate maybe.

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Thank you. I'm going to have blood drawn anyway, so I'll ask for a check on the b12 too! My ferritin's way too high at last count a few months back, (I get a jab rather than the pill, haven't had more than a bit of spotting in over a decade), but I'll keep it in mind. The doc's going to be bowled over with my list. (She knows I always come well-prepared, but this is slowly becoming nuts).

I thought with being on the Depo Provera I'd just dodge all this nonsense... My mom was always told to just stay on the pill until she was 53 or so, and she'd sail through it. There was no sailing though, she just never mentioned it to me. A little warning would've been nice.

mouseee said:

I'm mid 40s and put down loads of my T2 symptoms to being perimenopausal!

Increasing migraine type headaches and weight increase round tummy as well as mood swings... how little I knew!

I was surprised a couple of years ago that the family planning nurse talked to me about the menopause! She did tell me that the pill I take will be helpful in managing it but that I'll have to take it until 55. That's a long time to be on a technically unnecessary tablet.

It's still scary that we don't talk about menopause really it's not as if it should be a surprise. There are a few lovely ladies at work a few years older than me so I am starting to use their experience! But I now have no idea if I'm heading into it now or not!

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Well, you could get tested, check where your hormones are at... That's what I'm going to do, anyway. When I had T2 symptoms I thought it was my thyroid. Once going LCHF/Keto/IF, I was losing weight slowly but very steadily over the course of 2 years, until the summer of last year. I thought it was the medication I had to take for my damaged gut, but once those meds were gone, the weight remained. So I'm doing keto and IF/OMAD, but... Weight's not budging. My bloodsugars are fine though, so I know I'm not doing it for nothing, but... It's a dent. And the weight I could accept, up to a point, as long as I don't get back to where I started. But the migraines... I am rather filled with dread on that account.

I don't have a lot of people to draw on, and even then, with diabetes and PCOS thrown into the mix, and the migraines... There's not many I can ask. Except for this place; a veritable fount of information. I wish I'd known all this stuff sooner, I always looked forward to menopause because with the hormonal dips and peaks gone, the worst of the migraines would vanish too. I didn't know there was a decade(s) long nightmare of a hurdle in front of that lovely finish-line. On the flipside, I would've been as scared as I have been these past 36 hours a looong time beforehand.

Ah well... I'm going in armed with more information than I had a few days ago. Thanks!
Jo

ickihun said:

I thought the same and it turned out I had high prolactin and reoccurring PCOS symptoms.

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More to check then... Thank you!

....I'm a bit baffled. She said I can't be having hormonal migraines because of the Depo Provera. Uh... If I have a stretch of 4 days and 3 nights of pain, exactly once a month for oh, 15 years already, and there's some spot-bleeding to go with it a few times a year, while I shouldn't be having any bleeding because of the shot... Besides, I've had these since I was 10 or something. *shrug* She approved my experimenting with some soy flavonoids, (estrogen simulant) though they may cause migraines, but they won't clash with the shots (could with the thyroid meds, but we'll see). So... Yeah... Having a blood test done this evening because she thinks it may be my thyroid. (My thyroid never gave me migraines). Will be checking B12 and Vit D again too, not one of the other things mentioned because the shots shut that down already. I am at a loss at the moment, but okay.... I'll start the flavonoids after dinner. See what happens....

...I love my doc. But I'm not making the migraines up. And they're different from the usual ones I get. And like clockwork. Or they were, until recently. I dunno. Onwards and upwards. Wouldn't be the first time I had to figure **** out myself.

Brunneria said:

Just a random factoid that you may find useful:

The subject of menopause and its joys came up with my endocrinologist a couple of years ago. I mentioned that 'surely a blood test would show whether I am nearing menopause?' and he shrugged, and said
'That depends. Your hormones fluctuate during the month, and unless you time the test right, it won't show any useful info. So usually it is a waste of time, or is misinterpreted.'

Which makes perfect sense to me.

I do wonder how many doctors realise that though...

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I think there's a lot of doctors that just make it up as they go along... I love and respect mine, but I do think that there are exceptions to rules, not everyone follows the medical textbook. Actually, rarely anyone does.. I'm a T2, and I've measurably hypo'd. I was aware/awake during surgery, which the anesthesiologist confirmed when I could repeat the order of the procedures, and the conversation. **** happens to me all the time. But hey, I can try the soy stuff, at least.... And hope it'll help.

DCUKMod said:

Jo, oer the longer term, it could be worth remembering that some hormone levels, like thyroid, cortisol etc, can vary through the day, in a sort of circadian rythm. Both thyroid and cortisl are highest in the morning, then drop off during the day.

Because of that, I alwas, always have bllods done at 8am, fasted (including not taking my Levothyroxine, until after the blood draw) to be as conssistent as I can be, in terms of the conditions for the tests.

Good luck with your experimentation.

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I usually get it done at the same time in the evening, but I'll keep this in mind. Thank you!!!

DCUKMod said:

It's good you have your own datum point, but also worth remembering if your TSH is in range in the evening, it will have been higher in the morning - similarly for cortisol (which has quite a complex rythm) and other thyroid hormones.

Once we start lifting the lids of these things, it can get a bit complex.

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No kidding... No-one in the health profession actually tells you this useful stuff before going in for a bloodletting.

DCUKMod said:

The sad fact is they often haven't had the time or opportunity to do the learning we have. Let's face it; we only do that learning due to self-interest.

I have just been having a discussion with a phlebotomist about blood darw timings for myself, for something that needs to be repeated, and she had absolutely no idea.

I don't hold it against her. I'm just thankful for other expert patient style forums for other conditions too.

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I sometimes get referred to as a professional diabetic. But hey, I have my numbers under control, so... I'll take that badge of honour, thanks. But yeah... We can do full-time research into the subjects that apply to our own needs.