Causes Of Headache
Role Of Birth Control Pills In Migraine
Women who take the combined oral contraceptive pill
have a slightly increased risk of suffering a stroke compared to the
general risk. Women who also suffer from migraines have a slightly
increased risk of stroke compared to the general risk and the risk even
increases in women who suffer specifically from migraines with aura.
Women who are taking the combined oral contraceptive and suffer from
migraines of either kind, but especially those with aura run a slightly
higher risk of stroke than do women who either take the pill and don’t
suffer migraines or suffer migraines and don’t the pill. The risk is
small, but it’s a good idea to be educated about these risks regardless.
A headache is simply a symptom of a migraine. It’s not the
migraine itself. In addition to the headache, roughly twenty-five
percent of migraine sufferers also suffer from aura, which is a best
defined as a visual disturbance that includes temporary loss of vision,
flashing lights, zigzagging lines, black spots, etc. In addition, those
suffering migraine with aura may experience numbness or the feeling of
pins and needles, as well as experiencing strange smells, unusual food
cravings, etc. An aura typically lasts from a few minutes to an hour
before the actual headache sets in.
There are several medical
guidelines that you should be aware of if you are a migraine sufferer
taking oral contraceptive pills.
Plainly put, it is recommended
that you do not take the pill or refrain from continuing use of the pill
if you are already taking it if you:
Have migraines with aura.
Develop
migraine with aura sometime after starting the pill. In other words, it
is highly recommended that cease use of the pill if this type of
migraine develops.
Have migraines without aura, and you have more
than one additional risk factor for stroke. Other risk factors to be
aware of include:
If you are 35 years old or older
If you
are a diabetic.
If you have a close relative who has suffered a
stroke, heart attack, or similar 'vascular' disease before they were 45.
A
high lipid (cholesterol) level.
High blood pressure.
Obesity.
Smoking.
Have
status migrainous. These are migraine headaches with a duration in
excess of seventy-two hours.
Treat your migraine with ergotamine
or ergot derivatives.
If you have migraines without aura, along
with only one of the additional risk factor for stroke, then you may
take a lose dosage oral contraceptive pill that contains thirty
micrograms or less of estrogen.
If you have migraine without
aura, and have no additional risk factors for stroke at all, the pill is
usually fine to take.
If you have any questions about any of
these guidelines, you should consult your physician.
There exists
various methods of contraception for women with migraine who are unable
to take the combined contraceptive pill such as the progestogen-only
pill, the progestogen injection, intra-uterine devices or systems, and
barrier methods.
Some women taking the pill find that they
experience migraines during the 'pill free' interval, at the end of each
pack. These migraines are thought to be triggered by the drop in the
blood level of estrogen in the pill free interval. Provided these are
migraines without aura, there typically is no need to stop taking the
pill. However, if the migraines are accompanied by aura, you should stop
taking it. Should these migraines become a major problem that are not
easily treated with painkillers, then you might wish to consider the
following options:
Changing to a pill with less progestogen (if
you take one with a high dose). Migraines during the pill-free interval
seem to occur less often in women who take a pill with a lower dose of
progestogen.
Tri-cycling. This means taking the pill continuously
for three packets (nine weeks) without any breaks, followed by a
seven-day pill-free interval. This keeps the level of estrogen constant
whilst you take the three packets. (It is the sudden drop in estrogen
that often triggers the migraine.) By doing this you will have less
withdrawal bleeds per year, and therefore less migraines.
Estrogen
supplements can be used during the seven-day pill-free interval.
A
change to a different method of contraception.