headaches linked to menstrual cycle.

**Wiki_Panda** · 09-05-2011 12:04 PM

Hi all, wondering if any of you have any idea on how to help with this, now you've all become my trusty advice givers

I've been getting headaches for a long time, in the last 6 months to a year they have settled into a cycle: they start a day or two before my period is due, one the first day of my period I normally get a migrane, then they stop a few days after my period finishes. Sometimes paracetamol/ibuprofen gets rid of the pain but the next day I'll have another one.

I don't want to go to the dr's about this for two reasons, first I don't really want to have to take stronger pain relief as they normally make me ill, and second, as i'm a big girl (size 16-18) the only thing the dr tells me is to lose weight (and believe me i'm trying, regular exercise and healthy eating). The dr telling me this doesn't make much sense to me because surely if it was just due to my weight I'd have headaches all the time, not just around my cycle.

Anyway I was wondering if any of you have any natural remedies to ease the pain or dietary changes you could recommend to help get rid of the headaches.

Thanks x

**Bekzee** · 09-05-2011 07:29 PM

If it helps at all, I find that caffeine makes my headaches worse. I am a migraine sufferer too, and I was always at the doctors about them when they first started around 9, which was also when I started my periods, but I think that was just coincidence. My doctor always told me to go easy on the "six sins", which were: chocolate, oranges/citrus fruits, cheese, red wine, coffee and cola. That's not too difficult for me, since I'm a vegan so I don't have to worry about the chocolate, cheese or red wine, not a big fan of sugary pop or oranges either, but I do like my coffee. I also find that if I have not eaten and get low blood sugar levels, I get very intense migraines.

It could be worth asking your doctor for some NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). You can always just tell him they're for painful period cramps and ibuprofen and paracetamol aren't working. They work very well for me.

If you're wanting any tips for weight loss, my doctor and I found that the main thing in my diet that was preventing weight loss was dairy products. When you think about it, it's packed with saturated fats that are meant for fattening up babies. I had been vegetarian for 5 or 6 years, and I had maintained a pretty stable weight, and after a while I was gaining a lot, especially over the last 2.5 years. I went vegan for lent and lost about a stone in 40 days. Other than that, fiber and oats are always good for loosing weight. I always have fruit bran with rice milk for breakfast, good healthy start :P

**ItsASecret** · 09-06-2011 05:30 PM

It could be worth asking your doctor for some NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). You can always just tell him they're for painful period cramps and ibuprofen and paracetamol aren't working. They work very well for me.

Instead of going to the doctor you can just pick up the same things OTC in any pharmacy. Advil, Aleve, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Motrin, Nurpin, they are all NSAIDs and the list is long. Aspirin would work the longest out of all of them. Sometimes it works to take both an NSAID and a non-NSAID like Advil and Tylenol together.

**Wiki_Panda** · 09-07-2011 12:45 PM

Thanks for the reply's...i'm pretty good with the foods, only thing i usually have on that list is coke, but i have diet caffine free so not really an issue. I'll try the OTC NSAID's next attack and see how they go, can't stand my dr so that will be a last resort.

On the subject of weight loss the only thing that really helps for me is reducing pasta...my partner is vegetarian so most of what I eat is fresh veg or pasta, only dairy I really eat is yoghurt every now and then. It sounds like you have a really good dr, mine just throws a diet sheet my way and sets in on the ritual humiliation of telling me I'm fat (like I don't already know) then sends me on my way feeling 2ft tall.