Heavy periods often plague women with migraine
Excessive menstrual bleeding, a problem called menorrhagia, is more common in women who suffer migraine headaches than in women who do not get migraines, research suggests.
Women with migraine also seem to have a higher frequency of endometriosis—an often-painful condition in which tissue that normally lines the uterus is found elsewhere in the abdomen.
Among 50 women with migraine and 52 migraine-free control women, excessive menstrual bleeding was reported by 63 percent of migraine sufferers, compared to just 37 percent of controls. The women with migraine were much more likely to report staining of clothes by heavy periods (35 percent versus 8 percent).
Dr. Gretchen E. Tietjen and colleagues from the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo report these finding in the journal Headache.
“Migraineurs reported that their menstrual periods caused a greater amount of interference in their lives than those without migraine, including interference with the ability to work or go to school, participate in normal family activities, sleep, ability to enjoy life, mood, and overall quality of life,” Tietjen’s team notes in the article.
Women with migraine were also significantly more likely to have endometriosis than migraine-free women (30 percent versus 4 percent).
“This study is the first to report the increased frequency of menorrhagia with migraine and to report the high prevalence of endometriosis in a migraine population,” the investigators write.
SOURCE: Headache, March 2006.
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