Do migraines stop with menopause? Not for BRIGITTE WOMAN author Bettina Rubow. She's now setting out once again to finally get to grips with the plague - because at least there are new treatment approaches.
When friends tell me with glee that they haven't had a headache for a long time, I can't stand it. Why them and not me? After menopause, I too had hoped, my headaches would slowly but surely disappear. My life would be one long smooth flow, without pain pills and trigger points.
Help, headaches! Still ...
But nope! It has even gotten worse, sometimes it is up to five pain attacks per month. While I am writing these lines, there is a draft on the back of my neck. I watch it closely because it can turn into a migraine attack at any time. At the same time, I try not to attach too much importance to signs and triggers. Yes not too much attention, so as not to make the pain the main actor in my life - that has been my motto for a very long time.
I've had migraines since I was twelve. Back then, it was called a headache and prompted my mother to take me to a neurologist. Do an EEG? Completely unnecessary. All you had to do was look around the family. The father, teacher: headache. The grandmother, a farmer's wife: the same. In fact, migraine is related to hereditary factors. The mechanisms that lead to pain are also quite well studied today. It is assumed that excessively active neurons, i.e. nerve cells, in the brain provoke an inflammation at the blood vessels of the pain-sensitive meninges. This happens against the background of a very easily irritable brain. True, I can only say because I actually hear the fleas coughing - sometimes they even cough from distant rooms. I can also feel for myself that migraine is an inflammatory process when I touch my temple, ear, and neck. During an attack, the blood pulsates hotly there.
Many suffer from visual disturbances, some also from speech disturbances, before the pain comes. In my case, the neck hurts, but only on the side where the migraine pain is located later. Beforehand, the attack announces itself by a bad mood and dejection. Sometimes I am relieved when it hurts because then I know: At least it is not depression, but the only migraine. Just a migraine? These headaches are among the worst pains of all, they say. If you've ever pulled your hair out one by one to somehow distract yourself from it, you know the dimension.
Meanwhile, there are many medications for acute attacks
Usually, the pain occurs only on one side of the skull ("hemicrania", in German: half of the skull, hence the term migraine), sometimes it moves to the other side during the course. Their accompanying symptoms such as nausea, burning eyes, dizziness, and hypersensitivity to light, smells, and sounds are also very, very annoying. You can learn more about migraine symptoms here. But the worst thing, in my opinion, is the feeling of absolute misery that always accompanies an attack. That's why you can't help but withdraw completely when the time comes again. This is the most important thing for the stressed brain.
Do you have to endure this inactivity? Definitely not. There are numerous strategies against it. Not only to prevent attacks of the widespread disease. Since 1993, special drugs for the treatment of acute attacks have also been on the market. Triptans stop the inflammatory process in the head. Without them, many women - who suffer from the recurring pain about twice as often as men - would be much worse off. So would I.
I've always tried to give my migraine what it needs to keep it at bay - but not an ounce more. Wrestled with it for the place it has in my life. Even now that I've decided to get serious about her again, I have a hard time talking about her. Because I am so reluctant to think about her, I am also deeply reluctant to conscientiously log her into the migraine calendar. I have been observing this for many, many years, why should I still write down the degree of pain, location, medication, and duration of suffering?
I know that there are so many triggers - and then again no real one: Red wine, quarrels, sleeping in... Some triggers are not triggers at all, but the first signs of the attack. Migraine apps? Not for me either. They are basically electronic migraine calendars with additional functions. But I had a good laugh the other day on the page of the app "M-Sense". One of the users wrote: "Almost got through the whole year without a migraine, and now she suddenly jumps in with an ass bomb. Also has suitcases with it. It drills and hammers. Looks like it's going to be a long stay." I like that sort of thing. Humor is the best way to enjoy life anyway.
TRIPTANS - THE MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION
If possible, take triptans at the beginning of a migraine attack; they work best that way.
- Do not take them more than ten days a month, otherwise, you risk getting a drug-induced headache. This means that you get a headache from the headache medication.
- Triptans have side effects and should not be taken if you have cardiovascular disease.
- They work only for migraines and not for tension or other headaches.
- Medications are sometimes available over the counter, but only with prior diagnosis.
- The combination of a triptan (sumatriptan) with the long-acting painkiller naproxen (like ibuprofen, which belongs to the so-called NSAIDs) can prevent the recurrence of migraine attacks.
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