Hormonal Headache Help
Are hormonal headaches hampering your ability to function?
Are you relying heavily on OTC painkillers like ibuprofen to help you get through the day?
Have you been wondering why your headaches are cyclical or which hormones might be out of whack?
Hormonal headaches and/or migraines are a common initial source of frustration for many people seeking my guidance in helping them to rebalance their hormones. If you have been suffering from hormonal headaches, I suspect you might be feeling hopeless that they will never resolve until menopause which could be 10 or even 20 more years depending upon your age! You might also be feeling frustrated if you have talked to your regular doctor or ob/gyn or pursued chiropractic care or physical therapy and not found the permanent relief for which you are seeking.
When women are experiencing hormonal headaches/migraines, they commonly happen around ovulation and/or your period. At these times in your cycle, there are hormonal shifts which can trigger the pain. Usually women who get headaches during these transitions are having issues with hormone detoxification which occurs in your liver and gut microbiome. The good news is that there is a helpful urinary hormone test that can help identify these errant detox pathways and provide clues on how to support your body’s ability to clear those hormone metabolites more efficiently. For other women who are experiencing hormonal headaches and migraines, the most common causes are either estrogen dominance or progesterone deficiency. In these cases, either salivary or urinary hormone testing are helpful because the treatment for either of these problems is entirely different and testing removes the guesswork and can help get you misery free faster. Other hormonal causes of headaches include both low testosterone and/or thyroid hormones which can be more easily evaluated via standard blood work.
I used to struggle with frequent headaches back in the 90s and controlled the nuisance with ibuprofen. I was just beginning to read about natural alternatives (think Andrew Weil) so I was inspired to increase my water consumption, eliminate processed foods, and took one bottle of feverfew (as directed on the label); within one month, my headaches disappeared, and I can honestly say that in the past 2 decades I have rarely to never had another headache except during illnesses like the flu. This occurrence is one of many experiments which led me away from conventional medicine and toward naturopathic medicine. In hindsight, I do not know whether those headaches were hormonal or not, but I share this little vignette with you to illustrate that natural headache relief is an obtainable objective for most of us.
Sometimes patients can easily obtain headache relief by:
· Drinking adequate water (1/2 your body weight in oz)
· Taking magnesium twice daily
· Putting an ice pack at the base of your skull (occiput) while doing a hot water/Epsom salt foot soak
· Exercising regularly with an emphasis on yoga or stretching
· Diffusing essential oils
· Body work (massage, chiropractic, physical therapy)
· Meditation or other stress management techniques
· Acupuncture
· Herbs like ginger and turmeric
· Correcting nutrient deficiencies such as iron or B vitamins
If you have tried some or all of these measures without success, it might be time for you to explore what exactly is going on so you can start feeling good again and get back to enjoying life every day. If hormone testing options for those pesky hormonal headaches intrigues you, please contact our office now to schedule a complimentary discovery call to determine if my approach resonates with you.
Wishing you vibrance and vitality today and every day,
Rachel Oppitz, ND
P.S. check out my headache protocol here!
