In women, around 15 % suffer from migraine, with half of them having migraines before or after their period. There are also women who get migraines sometime during the middle of their menstrual cycle, while they ovulate.
The Menstrual Cycle
A woman's average menstrual cycle lasts for about 28 days, and is mainly controlled by the hormones secreted by the ovaries in the reproductive system and by the pituitary gland in the brain.
After the period is over, the estrogen levels increase in order to thicken up the womb's lining in preparation for egg to implant and grow. The ovaries release the egg in the middle of the menstrual cycle, and this process is known as ovulation. During this time, if a sperm does not fertilize the egg, the progesterone levels drop, causing the lining of the womb to fall away. This process is known as menstruation. After menstruation, the cycle repeats all over again.
It's believed that migraines are triggered by the fluctuations in the hormone levels, and not the actual hormone levels themselves.
Period Problems
Lots of women always dread the coming of their period, as they know all the problems that come with it, particularly a migraine. It is said that premenstrual migraines are worse than "normal" migraines, and this could be due to the other symptoms of menstruation that women have to deal with, like backaches, nausea, tender breasts, bloated feeling, abdominal pains, aching legs, exhaustion and mood swings. Getting a migraine along with all these symptoms can be an extremely unpleasant experience.
Premenstrual Cravings
Many women will have intense food cravings as their period approaches. Quite often these cravings will include chocolate, believed to trigger migraine.
Treatment for Premenstrual Migraine
To help treat migraines, three main areas need to be focused on:
- Dietary Changes: limiting intake of caffeine, avoiding known food triggers, eating regularly in order to prevent sugar levels from dropping.
- Medications: drugs that work on the blood vessels can all help relieve a migraine, like painkillers and anti-sickness drugs.
- Checking Possible Underlying Causes: other factors like stress and high blood pressure can cause premenstrual migraines.
Taking combined contraceptive pills is another method of treating premenstrual migraine. In this method, the migraines are prevented by preventing the period. It is recommended to take the pills without a break for three cycles. During the pill-free week, migraines can occur when the contraceptive pills taken contain a high level of progestogen, but this can be remedied by taking pills with higher levels of estrogen. This method can effectively cut the migraine ‘windows of opportunity’ from 13 weeks a year to just 5 weeks. Similar treatments would be to use estrogen patches or cream.
Migraine treatments or contraceptive pills with estrogen are not recommended for women who have been diagnosed with estrogen positive breast cancer. This is because they could have taken tamoxifen for five years following cancer treatment. As always, it is best to consult your doctor if you have doubts or need more information about these treatments.
For more help on the prevention, treatment and remedies for migraines please see the Complete Guide To Migraine Headaches.
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Selasa, 17 November 2009
PMS And Premenstrual Migraine
The Causes And Prevention Of Acne Scars
Acne scars are caused by injury to the skin as a result of the acne, and the way in which the body has tried to repair the damage. Different people scar in very different ways, some being much more susceptible than others. However irrespective of how vulnerable you are to scarring, it only happens when you have a severe outbreak of acne, and is rarely associated with the much more common ‘mild’ cases.
Acne scars are classified under two broad headings, one being where extra skin tissue is present and the other being where there is loss of normal skin tissue.
Scars where extra skin tissue is deposited are called raised scars or keloid scars. They are composed of extra collagen which has been laid down under the skin. Sometimes these scars can be bigger than the original spots and often last for years, with darker skin being more prone to this type of scarring.
When skin tissue is lost the scarring is often referred to as ‘sunken’. These are much more common than raised scars and are characterised as ‘pits’ in the skin. There are a whole range of further classifications associated with sunken scars, all of which describe the particular way in which the scar looks. For example ice-pick sunken scars look like wounds from an ice-pick (small with jagged edges and steep sides).
Irrespective of the type of skin that you have, there are some things you can do to reduce the occurrence of acne scars, these include:
1) Proactively seek out treatment for your acne before it becomes severe. See your doctor, start some topical medication, adjust your diet, do something to prevent a few spots becoming severe acne.
2) Try not to squeeze your spots; this single activity will dramatically reduce your chance of developing acne scars.
3) Don’t pick or poke your spots with instruments such as nail files, and tweezers
4) Use a good oil free moisturiser as part of your skin-care regime, to keep your skin supple and flexible.
Following these simple tips will ensure you don’t do long term damage to your skin.
Peter Vine is a successful online publisher of Acne-Treatment-Expert.com
He provides practical advice and the latest information on all aspects of adult acne treatments, which you can readily research on his website.
