Many women suffer from migraines related to hormonal changes during their menstrual cycle. Dietary factors can play a role in triggering and increasing the severity of migraines related to your menstrual cycle. Nutritional stores can fluctuate during the female hormonal cycle, increasing your risk of developing migraines or intensifying the headache.
Triggers
Certain foods and additives trigger migraine headaches. Red wine, monosodium glutamate or MSG, caffeine, foods with tyramine, such as aged cheese, nitrates and nitrites, along with artificial sweeteners can trigger migraine headaches. Avoiding these foods during your ovulation period as well as the week before your menstrual cycle starts can lessen the severity or prevent the migraine from occurring, according to registered dietitian Leslie Beck.
Dietary Changes
Diet changes can be used to increase the intake of certain foods to promote a balance in your hormones to lessen hormonal shifts that promote headaches when your period begins. Nurse practitioner Marci Holmes suggests moderately increasing your intake of phytoestrogens to promote a better progesterone-to-estrogen ratio. Including soy foods, such as tofu, commercial vegetarian foods and flax seeds can provide you with weaker estrogens to balance out the higher progesterone levels experienced right before your period begins. Holmes also recommends increasing your intake of essential fatty acids and fiber to improve hormonal ratios to lessen the frequency of migraine headaches associated with your menstrual cycle.
Supplements
Certain supplements can help decrease the pain or forestall the migraine if you catch it as it begins. Holmes states bitterbur and feverfew have been used for thousands of years by herbalists to treat migraine headaches in females. Vitamin B-2 has been demonstrated to decrease the frequency of migraine headaches. Taking a B complex vitamin can increase your B-2 levels and help you manage migraine frequency and severity, according to Holmes.
Magnesium
Low levels of the mineral magnesium have been linked to migraine headaches in females. When your menstrual cycle starts, magnesium levels can fall. Increasing your intake of magnesium in the form of a multivitamin can lessen the frequency of migraine headaches. As much as a 50 percent decrease can occur, according to Holmes. Dr. Mildred Seelig has researched the connection of magnesium, estrogen and migraine headaches. She found that magnesium deficiency in menstruating women can lead to an increase in serotonin release, which increases spasms in the brain in migraine suffers. Migraine sufferers seem to have veins that react more unfavorably to the serotonin, leading to blood vessel constriction that causes migraines.
Migraine Cycles
If migraines occur at different stages of your cycle, keeping notes about when they occur can help you develop a plan of action. Premenstrual and ovulation-stimulated migraines may be related to a drop in progesterone levels. Holmes suggests using a progresterone cream to boost levels. Massage it into the skin of your neck, chest, arms or thighs. During menstruation, estrogen levels decline, and boosting your intake of phytoestrogens and isoflavones may lessen migraines triggered by low estrogen.
