Men and women both experience migraines but migraines are almost three times more common in women than in men. One form of a migraine that is somewhat rare that appears in adolescents is an abdominal migraine which has classic migraine headaches along with gastric discomfort, another form of a migraine which takes a severe clang on sufferers is a chronic migraine that cause headaches for 15 or more days per month affecting people to miss their work and social events.
About 18-25% of the women experience severe headaches, often accompanied by nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, aura and throbbing pain, being one of the most common disabling conditions affecting women around the globe. The pain is very intense and it can go on for some hours and even days in some cases.
People are responsive to different triggers at different times. One person is sensitive to alcohol but has no problem with caffeine, whereas another might have a sensitivity to caffeine but have no problem with alcohol. For example, one day bright light did not affect you, but another day when exposed to bright light you had migraine headache pain. Therefore, everyone is sensitive to different things. The query arises is that?
Why do women get migraines?
Dr. Desiree Thomas, a neurologist at Kelsey-Seybold clinic in Houston, Texas, says that there is research which shows differences in how the brains of men and women process pain information. So while a woman might be in bed with the shades drawn handling with a migraine, a man might not be as dramatically affected by the same symptoms simply because his brain handles the pain signals differently. But, it’s not true that men are tougher. Instead, women and men’s brains are reinforced differently when it comes to processing and reacting to pain.
Family history is another factor for a migraine. There’s a certain genetic link when it comes to migraines, which means that if in a family a close relative has migraines then you are likely to have migraines. Which further wires that woman being weaker than men and will respond to triggers fast and differently. So there is a physical difference in a women’s body that makes them more sensitive to migraines. Therefore, it may be a reason that there is a relation to women and migraines.
Hormones and Migraine research
Until puberty, boys and girls account the same ratio of migraines. It is only after puberty there will be a number of changes considerably. As for girls, the big change that happens during puberty is that their bodies begin to have variations of estrogen (any of a group of steroid hormones that promote the development and maintenance of female characteristics of the body) as they change through their menstrual cycles, such hormones are also produced artificially for use in oral contraceptives or to treat menopausal and menstrual disorders.
Estrogen is assumed to be the major reason for why women are more susceptible to migraines than men. As many as 70 % of women are as twice as likely to have migraines related to their menstrual cycle and often women have migraines right before or during their menstrual periods. Estrogen levels rise and fall over women’s menstrual cycle and due to these fluctuations it will lead to migraines.
The changes in hormonal levels each month during the menstrual cycle can wield the effect of migraine illness, and at different stages of women’s life during which hormones changes considerably influence the attack of migraines, which includes the pregnancy, during breastfeeding, postpartum, menopause and the migraines will also change in symptoms, severity, frequency then the treatment plan for migraines may need to change as well.
Migraines were once taught to be caused by contraction and expansion of blood vessels, but now there are many neuroimaging techniques available which show that migraines may start as a problem of brain excitability. Patients with migraines show cortical spreading depression (CSD), which is characterized by dramatic waves of activity that spread across the surface of the brain. One study conducted by researchers on mice shows that the researchers have used imaging techniques in order to visualize CSD in male and female mice. In this study, it is discovered that female mice had lower inception for CSD, which means that it is easier to create the brain activity waves in a female brain which leads to a migraine.
Some causes of migraines due to lower CSD inception are
- Hormones
- Genes
- Stress
- Diet plan
- Change in sleeping patterns
- Alcohol consumption (red wine)
- Weather conditions
- Certain food and drinks
- Missing meals
- Allergies
Conclusion
A migraine is a type of a headache which is accompanied by severe pain and with some symptoms. As doctors study more about the difference in pain between men and women it is suggested that they should get more relief they needed. However, women are more susceptible to a migraine than men and it is due to different brain patterns according to some studies. Women get more migraines than men because of hormonal and genetic changes each month due to the fluctuations of estrogen levels. Men and women brain may be wired differently, but in the end relief, proper care is required.