In adulthood however, women suffer from migraine two to three times more often than men. In fact, women tend to suffer from headache more days per month and miss more work than their male counterparts. Women also experience more nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and intense pain than men. Furthermore, in our society, women s health complaints tend to be trivialized, dismissed, and overlooked. Experts believe that the influence of estrogen, a female hormone, is one key reason why women have a higher prevalence of migraine.
Hormonal fluctuation is one of five broad categories of triggers.
Triggers are internal or external influences that provoke a migraine attack. Other triggers are diet and foods, environment, lifestyle and stress. These triggers act to provoke an attack in those who have a predisposition to migraine. This is called menstrual migraine. These women may also have migraine at other times, but menstruation or more generally speaking, hormonal fluctuation, is key trigger for them.