Usually there is an increased frequency before, during and after menses. There is a category of migraine that is called a true menstrual migraine . This is a migraine headache that occurs regularly, each month but only between the 2nd day before the menses and the end of menstruation. Therefore it is quite treatable with low doses of estrogen starting one to two days before menses and continuing throughout the menstrual flow.
Menstrual migraine can also be a problem on birth control pills.
This can also be treated with low dose estrogen during that seven days. Sometimes, what is a migraine headache versus what is just a chronic tension-type headache gets confused. Strategies for the management of headache . Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics Educational Series on Women's Health Issues. 1998, had a good discussion of the different types of headaches in women.