The baby is then bottle-fed until the next feeding. Treatment of menopause with estrogen replacement may alter headache patterns for some women, although there are no consistent trends. Worsening of chronic headache in women using estrogen replacement may be managed by reducing estrogen dose, avoiding cycling estrogen, or using a non-oral product. Switching the type of estrogen from a conjugated estrogen to a pure estradiol, to a synthetic estrogen, to a pure estrone may also improve headache activity. The addition of androgen may also be helpful.
Most women experience recurring headache.
Both migraine and tension-type headache occur more frequently in women than in men. In addition, women tend to report more severe and longer-lasting headaches than men. Once girls reach menarche, they are more likely than boys to experience chronic headache, with females continuing to experience more headaches than males throughout their lives. Increase in headache activity with menarche and subsequent changes over a woman's life are linked to cycling levels of estradiol. Estradiol is an important pain modulator, and it alters headache activity by influencing serotonin levels.