Since his experience with the elevation of estrogen levels seems to provoke a worsening of migraine, Lichten reasoned that headaches might be controlled by maintaining a suppressed, low level of serum estrogen. Following the case report of Burnett, Lichten designed two studies to evaluate the possible role of maintaining low serum estrogen levels in women with migraine unresponsive to standard medical therapy. Previously, both drugs had undergone extensive human studies and had been approved for endometriosis, a female medical condition responsive to estrogen suppression. Typically, they occur within 7-10 days before menstruation. But this also includes, menstrual migraine, those attacks that occur within the first two days after the onset of menstruation.
Migraine refers to a specific type of severe headache.
Migraine, by definition, cannot be associated with any physical or organic lesion. All the patients studied were free of neurologic and endocrine disease, not taking hormonal medication, experiencing more than one day of severe and incapacitating migraine each month, and reporting no improvement with standard medical treatments. Most women had experienced more than one day of severe and incapacitating migraines per month over the preceding year and sought medical intervention to prevent further episodes, which interfered with work or home function. Each reported no improvement with standard medical treatments. Statistically, there was a significant association between age and the effect of danazol on hormonal migraine.