The two weeks after ovulation is identified as the luteal phase. The two female hormones, estrogen and progesterone, fluctuate markedly during the last half of the menstrual cycle. Estrogen levels are lowest during menstruation. Estrogen rises rapidly near midcycle only to fall just prior to ovulation. Over the next two weeks there is a second gradual rise and fall again of estrogen.
Progesterone is produced only after ovulation.
Peak progesterone and estrogen levels are reached about the twenty-third day, about five days before menstruation. Dr. Lichten confirms previous research that the fall in estrogen levels which occur prior to menstruation is the trigger for many of women s headaches. His medical publications confirm that the elimination of these estrogen peaks, just like the elimin ation of food triggers in dietary migraine, can prevent even the most severe forms of cyclic migraine in many women. In an innovative study which Dr. Lichten conducted in 1986, he substantiated his belief that changes in estrogen levels during the menstrual cycle do, in fact, trigger headaches. Women who did not respond to standard headache medications were given an anti-estrogen medication to partially suppress cyclic estrogen production.