Can Menopause Cause Headaches?

Millions of Americans suffer from headaches, with symptoms that can range from mild and temporary to persistent and debilitating. While headaches can affect both women and men, data show that women are about three times as likely as men to experience headaches, including painful migraines.

Headaches can happen at any age, from childhood all the way through the senior years. But many women experience an uptick in headache frequency and severity as they enter menopause, adding one more symptom to the unpleasant mix of hot flashes, night sweats, and brain fog that frequently occur during this change of life.

The neurology team at Advanced Medical Care helps women manage menopause headaches using an individualized approach for optimal symptom relief. Here, we explain the link between menopause and headache symptoms and how we can help you find relief.

Menopause, hormones, and headaches

When most people think of estrogen, they think of its key role in female development, as well as its roles in menstruation and pregnancy. But estrogen’s effects are far broader, and as menopause approaches and estrogen levels decline, lower levels of the hormone can take a toll on your health in many ways, including increasing the frequency and severity of headaches.

Estrogen supports production of dopamine and serotonin, two neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) essential for regulating mood and reducing stress. Both chemicals also influence how you feel pain, so when their levels decline during menopause, you may become more sensitive to headache-causing triggers.

Estrogen plays a role in blood vessel health, too. When estrogen levels decline, cerebral blood flow declines with it, meaning your brain isn’t receiving the amount of nutrient-rich blood it’s used to — another potential trigger for headaches. 

Data show that menopause is also associated with increased inflammation and a reduction in glucose metabolism in the brain. Like your other organs, your brain depends on glucose as a source of energy. 

Taken together, these physiological changes that happen during menopause could well trigger increased bouts of headaches, along with more intense symptoms.

Beyond your hormones

While the decline in estrogen and other shifting hormone levels can have a direct influence on headache frequency and severity, menopause causes other symptoms that can play indirect roles.

For instance, many women find that they have trouble sleeping during perimenopause, the months and years leading up to menopause, as well as once menopause arrives. Night sweats can make getting a good night’s sleep harder still. Less sleep decreases your pain threshold and makes it harder to cope with stress, a major headache trigger at any age.

Menopause is also a time of dietary changes, including increased sensitivity to foods like caffeine, alcohol, or fatty foods, another potential headache trigger. For women with a history of headaches, including migraines, it’s not uncommon to experience an increase in both the frequency and severity of headaches in menopause.

Ironically, dealing with all the changes and challenges of menopause can lead to increased stress all on its own. Stress leads to muscle tension in your neck and shoulders, which in turn increases the risk of tension headaches. 

Headache treatment: A custom approach is key

With so many factors in play, it’s not always easy to find a headache solution that works. Over-the-counter medications can help. For some women, lifestyle changes make a big difference — including following a healthy diet, improving sleep habits, losing excess weight that tends to collect around the abdomen during middle age, and stress management.

But for other women, these approaches simply can’t provide the lasting relief they want to feel better. That’s when our team can help.

At Advanced Medical Care, we begin treatment with a review of your symptoms and medical history, including any health conditions you have and any medications you’re using. 

Next, we perform a comprehensive headache evaluation, which might include nerve conduction studies to identify nerve compression and irritation, diagnostic imaging using MRIs or CT scans, blood tests, and other diagnostic evaluations based on your needs.

We then work with you to find effective therapies focused on your symptoms and the underlying issues contributing to them. We also provide ongoing support to ensure your therapy stays on track even as your underlying needs change, for long-term, meaningful headache relief.

Find relief for your headaches

Headaches can take a big toll on your physical and emotional health, as well as your quality of life — but you don’t have to suffer. To learn how we can help you find a solution that works for you, request an appointment online or over the phone with the experienced team at Advanced Medical Care in Forest Hills, Queens, and Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York.