During your period

The drop in estrogen just before your period may cause headaches. Many people with migraines report that they have migraines before or during their periods, also known as menstruation.

You can turn to proven treatments for migraines related to hormone changes. These treatments include:

• Ice. Hold a cold cloth or an ice pack to the painful area on your head or neck. Wrap the ice pack in a towel to protect your skin.
• Relaxation exercises. Learning these exercises can help lower stress. Stress can be a trigger for headaches.
• Biofeedback. Biofeedback helps you monitor how your body responds to stress. It has been shown to help some people with migraines.
• Acupuncture. Acupuncture may improve your headaches and help you relax.
• Pain relievers you can get without a prescription. Your healthcare professional may recommend that you take a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, also known as an NSAID. This class of medicines includes naproxen sodium (Aleve) and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others). These medicines may relieve your pain soon after your headache begins.
• Triptans. These medicines block pain signals in the brain. Triptans often relieve headache pain within two hours. They also help with vomiting.
• Antinausea medicines. Your healthcare professional may recommend medicines to treat nausea and vomiting that can happen with migraines. The medicines may include prochlorperazine (Compro) and promethazine (Promethegan).
• Gepants. Calcitonin gene-related peptide antagonists, known as gepants, are newer medicines for treating migraine.
• Other prescription pain medicines. Sometimes your healthcare professional may suggest other prescription pain medicines such as dihydroergotamine (Trudhesa, Migranal). These can't be used with triptans.