008 - Migraines & Menopause - GP & Menopause Expert Dr Sarah Ball & Dr Louise Newson
The Dr Louise Newson Podcast
Dr Louise Newson
4.7 • 933 Ratings
🗓️ 30 July 2019
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Migraines and worsening headaches can be a very common symptom of the perimenopause and menopause. In this podcast, Dr Louise Newson speaks with Dr Sarah Ball who explains why this can occur and ways of managing migraines for women who have changing hormone levels. Many women wrongly believe they cannot take HRT if they have a history of migraine, so this myth is discussed and the correct advice given. In addition to taking HRT, there are numerous lifestyle measures that can improve migraines which are also discussed.
Dr Sarah Ball's Three Take Home Tips About Menopause and Migraines:
- Look back at your reproductive cycle as a whole, particularly when your periods first began and when on different contraceptives. Are there any patterns?
- Keep a headache diary - this can be so helpful!
- Always look at your lifestyle first as there are lots of helpful changes that can be made. However, don't forget to consider your hormones as this could well be the source of the problem.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Newsome Health Menopause podcast. I'm Dr Louise Newsome, a GP and menopause specialist, |
| 0:14.5 | and I run the Newsome Health Menopause and wellbeing centre here in Stratford-upon-Avon. |
| 0:24.0 | So today I'm really pleased to have Dr Sarah Ball here with me in the clinic, |
| 0:29.2 | who, as some of you might know, is one of the doctors who works with me here. |
| 0:34.1 | She's a GP and has a special interest in the menopause. So we thought today we would cover |
| 0:40.0 | talking about migraines, headaches, how they can affect women during the perimenopause and |
| 0:45.7 | menopause and what we can do about them. So hi, Sarah. Hi, Louise. So just tell me a bit about |
| 0:52.2 | you and about why you're coming, working here, just to introduce |
| 0:55.7 | yourself to people. So I'm a GP and I've been working in general practice for nearly 20 years |
| 1:01.5 | and I've always enjoyed working with women related to their hormones, which lends itself |
| 1:07.4 | very nicely to the menopause. And the more and more you absorb yourself in knowing about the menopause, |
| 1:15.4 | the more you realise that actually the menopause affects us in all sorts of different ways. |
| 1:20.6 | So it really incorporates the whole of medicine. |
| 1:24.9 | So let's just go through. |
| 1:26.6 | I'm sure most people who will be listening will know, but just what is the menop medicine. So let's just go through. I'm sure most people who will be listening |
| 1:28.0 | will know, but just what is the menopause? So the menopause is the end of your periods, |
| 1:34.7 | which is easy to tell if you've gone a whole year without a period. You know that you've reached |
| 1:40.7 | the menopause, but obviously it can be a bit difficult to tell until |
| 1:45.5 | you've actually reached that point. But most women won't just suddenly reach the menopause. |
| 1:50.3 | They will usually go through a period of time called the perimenopause, where their ovaries |
| 1:55.8 | are not working so efficiently as before, and therefore their periods have started to alter slightly and at that point |
| 2:02.6 | the women may start to get some symptoms related to that which can make her life a little trickier |
... |
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