I'm a guy, so please excuse my intrusion. I get them pretty regularly.

I only replied to your post to let you know I can sympathize with the debilitating pain they cause. My triggers are weather-related, but if I take MaxAlt (prescription) at the first sign they're gone within the hour, however the side effect of the drug is fatigue and malaise. Better that than the pain, though!

My sister-in-law gets severe migrains. I have no idea if they are related to any time table (and I ain't gonna ask!!) but her's seem stress related and usually leave her bed ridden for a day or two.

Fortunately my wife does not suffer from these.....although she is perfectly capable of being the cause of one....

wow. interesting. sounds like there was a correlation there.

Nahh, it's not. You boys don't how lucky you are to have a steady flow of hormones, w/o this upsy-downsy stuff.
 I get headaches, sometimes bad ones. I think it's a combo of muscle tension and hormones, probably estrogen. I had some weird estrogen-related things happening during the last 2 weeks of being pregnant. I had itchy feet. Not like you scratch the itch and it goes away. No, with this I wanted to rip the skin off my feet, and probably would have if it would have taken the itching away. I was already on corticosteroids, tried benadryl (oral and topical), cortisone cream, etc etc. The only thing I could do was soak my feet in ice water for 10 min, then I got about 20 min of relief. That went on 24/7 for 2 weeks, so I didn't sleep much. Man, I couldn't wait to get that kid outa there!!! My ob was no help--when I asked him what it was, he shrugged and said "Itching syndrome of pregnancy." What a guy.  But I digress...

I've had some headaches where all I can do is take a vicoden and go to bed. I've been going to a massage therapist 1 x a month, doing some neck stretches, making sure I'm hydrated enough. We have a far-infrared sauna now that also helps w/ headaches. I don't think these are true migraines, altho I do see a correlation betw. them and pre-men.

robyn

absolutely true. however, in this instance, this ailment is definitively mediated by the cycle, and recurs at the same interval monthly. i can't even imagine it. bad enough that you're bitchy, bloated and exhausted. now ya gotta have a 72-hour braindrain, too. 

your wife's situation [sounds like a total drag, btw] seems neuron-mediated. are you gonna sue the bastids or what? oh, and it's sciatica. very painful condition.

robyn -- pruritis of the foot while preggers! now that is just cruel, man. and of course, ya can't reach yer feet. one more reason not to spawn

the past few years, i had very bad nausea during that time; sometimes to the point of hurling. now they stuck me on that new bc, Yaz. what a stupid name for a pill. but so far, it seems to help a lot. it's for oldie von moldies that don't have their hormones quite together.

gee, with all this fun, i just can't wait til menopause!

Sorry, you're both wrong.  THIS is Yaz:

 

Warren,
Same thing with my mother.  My father was a doctor and the only thing that got rid of them was Librium.  That is a mild tranqualizer.  I have had one in my life and that was before my first college
Algebra exam.  My father gave me a Librium too and it was gone in 30min.  My mother finally had the hysterectomy too but by then she was really liking the Librium so I am not going to stand behind my fathers treatment if it happens all the time.  It did work for me but anything can become a habit.
That, mixed with alcohol and my mother had a problem. This is about all I can imput on this subject but maybe it will help you Smoggy?  Good Luck!
                         Nutty
Edited.  I want to restate that I am not promoting this treatment but I would talk to a doctor and
get some professional advice and more than one opinion may be best.

Yes my wife did get them during the partcular time and I used to look for a corner to hide in. Since then she had to under go surgery for extrended time frames and lsot some interier parts, but still gets them from time to time. Vision was impaired, extreme pain, work time was lost, etc. Her Doctor gave her a relaxent to take, I won't mention the name, but it seems to make things a little easier. She still has some trouble from time to time, but not nearly as bad as it was before and not as often.She usually gets waves across the eyes to let her know one is on the way. I had them years ago due to burning the candle at both ends, or so I'm told. I but a cold cloth over my eyes for about half hour and it would subside.When I went to the doctor regarding this he told me to turn the TV of by midnight instead of three in the morning and fetting proper length of sleep. That seemed to help me. Sorry to hear about your problem, hope you can get it under controll. Best if you don't have to rely on medication, if not following your doctors advice and have follow ups rom time to time.LOL

I used to have a girlfriend who got bad migraines (or is that redundant?).  If my memory serves, they were not related to any monthly cycle.  However, they did send her directly to bed in a dark, quiet room.  Her doctor eventually prescribed a form of barbiturate that helped, but still left her in bed for the day.  When she felt one coming on she had an hour or so to take medicine and get into bed.

It was frustrating to see her getting sick and not be able to help.  And yes, she did miss a bit of work when they happened.

I just notice the thread and remembered an email I have from a bass player friend who's wife and daughter have had migraines.  I'm copying the pertinent parts of the email (name's blanked out) but it sounds like he spent a lot of time looking for some help and has found some...  I can't vouched for it personally, but it might be helpful info.... 

In November 2002, our daughter had a severe migraine attack that kept her bed ridden for several weeks.  The doctors escalated her treatment with expensive and powerful neuro-altering prescription drugs.  We progressed
from Tylenol to Midrin to Toradol (injection) to Imitrex.   None helped and
worse, they triggered rebound headaches along with nausea.

After reading hundreds of articles on the internet, I began to suspect the root cause was a nutritional deficiency.  Here is one of articles that changed our life:

http://www.healthscout.com/printer/1/507064/main.html
- and - http://www.health24.com/Woman/Medical_women/711-3538-3546,17243.asp

KEY EXCERPT:  "There are also a number of non-pharmacologic treatments to be considered. The Pain Center at Cedars-Sinai, for instance, uses a "headache-blasting" combination of vitamins, including magnesium, vitamin B2 and feverfew".

After several weeks of misery with no improvement, within 12 hours of taking Magnesium and Vitamin B complex supplements, she was almost back
to normal.   It was amazing !

I later asked Kaiser why this treatment option was not offered.  They said and I quote "alternative, complimentary and homeopathic medicine is not a part of Kaiser's treatment regimen".  That's very disappointing, considering that both Cedar-Sinai and Mayo Clinic recommend and use it.

Cedars-Sinai http://healthinfo.cedars-sinai.edu/library/healthguide/en-us/Cam/topic.asp?hwid=hn-1043007

Mayo Clinic http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/migraine-headache/DS00120/DSECTION=12

I've since suggested it to a number of people who have all had positive
results   One is xxxxxxxxx  who suffered with migraines for twenty years
and has not had one major episode since taking the supplements when he feels the symptoms coming on.