Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Mav196]

Hi everyone
I have been posting on another thread and thanks to the very wise posters there, they have helped me to realise that my new onset chronic headaches and dizziness could be menstrual associated migraine. 

Here is a brief history of what's been happening to me:
In my 20s and 30s always on combined pill due to excruciating periods. In my 40s switched to mini pill - Noriday and latterly to Cerazette
Came off Cerazette in sept 2015 aged 46 due to sudden onset of rapid and diffuse eyebrow hair loss - GP thought it was caused by Cerazette
1 year later (still off birth control) in Sept 2016 I experienced sudden onset of dizziness and headache which hasn't remitted. Everyday I have a dull headache and then some days they are migraines, suffering from dizziness also.
Went to Neurologist and was diagnosed with chronic daily headache with migraine (no prior history of headache at all)
I have tried and failed Inderal beta blocker, Amitriptyline and Gabapentin due to awful side effects.
My menstrual cycle has changed only slightly to 25, 26, 27 days with one incident of 38 days and another at 31 days

My GP has suggested that Cerazette might be a solution to "level" my hormones but am worried that it will bring my Estrogen and progesterone too low and then I will have other issues. I am being told that my Estrogen and progesterone levels are normal.

Has anyone tried Cerazette in their late 40s for menstrual associated migraine?
Thanks for your help
Mav

[Hurdity]

Hi Mav196

You don't seem to have had any replies so maybe there is no-one who has experience of this who is reading - it is the school holidays now so I expect lots of members are otherwise busy! I answered some points about Cerazette on your other thread but I have no experience of this myself.

Hurdity x

[Mav196]

Thanks Hurdity....it seems like I am out of luck getting any insight to this....I am hopeful of a gynae appt within the next four weeks so hopefully there is an end in sight to this nightmare for me.  Can you believe that I still have a headache 10 months on - not one single day headache free!! I am hoping that it turns out that my hormones are in fact the underlying cause and that this can be easily treated - the current regime of trialing the awful anticonvulsants drugs from the neurologist is not sustainable given their life changing side effects and essentially that regime is just a band aid which attempts to mask the symptoms rather than establish and treat the cause.
Thanks so much for your support - as I said in my other post I have truly learnt more from this forum in a very short space of time than from any specialist I have seen in the last 10 months....in addition to that I have also spent EUR €3,500 on so called specialist advice, tests and scans and am still not on the road to recovery.
Best wishes
Mav

[Kathleen]

Hello  Mav196.

I don't have experience of Cerazette in peri menopause but I did have chronic headaches. I have never been prone to headaches but earlier on in my menopause I had a headache all day, every day for six months. I suspected they were hormonal  as they would magically disappear about 9pm but wake me up the next morning and last all day. Nothing seemed to shift them but they went as suddenly as they came and haven't returned. Hopefully yours will do the same very soon!

Wishing you well.

K.

[peri]

Hi Mav196

This isn't really an answer more of a comment but is cerazette still available?  My daughters like it because you don't get a period on it but have been told by the GP that it is no longer available!?! X

[Mav196]

Thanks Kathleen....your story gives me hope that one day it will just disappear for me also - I have been suffering for 10 months now and am only now beginning to suspect that they are hormonal. I will get to see a gynae at the end of August so hopefully she will confirm that they are hormonal and can give me something that will give me my life back.

Hi Peri....Cerazette is definitely available here in Ireland as my GP gave me a prescription for it last week. I have not yet taken it as I want to consult a gynae first as I am concerned that it might reduce my already dwindling Estrogen levels too much and while it might solve my daily headaches and migraine it may give me other problems associated with low Estrogen.

Mav

[KirstieRose]

Hi I was prescribed cerazette for a second time in 2016. I'd been off it a year and was previously on it for 5 years before that.
Stopped taking it due to constant bad headaches,cramps and generally aches and pains all day every day for the last 6 months. But No periods.
The second time in 2016 I had only taken it for a couple of weeks when I'd noticed that my mood had gotten very low and I was not heading for a good place. So stopped taking it. So I'm thinking that because cerazette is renown for its bad side effects. I personally wouldn't be taking it again.  I know this doesn't help you at all. But I wouldn't want cerazette effecting your headaches more so that what you suffer already. Hth.

[Mav196]

Thanks KirstieRose for letting me know what happened to you on Cerazette....I need as much info as I can get before my gynae appointment.
Best wishes
Mav

[Venetia]

I've been taking Cerazette since December for excessive perimenopausal bleeding - had one major bleed on it in March but nothing since.  I'm due for another prescription in a few weeks and hope the doctor I see doesn't object since the one who prescribed it initially is on sabbatical - I'm 53 and think some doctors might think me too old for it.  I don't suffer from migraines but think I have had a few more headaches than usual while taking it.  I've also gained a bit of weight, but that might just be poor impulse control on my part!  Basically I'm delighted with it because it's cleared up my bleeding problems, and while I've been getting some night sweats I can live with them.  Sorry if this isn't particularly relevant to your situation, but just wanted to post to in case it's helpful

[Mav196]

Thanks Venetia for your post, that's good info for me to have going into my gynae appt....and good to know that you are doing well on it. I was on it for years but my GP took me off it in Sept 2015 when my eyebrow hair started falling out. So I haven't been on any pill since then....I have been suffering excruciating periods since I came off it and then 1 yr later (Sept 2016) I started with these awful headaches and migraines which haven't remitted. I am looking forward to my gynae appt and will be interested to hear if she thinks Cerazette might be an option again for me as I don't think my Estrogen and progesterone levels will be considered low enough for HRT. (Recent day 4 Estrogen was 191 pmol/l).
Best wishes
Mav

[Venetia]

Mav, I've also had problems with thinning eyebrows (but not a sudden loss).  I was found to have an underactive thyroid and in the year I've been taking thyroxine my eyebrows have improved (though I still don't go out without using the eyebrow pencil first!).  Is this something that was explored for you?

[Mav196]

Hi Venetia
Yes I went to an Endocrinologist and she did a full work up and ruled out any underlying thyroid or other autoimmune diseases as the cause of the eyebrow loss.  At the time I was left without an answer was told it was prob Alopecia. Since my migraines started I have been doing some additional digging and I wonder now was it the desogestrel in the Cerazette although desogestrel is a very low androgen one or was it the fact that the Cerazette by its action reduces Estrogen to early follicular levels so perhaps the eyebrows disappeared due to low Estrogen? Coincidentally my neighbour just recently suffered eyebrow loss and forearm hair loss also  - she is same age as me but has not been on any hormonal pills although her periods were coming every 2 weeks and were excruciating also...
Aaaargh it's so frustrating
Mav

[Mazza27]

Hi mav196,

I am in the same position as you constant headaches and never suffered ever before. I am now getting pins needles and numbness on right side also.
I have had mirena coil fitted for the heavy periods as had them in past but I think that I need low dose oestrogen in gel or patch.

They can help I believe for the headaches in most women not all though but I think worth a try!

I am fighting my gp who doesn't want to give me but I will get some way of getting it and trying it, I have printed out documents to take and prove no stroke risk  but in the end it's my choice

Mazza

[Mav196]

Hi Mazza I had wondered how you are - I saw some of your other posts. I have literally been struck down and unable to work for the last 11 months with this. What I now have realised (thanks to ElizabethRose on this forum) is that I have a headache everyday which is low and dull kinda in the background and then I have days where that headache escalates into migraine - that headache is not your typical throbbing/pulsing but instead it's like an intense crushing pressure which makes me dizzy and nauseous. Those migraine headaches happen for me on days 2/3/4/5, day 10/12, day 20/21 and day 25/26. So the worst of it is from ovulation through the luteal phase and I only start to feel "less bad" by about day 6.

I now believe that it's prob not the "level" of hormones (cos mine are all in range) but rather all of this is caused by the "fluctuations" of the hormones across the month. I think that the Mirena is supposed to help with heavy periods but I don't think it suppresses ovulation and therefore the fluctuations continue in the background and I think this means that the headaches will continue.
My GP offered me Cerazette as this suppresses ovulation in an effort to stabilise the hormones but I was afraid to try it without a gynae opinion (awaiting appt at moment). After 11 months of wondering what the hell is wrong with me I now firmly believe it's hormonal. My period last week was literally horrendous - the flow only lasted 2 days but the pain was unreal, I almost passed out with lower left side pain and when I went for a wee my whole pelvis felt like it was burning. I wonder if I have Endometriosis. And the headache on top of that was a killer.

What age are you Mazza and what is your cycle like? I am 47 and my cycle is approx every 27 days, my hormones seem to be in normal range except for FSH which is slightly raised at 11. 
could you get a gynae opinion as opposed to GP? Is there a menopause specialist you can consult? My experience here in Ireland is that the GPs don't know enough - they can help if you have the night sweats and hot flushes but beyond that they don't know how to treat it.
Stay strong, we will crack this....I will keep you posted on how my gynae appt goes
Mav

[Mav196]

Hi Mazza unlike over here there seems to be some GPs in the UK who are menopause experts - see link below. Is there someone like this Dr near you who could help? Perhaps this surgery/practice could recommend a GP in your area with similar expertise....
https://menopausedoctor.co.uk/what-is-the-menopause/menopause-symptoms-perimenopause-symptoms/

Mav