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[Lou Lou]

Hi ladies
Any advice please. Am 58 and been post menopausal for quite a while now. Still getting new symptoms though. The latest being dry eyes and very itchy ears. They are driving me mad 😡 The most worrying however is the more frequent occurrence of migraines with the zigzagging lights, not much of a headache just feeling really spaced out after. They are mostly occurring at night  As I am still getting hot flushes mainly at night I presume they must be connected. Anybody else the same?? Would love a bit of reassurance please 😥

[Blot]

Hi. I get the same. I’ve suffered with occasional migraines since I was about 23 but now I get them more often but as you describe I get the flashing lights/zigzag lights and not much of a headache. Sometimes no headache at all. I’m about 14 years post meno.

Is this a new thing to you? Or have you always had them?

[Lou Lou]

Hi Blot. Many thanks for your reply. I have always suffered with headaches, particularly when I was younger and having periods and had auras occasionally over the years so I knew what they were. However they have suddenly become much more frequent together with a kind of motion sickness feeling. How about you?

[CarolineM]

Hi Lou Lou,

I had a change in my migraines with aura. Every 6 months or so I used to get zig-zag caterpillars that slowly made their way across my line of sight then they'd disappear after about 20 mins. No headaches or sickness but I'd feel a bit weird for an hour or so after.

One day I had three in the morning and felt really unsettled for the rest of the day. GP referred me to ophthalmology and recommended a sight test. Outcome was my prescription had changed slightly, and the ophthalmologist found nothing abnormal but said if migraines change in presentation or frequency it's best to get them looked at.

As you say, it's probably just hormonal stuff but I would recommend speaking to an optician and/or your GP just to be sure. Then you'll know what's happening and you won't need to worry about it. Hope this helps.

Caroline

[Lou Lou]

HiCaroline
Thanks for your reply.  Yes you are right I do need to get it checked out as my mind is working overtime as usual

[Mary G]

Hi ladies
Any advice please. Am 58 and been post menopausal for quite a while now. Still getting new symptoms though. The latest being dry eyes and very itchy ears. They are driving me mad 😡 The most worrying however is the more frequent occurrence of migraines with the zigzagging lights, not much of a headache just feeling really spaced out after. They are mostly occurring at night  As I am still getting hot flushes mainly at night I presume they must be connected. Anybody else the same?? Would love a bit of reassurance please 😥

It sounds like a silent migraine and it's highly unlikely to be anything to do with your eyesight because it is a neurological condition.

I had my first silent migraine exactly 20 years ago in the lead up to the menopause.  It consists of disturbed vision with shimmering lines (scintillating scotoma) which gradually disappeared to the top of the sight field after about 25 minutes.  The actual aura is cortical spreading depression.  It's a harmless condition but a nasty one in my opinion. 

Off the top of my head, they are caused mostly by hormone instability which then leads to low seratonin levels and high or higher blood pressure.  It's a kind of vicious circle that sets off a chain of events but the underlying cause/trigger for this particular migraine sub type is hormonal instability.  I didn't have any silent migraines when fertile.

I have managed to (mostly) control my migraines with hormone manipulation but that stopped working a couple of years ago so I have since added in propranolol, a calcium channel blocker and a very low dose antidepressant and it works well.

Unfortunately this type of migraine doesn't improve with age and can get worse.  If you find it difficult to live with them, you will need to look at preventative medication.

Are you taking HRT?

[Tracy t]

Hi I'm 54 I started with aura migraines in my twenties no internet then to research but my mum suffered with them so just put it down to that little old runs in the family I had the like wavy lines quite like half vision but since I've got older for a few years now I get the ocular ones more like looking threw a broken glass window but a little shaky I get quite tired afterwards and sometimes feel quite nauseated I'm on medication for herniated discs so I thought it could be that but I've had to have a break in medication due to it upsetting my tummy for a while and ive still had them I do have high anxiety and had a lot of stress in my life I don't know if this adds to how we go threw menopausal symptoms or if it's the hormones but there definitely different now to Wen I was jounger

[Blot]

It’s a family thing for me. My mum still gets the aura but no headache and she’s 85.
With me I think stress plays a large part in it but as long as I don’t get the banging headache with it I will just carry on.

[Tracy t]

I think stress is a biggy with migraines definitely especially going threw menopausal changes with life and yourself and if you have added with anything else too