Hormonal Migraines Common During Menopause

New research confirms what women with migraine headaches have told their doctors for years: migraine attacks seem to get worse in the years before and during menopause. According to research, women entering perimenopause (the years leading up to menopause) and menopause itself (the time when periods stop altogether) experienced the most headaches. An estimated 38 million Americans report having migraines.

Reproduction Later In Life Is A Marker For Longevity In Women

University School of Medicine (BUSM) study published in Menopause: The Journal of the North American Menopause Society, says women who are able to have children after the age of 33 have a greater chance of living longer than women who had their last child before the age of 30.

This Time Testosterone- Myocardial Infarction (MI) Link In Men Questioned

In an analysis of Medicare data, there was no increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI) with injections of the hormone, and it even appeared to be protective in patients at the greatest risk of cardiovascular events, Jacques Baillargeon, PhD, of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and colleagues reported online in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy. “It’s possible that our findings of a protective effect among men in the highest MI prognostic group reflects a process whereby testosterone reduces peripheral vascular resistance, thereby reducing stress on the heart among those who have some degree of coronary artery disease,” the researchers wrote.

Sex Hormone Levels At Midlife Linked To Bad Cholesterol Carriers That Increase Heart Disease Risk In Women

As hormone levels change during the transition to menopause, the quality of a woman’s cholesterol carriers degrades, leaving her at greater risk for heart disease, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health discovered. “We found that lower levels of estradiol, one of the main hormonal changes that mark menopause, are associated with low-quality cholesterol carriers, which have been found to predict risk for heart disease,” said lead investigator, Samar R. El Khoudary, Ph.D., M.P.H. “Our results suggest that there may be value in using advanced testing methods to evaluate changes in cholesterol carriers’ quality in women early in menopause so that doctors can recommend appropriate diet and lifestyle changes.”