Insider: Here’s how to treat menstrual migraine
UC headache expert discusses migraine triggers in women
Menstrual migraine isn’t your average headache or migraine. In a 2015 study, women with menstrual migraines reported prolonged migraines and more severe symptoms of nausea than women with non-menstrual migraines.
Insider spoke with Vincent Martin, MD, co-director of the UC Headache and Facial Pain Center and professor of internal medicine, about migraines and menstruation in women. Martin, also a UC Health physician, said that following menopause, “female hormones are falling and this can either drastically improve or sometimes worsen migraine attacks.”
"Birth control pills can worsen headaches in some girls or women because estrogen levels plummet during the placebo week of the birth control pills, which can trigger migraine attacks. One strategy to manage this is to use extended duration birth control pills that only give a placebo week every 3 months instead of monthly," Martin tells Insider.
Specific triggers, notably stress, can also bring on migraines, according to Martin.
Related Stories
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
App turns smartwatch into detector of structural heart disease
November 10, 2025
An app that uses an AI model to read a single-lead ECG from a smartwatch can detect structural heart disease, researchers reported at the 2025 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Although the technology requires further validation, researchers said it could help improve the identification of patients with heart failure, valvular conditions and left ventricular hypertrophy before they become symptomatic, which could improve the prognosis for people with these conditions.