Torment every month
Women develop the neurological disease about twice as often as men. Is this caused by the female sex hormones?
Antonia lies in bed, a stabbing pain throbbing incessantly in the right half of her skull. The room is dark because she just can't stand bright light. Once or twice a month, when the 17-year-old has a migraine attack, she stays in this state for days. Antonia, whose real name is different, doesn't go to school and doesn't reply to messages from her friends. She can hardly get up during this time without her circulation collapsing. "People often say: Oh, migraines! I know that, I also have headaches sometimes," she says."Many don't even know what migraines are and how they throw you out of everyday life."
Migraines are widespread. About one in six people worldwide will develop the disease, which is characterized by recurring, throbbing headaches with accompanying symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light, noise, and smells. The symptoms usually begin in young adulthood, and children are less likely to become ill. Women are particularly affected. A survey of 5,000 adults by the Robert Koch Institute revealed that 14.8 percent of female participants met the criteria for a migraine diagnosis, compared to only six percent of males.
Migraine attacks in women increase especially in the years after the first period and before the onset of menopause. Experts suspect that this is related to the fluctuating concentrations of female sex hormones that determine the menstrual cycle. Many migraine sufferers have more frequent, stronger, and longer attacks in the days around the onset of their menstrual period. There is now an independent diagnosis for it: menstrual migraines…
