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New Type of Migraine Identified?

According to the Cleveland Clinic, seventy percent of migraine sufferers are women. About sixty to seventy percent of these women report a correlation between migraine attacks and the menstrual cycle.  Most commonly this is attributed to the fact that a woman's hormones levels fluctuate throughout their cycles. This change in hormone levels over time is said to be what precipitates migraines.

Red Blood Cells

A new study points to the idea that this is not the only mechanism by which a menstrual migraine can come about.  According to researchers at the Carolina Headache Institute, cyclic "end menstrual migraine" (EMM) can be the result of anemia. This anemia is the result of dropping ferritin levels due to blood loss of menstruation  The authors go on to say that more study is necessary to firm up this theory.  The good news is that the affected women in the Carolina study responded favourably to iron supplementation.  

Here again, more study is necessary to substantiate the findings...but who would ever think that iron supplementation could be the answer to a prayer for a migraine sufferer!

You can read more about this interesting finding by clicking here.

Sources: MedPageToday; Cleveland Clinic; Wikimedia
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