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DG DISPATCH - HEADACHE: Estrogen Pellets May Help Treat Menstrual Migraines By Cameron Johnston Special to DG News BARCELONA, SPAIN -- June 28, 1999 -- A doctor in the United States has used a subcutaneous implantable pellet of estrogen to prevent migraines in a group of women who had menstrual migraines. When the 30 patients with true menstrual migraines had 50 mg estrogen pellets implanted subcutaneously, 27 reported a complete resolution to their headaches. Severe headaches returned when the same women were given placebo implants. Dr. Edward Lichten, a neurologist at the Providence Hospital in Southfield, MI., presented the results of his study at the ninth congress of the International Headache Society, in Barcelona, Spain. Dr. Lichten explained that it is not the actual loss of estrogen during the menstrual cycle that results in migraines as it is the extent of the fluctuations -- from the highs during the roughly two-week follicular phase, to the lows of the luteal phase -- especially during the late luteal phase. “The physiology of woman’s migraines is based on the dropping estrogen levels, but by using estradiol measurements to diagnose the cause of the migraine and the estradiol pellets to treat them, doctors in the future might find estradiol to be the most preventive therapy,” he said. During the trial, the women’s estradiol measurements were taken the day after each woman had a migraine. The implanted pellet had a two-month half-life and, when two months were completed, the women underwent a further two-month washout period before the next pellet (or placebo) was implanted. Throughout the study, the women’s’ average estradiol levels were 53 mg/dl higher than the levels in the women who were receiving the placebo. These results may lend some basis to the hypothesis that by levelling out some of the peaks and valleys in the woman’s monthly estrogen levels, it might be possible to prevent migraines in some women. E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version