The Woman's Guide to Managing Migraine: Understanding the Hormone Connection to find Hope and Wellness

by Susan Hutchinson MD

Headache in women is truly a major health issue. Every year, over 22 million women in the United States suffer from migraine headache, often debilitating attacks that can leave the sufferer bedridden and that, in many cases, can undermine both one's career and even one's marriage.

The Woman's Guide to Managing Migraine is a concise and practical handbook that gives female headache sufferers all the tools they need to work with their healthcare providers to properly diagnose types of headache and develop the best possible treatment plans. A headache specialist, family practice physician, and fellow migraine sufferer, Dr. Susan Hutchinson introduces the reader to seven women with different lives--ranging from a nineteen-year-old college student, to a twenty-nine-year-old attorney, to a fifty-five-year-old mother of three grown children--different women with the common thread of suffering from disabling monthly migraines. As these women's lives unfold throughout the book, the reader gains insight into their own headache experience. Readers will learn about hormonal therapy, preventive strategies, and treatment options, ranging from the most promising new drugs to the most effective complementary and alternative therapies. Dr. Hutchinson answers common questions,
such as how to plan for pregnancy and how to manage family and work life while coping with ongoing migraine attacks. She shows you how to carefully maintain your body and brain to minimize disruptions that can trigger a migraine, how to keep a migraine diary, how to find a headache-focused provider in your area, and how to make the most out of a visit to your doctor. The book includes a "headache quiz" that will determine if you are having true migraines.

The time in a woman's life when migraine is most common--her twenties through her early fifties--represents her peak earning-power and child-raising years. The Woman's Guide to Managing Migraine will empower women to take charge of their treatment and find the path to living well.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Self Help

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 2013

Reviews

[Lindsey Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be TMI for a book review but I figured anyone interested in this book might want this kind of info and it might help a friend who sees it on Facebook, so since I wish I had read this book a long time ago I'm just going with it. I get really frustrated when going to the doctor because they rarely have time to listen and they quickly jump to a solution without necessarily explaining why they are giving you that answer and if that's really what's best for you. With my migraines I've felt like the doctor doesn't really know any more than I do from Googling and sometimes they seem to know less. They have also made me feel my migraines can only be solved with medication and also that they aren't "real" migraines becuase I don't get an aura and mine usually occur during my period. This book was what I've wanted every time I've gone to the doctor. The author knew exactly what I wanted to know and provided very detailed info on how hormones impact migraines, what meds do what and what non med options to try. She used real life examples and explained why each was treated the way she treated them. She also provided numerous studies showing that menstrual migraines are actually usually the most severe, least likely to respond to medication and last longer than other types of migraines. They are more likely to result in emergency room visits and days away from work/missing social activities. I sort of want to send copies to every doctor who acted like I just had PMS. She also said that only about 10% of migraine sufferers get an aura and they aren't common with menstrual migraines, and that most women with menstrual migraines get migraines other times too, they just don't realize they are migraines because they aren't as bad as the ones during their period. The descriptions of these fit me perfectly and made me realize what I think are just bad sinus headaches are actually mild migraines and that should me treat them more appropriately. I found it extremely helpful to see a list of all the drugs and supplements for migraines in one place with her recommendations on which work best for different situations. She also has a section just on birth control, which helped me better understand how that impacts my migraines and what I may need to change. It was also helpful to read about menopause, even though that's a ways away for me. I skipped the chapter on pregnancy and nursing but it looked like it had a lot of info. The book also as info on how to talk to your doctor and prep for an appointment. This gave me a ton of info to try and to know what to ask my doctor about. I found this especially helpful because I recently decided to see a headache specialist...and none of the few I found in my area are taking new patients. So this helped me educate myself and hopefully after trying some of the strategies in here I won't even need a specialist. This does focus almost exclusively on menstrual migraines, which I loved since I've had a much harder time finding info online about these specifically. If you're looking for general migraine info this is not the book for you.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the title, I hoped this would be a book about natural healing of the hormones and migraines. Unfortunately, it was not. There was still some helpful information, but mostly from a very "medicated" perspective.

[Tam May · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I read this book on the heels of reading another migraine book that I was dissatisfied with because it seemed to take the perspective of migraineur-as-chronically-ill-person-who-needs-to-depend-on-others-for-the-rest-of-her-life attitude and I felt that was disempowering to an already disempowering problem (because migraine can't be cured and carries such a stigma). I was happy to see that this book took the opposite attitude. The tone was not condescending and I didn't feel like a hopelessly sick and dependent person as a 30+ years migraineur after I read it. Hutchinson includes a lot of great information in a way that empowers migraineurs and specifically addresses women-related issues of migraine (such as menstrual and hormone-related migraines). I also like that Hutchinson specifies that a more total body approach (i.e., not just medication) is necessary to help with migraines. She also didn't make any whirlwind promises of "curing" migraines but offers better ways to manage them, especially hormone-related migraines which are notorious for being the most difficult to manage.

The one thing I did want more of was more details about alternative options to prescription drugs for migraines. While Hutchinson did touch upon these, the book doesn't go into much detail about them.

If you're a woman and a migraineur, I would highly recommend reading this book.

[Katie Schanbacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book answered many of the questions that I had about my menstrual related migraines. It also discussed several areas that do not pertain to me so I did find myself skipping over them a bit. I particularly liked the chapters on treatment and on nonpharmacological treatment. I thought this book was very easy to read, was in layperson times, and the author/doctor did a very good job describing each treatment and the possible outcomes and the possible side effects. I chose this book because it was written fairly recently so I hoped it would contain the most recent studies and information for menstrual related migraines and treatment. I found this to be true. My hope is to take some of the information that I learned in this book to my own doctor and discuss options. One question that I had was why do I still experience menstrual related migraines even though I am on the birth control pill continuously? I only received one or two lines of information regarding this topic in this book. I was slightly disappointed by this because I consider this to be almost a first line of defense treatment for most menstrual related migraine sufferers. I expected this book to contain more information on this topic. This is something I will discuss further with my primary doctor. I feel this book was a good one for me to read as a person who is just starting to research into this field. I do recommend this book to anyone who has migraines that may be menstrual related as a good first place to start gathering information to bring to your own doctor or headache specialist.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I found this book helpful for an overview of the ways women can manage migraines. There is an introduction to distinguishing headaches from migraines, so if you’re familiar with migraines you may want to skip to the treatment plans. It was interesting to have an author who is a family medicine physician with a personal history of migraine (vs. a neurologist, who I assume most migraineurs seek) to help think about the different parts of the body in relation to migraine. I was familiar with most of the medications and found it helpful to know their classifications and how these types of medications address specific parts of migraine pain and relief. The most important message is to not give up on seeking a better treatment plan and advocating for oneself.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot of important information in here, however it focused heavily on menstrual migraine which I don’t necessarily experience. 3.5 stars.

[Katelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very informative book. It taught me a lot and helped give me ideas to talk with my doctor about. It was especially helpful to have a book about migraines focused on women.

[Barbara (The Bibliophage) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a lot of information this year about migraine. As a perimenopausal woman, I've read a lot about hormones as well. This book puts the basics together for women experiencing hormone-related migraines. The author is certainly credible, given her medical and personal background with migraine. However, I wish that she had gone into more detail about how hormone imbalance triggers migraine. But perhaps there isn't enough verifiable data on that! As I work with professionals from two different specialities (gynecology and neurology), this book helped to connect their information and gave me the right questions to ask.

[Denise Holaday · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read, and very well written for the lay person to understand such a complex medical issue. The author delves into the different types of heafdche/migraine, treatment options, how hormones play a role in the cause and treatment of migraines, and gives a laundry list of resources. Highly recommend to any woman who suffers migraines!

[Kelly Lynn Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this is a great book with good insights. The only real downside is that she spends a lot of time focusing on menstrual migraines and migraines triggered by hormonal changes, and not as much time on other potential triggers. But, if you do happen to suffer from menstrual or hormonally-triggered migraines, there's a lot of good, up to date, and helpful information in this book.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was hoping this might have some good information, but it mostly covered menstrual migraines. I get exertion migraines, which aren't mentioned at all. Some good information on the medications available and what they do.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

here is information you can read to prep yourself for your doctor's visit, but basically you need to talk to a medical expert. I skimmed through it to see what it had to say and was not very impressed.