You may already know that migraines are more common for women than men. While a health condition can’t be discriminatory, there are underlying factors that can lead one particular race, nationality, or sometimes even gendered to be predisposed to a certain condition. Here are 7 facts you may not have known about the neurological condition and why it disproportionately affects women.
That is a startling figure. In fact, it equals out to approximately 18% of women in the US. So if you are a female suffering from the conditions, you are far from alone. This is one of the most common health disorders. But don’t let how widespread the problem is take away your hope. At the end of this list, we’re going to consider a natural form of care that has been helping many women (and men for that matter) get help for chronic migraines.
What does it mean to get chronic migraines? The condition is considered chronic if you are suffering from migraines more than 15 days per month. Some even have daily episodes. While women make up about 75% of migraineurs overall – they comprise 85% of chronic migraine patients. Chronic migraines are far more debilitating than getting them occasionally. In fact, 1 in 5 chronic migraine sufferers is considered disabled.
This begins to shed light on why more women are dealing with migraines than men. Before puberty, about 5% of kids get migraines, and the majority of those kids are boys. After puberty, the number quickly spikes to 10% with the majority being women. This shows that at the age hormones start to play a larger role in the body, women suddenly have to deal with this condition more. It is no wonder that adult women migraineurs outnumber adult men migraineurs.
Some people have migraines as kids, and then they go away later on in life. Some people never get it until well into adulthood. Regardless of the onset or whether or not hey resolve on their own, migraines will eventually affect close to 25% of women. That means you have a 1 in 4 chance of developing migraines from the moment you are born female. Unfortunately, if one or both of your parents suffer from the neurological condition, the odds increase substantially.
As noted previously, about 18% of adult women experience migraines. This is in sharp contrast with only 6% of adult males suffering from migraines. Some have posited that this is not necessarily because women get more migraines but that men often feel they have to “tough it out” and not seek medical treatment. Thus, many men who suffer from migraines are never diagnosed. Also, there is a stigma attached to suffering from migraines, and some men are afraid to get a diagnosis because they don’t want it to affect things like their career or a romantic relationship. Thus, they try to self-medicate using over-the-counter pills. Whether this is the real reason for the discrepancy or not has never been thoroughly researched.
That means more than half of women who get migraines average at least two episodes per month. However, 1 in 4 women migraineurs experiences at least one attack per week. Remember that for it to be considered chronic, a person has to have 15 or more migraine days monthly. So some of these patients may be dealing with 5-14 migraines per month, be averaging more than one per week, but still not be diagnosed with chronic migraines.
Research has shown that female migraineurs experience more frequent and severe episodes during pregnancy, menopause, and at certain times during their monthly cycle. This, again, points to the fact that hormone levels have something to do with why women get more attacks than men. While hormones may not be the underlying cause, they seem to trigger attacks and make the symptoms more difficult to deal with.
So far, the facts about migraines have been pretty bleak. However, we would like to introduce you to upper cervical chiropractic care because this precise and gentle subspecialty of chiropractic has been providing hope for many.
You may have noticed that you often experience neck pain along with your migraines. This is a symptom for about 75% of migraineurs, either during or preceding the moderate to severe headache. One reason may be that a misalignment of the C1 or C2 is the underlying problem. Such a misalignment could result in pressure being placed on the brainstem or spinal cord. It may also lead to restricted blood flow to the brain or inhibited cerebrospinal fluid drainage. These are all factors in the onset of migraines.
Upper cervical chiropractors take precise measurements of these particular misalignments and administer extremely gentle adjustments to correct the problem. For many in case studies, this has led to fewer or less severe attacks. Some have even seen chronic migraine problems go away for good. To learn more, contact an upper cervical practice in your local area and schedule a visit.
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The content and materials provided in this web site are for informational and educational purposes only and are not intended to supplement or comprise a medical diagnosis or other professional opinion, or to be used in lieu of a consultation with a physician or competent health care professional for medical diagnosis and/or treatment. All content and materials including research papers, case studies and testimonials summarizing patients' responses to care are intended for educational purposes only and do not imply a guarantee of benefit. Individual results may vary, depending upon several factors including age of the patient, severity of the condition, severity of the spinal injury, and duration of time the condition has been present.
