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Ever feel like your migraines hit right when your hormones swing?
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That is no coincidence.
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Today, we're diving into the estrogen roller coaster, riding without crashing.
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Migraine Heroes is a podcast for chronic migraine sufferers
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who've seen countless doctors with no results.
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Learn how to reduce your migraine attacks without endless medications or constant sacrifices.
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Hello, I'm Diane Ducarme.
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I've helped over 500 people break free from migraine,
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even after suffering for up to 60 years.
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My mission in life?
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To bring this relief to a million people
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using a unique blend of Eastern medicine and Western science.
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In this episode, you will learn how sudden estrogen drops can spark migraine attacks,
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so you can start timing your prevention instead of feeling ambushed.
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The real science behind hormonal migraines,
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and what blood vessels and patterns to watch for.
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And how Eastern medicine uses estrogen and strives for its balance.
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Stay with me till the end, because we'll explore how your hormonal fluctuations
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can actually rewire pain sensitivity in the brain,
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and why that doesn't mean it's all in your head.
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When we talk about hormonal migraines,
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we're talking about one of the most common and sort of under-recognized form of migraine in women.
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More than 60% of women with migraine experience a direct connection
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between their attacks and hormonal fluctuations,
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especially around menstruation, around perimenopause, and the postpartum period.
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But here's the key.
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It's not always about how much estrogen you actually have.
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It's about how quickly it changes.
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Estrogen isn't just a reproductive hormone.
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It's a powerful regulator of brain chemistry, mood, and pain perception.
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It helps control serotonin production and receptor sensitivity,
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stabilizes blood vessels in the brain, and modulates inflammation.
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When estrogen levels drop, like they do right before menstruation or during perimenopause,
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several things happen at once.
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Serotonin levels fall, which increases pain sensitivity and lowers mood stability.
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Cortical spreading depression, a wave of intense brain activity followed by suppression,
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becomes more likely, a known mechanism behind migraine with aura.
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And the trigeminal nerve, the main pathway in migraine,
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becomes more reactive to inflammation and sensory input.
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This combination creates what researchers sometimes call
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a perfect storm for migraine activation,
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especially in people whose nervous systems are already sensitive to change.
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And this storm doesn't strike randomly,
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tends to gather strength at a very specific point in the hormonal cycle,
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where the body's chemistry shifts most dramatically.
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Two days before or three days before menstruation,
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immediately postpartum, when hormone levels plummet,
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during perimenopause, when estrogen swings unpredictably,
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and after stopping birth control or hormonal therapy.
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Each of these moments represent an estrogen withdrawal phase,
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when the body's neurochemical balance shifts faster than the brain can stabilize.
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A 2017 NIH-funded study found that women with hormonal migraine
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had steeper estrogen drops before menstruation compared to women without migraine,
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suggesting it's the rate of decline, not just the level itself, that triggers attacks.
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And more recent reviews, including a 2023 paper in the Journal of Headache and Pain,
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and a 2022 systematic review in BMC Systematic Reviews,
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reaffirmed that estrogen withdrawal is one of the most consistent,
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evidence-based migraine triggers known.
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When a traditional seismic machine looks at migraines tied to hormonal shifts,
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it doesn't see why chemistry or random fluctuation.
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It indeed sees rhythm, the natural rise and fall of yin and yang,
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and what happens when that rhythm loses its anchor.
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And so estrogen, in traditional seismic machine terms,
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lives within blood and within yin in particular,
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sort of the cooling, nourishing, fluid aspect of the body.
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When the yin and the blood are abundant,
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they anchor the yang, the warmth, the movement, the expression of life.
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But when yin becomes depleted through stress over work, lack of rest or emotional strain,
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yang has nothing to hold it on.
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It begins to rise like heat escaping a pot without a lid.
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Now that's when migraines arrive.
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The temples throb, the face is going to flush, and the mind feels full yet exhausted.
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And the upward surge of energy reflects a deeper imbalance,
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too much movement, not enough root.
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In traditional Chinese medicine, this is often called a liver yang rising migraine,
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the body's way of saying that the feminine grounding,
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fluid side of our system needs restoration.
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The liver, in this dance, plays a leading role.
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It governs the smooth flow of qi and blood.
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When hormones shift before a period after birth or impairment oppose,
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the liver must adapt constantly.
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I really insist on that, because in the West,
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we're going to immediately start to look into hormonal-based treatment.
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Whereas in the East, we're going to restore the organ that produces the hormones.
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It's a very different way to look at it, if you think of it.
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If stress constrains it, if the spleen isn't providing enough nourishment,
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or if the blood is thin, the liver's rhythm falters,
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and then qi is going to rise too sharply. Blood follows,
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the head, rich and young, becomes the meeting place of too much heat and too little flow.
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That's the moment of overwhelm.
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The estrogen spikes and drops,
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and it doesn't feel like a wave, but much more like a crash.
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In the language of TCM, the work is not to fight the waves,
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but to strengthen the shoreline. So
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that's a big difference.
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I don't know if you hear it.
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In Western science, you will look at the estrogen movement itself,
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the spike and the crash, and correlate it with migraines,
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and therefore substitute the natural estrogen production with a synthetic one.
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In traditional transmission, you will go to the source of it,
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to rhythm its production, and make sure its use is adequate. So
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that's looking at the liver a lot more than at the estrogen purely itself.
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So through food, rest, and stillness, through warmth and rhythm,
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we invite that balance back.
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We don't just ease the migraine, we rebuild the system.
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Because healing the hormonal cycle isn't about flattening the tides,
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it's about learning to rise and to fall with them, gently and steadily.
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So if you're there right now, somewhere between the waves and the stillness,
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remember, your body is not broken. It's simply asking to come home.
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One breath, one meal, one cycle at a time.
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So if this is you in your home, you need to know and understand this.
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The less you're going to load your liver with toxicity,
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wine, cheese, chocolate, but also thiamine, histamine, fried food,
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but also medications that are not serving you. Please see those with your doctors.
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The better your hormones,
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it is all interrelated.
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And remember, every small step you take moves you closer to freedom.
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You are powerful, you're resilient, and you are no longer alone.
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Keep rising, Migraine Hero.
