hormones and headaches

Hi--I had my complete hysterectomy on Fr. Feb. 20. When I woke up in recover I had a dull headache that never went away, even with morphine, darvocet, vicadin, etc. My doctor wanted to leave me off of hormones as long as possible to starve out my recurring endo, but he finally started me on Premarin (0.625) yesterday. The first dose was such a relief!!! My headache went away, as did the heaviness and crazy beating of my heart. However, it wore off in about 3 hours, and my headache came back with a venegance!!! It was the worse headache I've ever had.

My doctor had me take another dose of Premarin last night, gave me a shot of toradol (sp?), and my headache eased up. I took another Premarin this morning and felt great all day until it wore off at 5:00. That same horrible headache came back!

I'm wondering if I will the Premarin is the thing for me, if I need a higher dosage, or if I need to ask for a patch.

Has this happened to any of you, and do you have any ideas????????

Hi Kim,

Sorry to hear about the headaches. That has to be miserable.

I'm assuming you had your ovaries removed, right? If you've only taken the Premarin for 2 days, it's just way too soon to say for sure what amount of estrogen will be right for you. Your body is still recuperating from surgery ... you're VERY early in your recovery.

I think you need to give this a little more time on your current medication. I don't know your age, but the younger you are when you have your ovaries removed, the more of shock it is to your system when you suddenly aren't producing estrogen anymore.

The best idea I can offer right now is to be patient and continue to tell your gyn about your headaches or any other symptoms. I'm sure that's not what you want to hear, but it often takes months to get your hormones regulated properly.

I didn't take any estrogen for three months after my TAH/BSO 2 years ago and luckily, I didn't have headaches. Like you, I had endo and my gyn wanted me to stay off estrogen immediately post op. He did prescribe Megace (progestin) during those first three months and although I did have some pretty nasty night sweats and mood swings, overall I did pretty well.

Hang in there and keep us posted on how you are doing.

Beth

Hi (((Kim))) I'm sorry you've had so much trouble with headaches. It's a good sign that you're finding temporary relief when you take the Premarin, but you may be right that a patch might be a better idea for you. The more even dosage can be a blessing for women who are prone to hormonal headaches, which often come on in response to large swings in estrogen level.

In the Books We Recommend forum here at Hystersisters are several books with good information on hormones and headaches. One in particular, which has a whole chapter on Migraines and Hormonal Headaches, is Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet's book, "Screaming to be Heard" . I found that reading that book (among others) helped me feel validated in the feelings I was having during my early recovery as I was trying to cope with balancing my hormones.

And (((Beth))) is right, you are very early in your HRT experience still, and unfortunately, when you first try any new HRT or dosage change you will experience fluctuations which can lead to temporary symptoms. Often waiting it out can be the only way to get the symptoms to disappear.

If, after researching your options, you decide you want to try a patch rather than the Premarin, you could ask your DR for samples to try. They should have sample packs in varying dosages so you can see if the patches might work for you without committing to a whole month's prescription.

Good luck, I hope you are successful in dealing with the headaches soon!
s,
-Linda

Thank you for your replies and your wisdom! After camping out in my drs office and the er this week, my dr put me on the Vivelle Dot with Estradoil at .5. It wore off after 16 hours (I say wore off-my headache came back with a venegance) so she had me put on 2 patches to see if that amount would last me the three and 1/2 days. When the hrt kicks in, it's just like HEAVEN!!!!! No headaches and no crazy beating heart!

Also, my doctor has the book Screaming to be Heard, and she is going to loan it to me. I thought that was a GREAT sign!!!!

Thanks again!