Migraines are not just striking women. Men experience them also. Exactly why men develop them isn’t very clear. But theories exist.

A migraine is a headache that can cause severe throbbing pain or a pulsing sensation, sometimes on one side of the head. It is often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound. This type of headache can last for hours to days, and the pain can be so bad that it interferes with your daily activities.

For some people, a warning symptom known as an aura occurs before or with the headache. An aura can include visual disturbances, such as flashes of light or blind spots, or other disturbances, such as tingling on one side of the face or in an arm or leg and difficulty speaking.

People who develop migraines can have such excruciating pain that standing, lying down or the slightest movement can cause nausea and make pain worse.

Mine were caused by estrogen dominance. Following a hysterectomy many years ago, I was placed on a high dose of Premarin. A synthetic hormone made from horses urine. I was on that for 13 years, before I began learning about bioidentical hormones. Once I was on a balanced plan of both bioidentical estrogen and bioidentical progesterone, I never had another migraine. They totally stopped.

Estrogen imbalances often happen in a woman’s life for other reasons Especially around her perimenopausal and menopausal years. Your risk of chronic illness or other women’s health issues increases if the symptoms of estrogen dominance are left unaddressed. Without any supplemental health aids (bioidentical hormones) can cause a lot of health issues as well.  Imbalances are common after a hysterectomy also.

Most conventional medical doctors won’t know about bioidentical hormone replacement. Integrative medical doctors and naturopathic doctors will have a better understanding about them. And they will know how to measure your blood levels as well as doing other tests. The type of tests are necessary to prescribe what quantity of different hormone replacement you will need. Don’t ever let any doctor tell you that this is all part of aging. This is wrong!

Chronic health conditions affect about 50% of all American adults. Conventional medicine uses treatments for symptoms and doesn’t always get to what’s actually causing them. Integrative and naturopathic specialist will.

Functional medicine specialist/doctors, look at the whole body as a whole unit of different systems functioning together. Conventional medical specialists  will often overlook your symptoms as being estrogen dominance. This includes both women and men across all age ranges. Additionally, the rates of cancers and chronic illnesses linked with estrogen dominance are on the rise right along with it.

Sometimes simple diet and lifestyle changes can make a difference to minimize your risk of estrogen dominance. There may even be factors you don’t consider, such as eating high-estrogen foods, being overexposed through everyday skincare products, using BPA plastics, and chronic stress.

WHAT IS ESTROGEN?

Estrogen is best known as the female sex hormone. It is created in the ovaries, although your adrenal glands and fat cells also make estrogen. In females, estrogen is responsible for reproduction, menstruation, and menopause. Estrogen comes from DHEA, which produces progesterone, another female hormone essential for menses and pregnancy. Estrogen is vital for your bone and blood health and your sex drive.

This hormone is responsible for promoting the physical changes that women experience during puberty. However, estrogen affects bodily functions for all genders, including promoting good cholesterol levels, promoting bone formation, and improving the collagen content in your skin.

For women, estradiol reduces symptoms of menopause in the vagina, such as dryness, burning, and itching.

Normal estradiol levels range from 15 to 350 pg/mL for menstruating women. For postmenopausal women, normal levels should be below 10 pg/mL. Which can present health issues.

Estrogen In Men

Men also produce estrogen in their testicles, although a particular form known as estradiol is significant for male sexuality. Estradiol is essential for men to modulate libido, have a healthy erectile function, and develop sperm.

Men also produce progesterone, but about half the amount from that of females. Progesterone is made in men by the adrenal glands and testes. Progesterone is vital to good health in both women and men. it is the primary precursor of our adrenal cortical hormones and testosterone. The male hormone, testosterone, is an antagonist to estradiol (E2). It is made from progesterone. Men normally continue to produce relatively normal level of testosterone for their age as well into the seventies. Contrary to common perception, testosterone does not cause prostate cancer. If testosterone were the cause of prostate cancer, young men would be dying of prostate cancer. Which is not so as young men have higher levels of testosterone and older men have a lower level.

Optimal levels of estradiol in an adult men should be 10-40 pg/mL and 10-60 pg/mL for estrogen.

The prostate is embryologically the same as the uterus in the female. Research studies have shown that when prostate cells are exposed to estrogen, the cells proliferate and become cancerous. When progesterone or testosterone was added, cancer cell dies.

The Male Migraine

Dr. Jesse Hanley and Dr. Peter Eckhart are coming to the conclusion that the abundance of estrogen and estrogen like substances (xenoestrogens or foreign estrogens) are responsible for a vast number of today’s problems. The abundance of estrogen is referred to as estrogen dominance which is an increasing serious problem for both women and men. As well as high levels of stress. Among other factors.

Sources of xenoestrogens includes commercially raised beef, chicken and pork, birth control pills, spermicide, detergent, plastics, plastic drinking bottles, pesticides, herbicides, personal care products, canned foods and lacquers.