MAV and ovulation

Hi everyone, I’m new here!

I’ve not been diagnosed with MAV (I haven’t actually seen a doctor, was prescribed stemetil over the phone by an out-of-hours doctor in November - I described how I was feeling, he said it was vertigo and prescribed the pills, I have not had any follow-up) - but… I had 3 days of real bad vertigo in November (NEVER had anything like it before). One month later, it came back, milder and just for a day or 2. Now, January, same time of the month, it’s back. I had a bad headache all afternoon yesterday, cleared by the time I went to bed. However, I couldn’t settle and around 2 am this morning the vertigo hit me BIG time. All day today I have had a thick head and ‘full’ ears, just don’t feel right, a little spinning but not bad…

So, I am 38, had a hysterectomy September 2010 (kept my ovaries) and have quite definite monthly cycles. I still have some spotting most months (some women do get this after hysterectomy, it comes from tissues at the top of the cervix), I can get really bad PMS type symtoms. I don’t get the same things every month, sometimes I can feel really sick, sometimes vile tempered, sometimes tearful. The thing is, I kind of know when I would be having my period, and these headache/vertigo attacks have been happening around the time I would be ovulating, rather than bleeding. I wondered if anyone else has experienced this?

My hormones are definitely out of whack - I wouldn’t be at all surprised to be told I am perimenopausal (I think I was before the hysterectomy, and my mum was way into it by the time she was my age). I have had a good look around this site, which is incredibly helpful - thank you all! - and it seems many women can relate their MAV to hormones.

Oh, I have suffered occasional migraines for the last 10 years or so - from aura-only to full on, 2 week headaches - but not frequent. I am more convinced today that I may be suffering MAV because this morning I found myself unable to read or type words correctly, which happens to me a lot with migraines.

I seem to have lost what it was I was trying to ask, sorry! I think it was just about migraines and/or MAV occuring with ovulation, rather than with actual periods.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts x

Hi, and welcome, though we never like to see anyone joining due to dizziness.

The key thing to think about in relation to hormones and migraine is fluctuation, and there is certainly hormone fluctuation around the time of ovulation. Which hormones and how much of a fluctuation each person’s brain will react to is an individual matter, but in general, change is one thing that a migraine brain does not like. For me, entering perimenopause is what started the whole mess. The monthly fluctuations throughout my adult life until then were OK - but the rollercoaster ride of much wider swings of hormone levels that hit in perimenopause is what brought on the MAV.

I’m on Topamax now, which has almost eliminated my symptoms.

Hope this helps, and I hope you get some relief!

Totally agree with MaryAlice on the fluctuating hormone bit. Also, I track my ovulation cycles and have always found myself to be dizzier on ovulation day.

Thank you so much for your replies, I don’t feel quite so loopy now!

There is certainly something going on with my hormones - I’m retaining water like crazy, have SPOTS! Never had spots, I was very lucky all through my teens, but since my hysterectomy (and, therefore, since I have been completely ‘natural’, as in no synthetic hormones) I have regularly (monthly) had one little spot appear once a month. Right now I have 3, and I’m bloated, VERY irritable, tearful… exhausted, achey, anxious, hot/cold, ravenous or unable to eat at all, trembly…

I think it’s time to talk to my doctor :frowning:

Thanks again ladies x