Just have a few questions for us ladies! Iām learning more about my body and would like to see if there is a MAV connectionā¦
Do you or did you have painful cramps with your period?
If you were ever pregnant, did you experience horrible āmorningā sickness?
Canāt wait to see the results! Thanks ahead of time!
I donāt know that the connection lies in painful periods per se (which, for the purpose of your survey, I do get) but more in hormonal changes generally - be that from onset of menstruation, menstural cycles in general, fertility treatment, pregnancy, perimenopause, menopause etc. I think that the hormonal connection is pretty well established for large numbers of female migraineurs and also in the fact that more women are migraineurs than men.
Vic
Hi,
Vic is spot on, and thereās a well established link with female hormones and migraine. My balance invariably feels bit off just before my period starts, even in months where Iāve felt pretty much normal otherwise.
To answer your poll, I donāt think I get worse cramps than the average person (I would assume most people get some?) in fact I am a lot better than pre-children, but when I was pregnant I was terribly sick, I had hyperemesis gravidarum. All three pregnancies, and in the latter two I was sick the whole nine months. Fun fun fun. On the upside, my migraines were much better than usual during my pregnancies. I didnāt suffer from MAV at that time, but I donāt feel my migraines and pregnancy sickness (I canāt call it morning sickness as I was sick all day long and the night too!) were connected at all.
HI
My periods were always awful and terribly crampy, but more importantly, I always have had PMS, or even PMDDā¦the mood swings, crying, cravings etcā¦I have also been having these issues since my early 40ās, so perimenopause probably a big part of it. WHen I talked with my gyno about all this, she kept saying āserotonināā¦repeating āserotoninā (oh, and I couldnāt tolerate birth control pillsā¦they made me extrmely nauseous)ā¦againā¦serotoninā¦she said I most likely was a functioning person with naturally low sero, and over time it got under the threshold and I hit bottom, so to speak.
THe cramps could be part of that migraineurs, since we are more sensitivy in our pain receptorsā¦
Kelley
Sometimes I get bad cramps on day one of my cycle, but thatās about it.
I have a 3 month old, and no, I didnāt throw up once during pregnancy! I definitely did have some nausea, especially in first trimester, but no true morning sickness.
I do feel that my MAV is definitely hormone-related though. My MAV started after I went on the pill. When I got off the pill, and especially while pregnant, I felt great. A few weeks postpartum, the MAV came back (I donāt feel quite as bad right now, but itās definitely still there).
yes , to all thoseā¦but I never threw upā¦just felt sick every day till giving birthā¦ I also had post natal depression big timeā¦I only having one child 
jen
CRAZY!!!
SO interesting! I feel like I understand my body now!
I always had the worst period cramps growing up. Very sensitive to any pain actually.
SUPER sick with both pregnancies- diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum. Basically not vomiting, just super nauseous, 24/7 until babies arrived. I still canāt decide which is worse- the dizziness or feeling like you are going to barf at any moment, but so fascinating that there is probably a relation between the migraine and the way our brain handles this. I know that the inner ear and the panic center (which takes care of pain, nausea, etc.) are right next to each other) so Iām sure if one is effected the other one is too although I didnāt get this full blown MAV until after the birth of my 2nd childā¦Must be the way our brain handles the hormones and the way it reacts to it.
Thank you for sharing your stories. Can I just please get a new brain?! 
Very interesting! I have endometriosis, which is known to be co-morbid with migraines. I also had hyperemesis gravidarum with my first pregnancy. I started meds (zofran, unisom) immediately with the second one and ājustā had very bad morning sickness (which, as you ladies understand, is a world more tolerable). Iāve since thought of myself as having an overactive vagus nerve since I also get sympathetic nausea ā like if someone tells me about their own nausea, I will start to feel it, too. Maybe itās all related, eh?
Hi ilovesalem,
It is documented that people with migraine do have low pain thresholds.
jen
Hereās somthing, seems we proccess pain diferently?
headacheaustralia.org.au/researc ā¦ n-migraine
guess Iām the odd one out.
Not bad cramps, no nausea with either of two pregnancies, not even postpartum blues. I was great until MAV turned up!
Did always have motion sickness though. I thought it was weird that pregnancy or OCPs didnāt bother me. I actually take non-stop oral contraceptives just to avoid my period and associated migraine flare up.