Looking up levonorgestrel, the hormone ingredient in the Mirena IUD, found that it is advised to be ‘used with caution in women with a history of migraine.’
I have never seen this before, and am going to go thru my Kaiser records and see just when mine was inserted, & try to figure out if that ties in with the slow but sure progression to this latest chronic episode.
Oh man I can hardly think straight!!! No one at Kaiser ever, ever said anything to me about this EVER. And NONE of the Mirena literature I was given mentions it!!!
Migraines run in my family!
Between this and the flu shot…I am so upset right now, I have had this thing INSIDE MY BODY!!!
Thanks for posting Kathleen. It’s interesting to me that hormonal changes and fluctuations are clear triggers for women with migraine yet I have not yet heard of a single compelling case where treating migraine with hormones (bioidentical or not) has made any impact. This line of treatment is not in the guidelines and not used by migraine specialists. In short it doesn’t work otherwise we’d be all over it.
Maybe something to run past Steve Rauch for a professional opinion!
I recently asked my neurologist about birth control pills (via the phone, so it wasn’t a big conversation, and she seemed to think I wanted to try to get rid of migraine headaches with them, not all the other head junk that gets worse cyclically, but anyhow…) - through her nurse, she said that bc pills help about 1/3 of migraineurs, don’t do anything for 1/3, and make things worse for 1/3. (Honestly, liking the odds there, as 2/3 looks doable to get rid of some non-migraine issues, so may be discussing this option with her more when I go back in a couple weeks…)
As for Mirena, yeah, when I went to the ob/gyn back in Feb. and discussed this whole MAV thing with her and asked about bc pills to help, she said it was worth a try and them prescribed the Nuvaring (which is not a pill). Well, when I researched it, I found that it was probably one of the worst things I could use, having migraine issues. From what I read it is totally contraindicated for folks with migraine (especially with aura, which I have), as the stroke risk, etc. is quite high for migraineurs with that form of estrogen, etc. Sheesh. Never took it. Hence, revisiting the idea, but with my neurologist this time…
This is interesting though as I had the mirena coil fitted in feb 2012 an then started feeling bad and then got dizzies so I got it taken out end of match. I asked my doc if the coil could have triggered it she said the stress of having the mirena in was most possible to have not helped but it was not the main cause of it. I always ask if hormones play a big part on the symptoms etc but to this day they won’t and will not link it. Although I do feel hormones are a biggy in this. X
I have been a long time migraine without aura sufferer (18 years) and a recent vertigo sufferer (12 months). New specialist last week finally put the pieces together and is thinking I have MAV, although SCD is on the list too (CT scan being scheduled to rule that out). I also happen to have Endometriosis for the past 20 years and have had to control this reproductive disease with various hormonal supplements. Interestingly, the best control of both the Endometriosis and the least impacting on my migraines is the Mirena IUD. I have been using Mirena for the past 6 years and actually experienced a decrease in frequency of common migraines and did not experience vertigo until last year when I had a horrible episode of Vestibular Neuritis which has caused a year of debilitating recurrent vertigo episodes. Guess it just goes to show that we are all so very different when it comes to what will lower our migraine/vertigo thresholds - a good reminder to keep an open mind and work tirelessly at developing your own trigger profile.
