When we develop migraine headaches, the most common action is to reach for the aspirin or ibuprofen. Few people would ever consider seeing an endocrinology expert for their headaches, but your hormones could be the cause of your misery. Endocrinology is a branch of medicine dealing with the endocrine system, including hormones, and is a very specialized field. You probably don’t realize it, but thyroid disease and other issues with your endocrine system could be related to migraines and headaches in general. Therefore, it suddenly makes perfect sense to see a doctor who practices endocrinology.
In the human body there are conditions that happen at the same time, but don’t actually cause one another; instead they coexist. For example, almost 50% of people who suffer from a migraine headache also have a major depressive disorder such as clinical depression. Coexisting conditions can have a big impact on the effective treatment of individual disorders. Hyperthyroidism and other thyroid diseases are now known to coexist with migraines and headaches too.
Indeed, a strong connection has been made between chronic migraines, persistent headaches, and hypothyroidism. According to researchers, coexisting conditions affect one another in a variety of ways, such as having an impact on progress and the amount of time taken to diagnose the conditions in order to find suitable treatment. Coexisting conditions may even be a main reason why headaches become a daily occurrence for some people. Patients with migraine headaches that have been treated for hyperthyroidism have experienced a remarkable level of relief.
Many eminent researchers and doctors are convinced that endocrine hormones play a major role in the development of a migraine and/or headache, along with the failure of these conditions to respond to treatment. Rather than looking only at our reproductive hormones, we also need to take a closer look at endocrine hormones and their role in migraines and headaches. You should see an endocrinologist and have blood work performed in order to check your levels of cortisol, thyroid, and other endocrine hormones. Free T3 and T4 levels should also be checked, since the normal TSH test is not all-encompassing.
Subclinical hyperthyroidism could be connected with consistent headaches and could also have an association with the resistance to treatment of some patients with migraines. What isn’t so clear-cut is the reason why migraines, headaches, and other issues occur together despite the fact there is a clear connection. Although medical science is making huge strides towards this discovery, we are not there yet. Once it becomes more clear, there may yet be a day where constant headaches and awful migraines become a distant memory.
The main lesson to be learned from this information is that reaching for over-the-counter medication at the first sign of a headache or migraine is not conducive to a long-term solution. This type of medication only treats the symptoms for a short period of time and will not prevent reoccurrence. For a chance at permanent relief, you need to book an appointment with a hormone balancing doctor who, more than likely, will get to the real reason behind your headaches which very well could be due to a hormonal imbalance.
