Women and Headaches

Throughout their lives, women experience significant changes in their headache patterns that are directly related to changes in their reproductive cycles. Menarche, menstruation, oral contraceptives, pregnancy, and menopause affect migraine through changing levels of sex hormones. As many as 60% of women with migraine report increased attacks at the time of menses, while a smaller percentage experiences migraine exclusively during menstruation. The highest prevalence of migraine in women occurs between the ages of 25 and 55 ---- a woman's most productive years. Furthermore, women in their thirties tend to have an increase in the frequency and severity of their attacks. Women with migraine are also more likely than men to suffer severe functional disability and impairment in quality of life. As a result of its prevalence and impact, migraine is one of the most important issues in women's health. Please visit www.headaches.org for more information about headache and migraine related disorders. Speaker Bio: Dr. Diamond graduated with high honors from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and received her medical education from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. She completed residencies in Emergency Medicine/Internal Medicine at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University. She has received Subspecialty Certification for Headache Medicine from the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties. She also is a former fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians and currently is a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine. She joined the staff of the Diamond Headache Clinic in 1989 after serving as an attending physician and clinical instructor at Northwestern University Hospital in Chicago, and as an attending physician at Evanston and St. Francis Hospitals, both in Evanston, Illinois. Dr. Diamond currently is an attending physician in Internal Medicine and Director of the Diamond Inpatient Headache Unit. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science /Chicago Medical School. Also, she is a Lecturer in the Department of Medicine (Neurology), Loyola University Chicago/Stritch School of Medicine. She has contributed numerous articles to the medical literature, and has lectured extensively on various headache subjects; in particular, the treatment of headache in the emergency department and hormones and headache. With Dr. Glen Solomon, she co-edited Diamond and Dalessio's Practicing Physician's Approach to Headache, 6th edition (1999).