Non-randomised trial, 2025
Do common migraine prevention drugs work as well for migraines around your period as other migraines?
No. Two preventive drugs, anti-CGRP antibodies and botulinum toxin, significantly reduced regular migraines but had limited effect on perimenstrual migraines (those around the time of your period). This suggests perimenstrual migraine may need different treatment.
What they did
113 women with menstrual-related migraine were treated with either anti-CGRP antibodies or botulinum toxin. They recorded headache days for one month before treatment and three months after starting treatment, separating headaches that occurred around menstruation from those on other days.
What they found
Non-perimenstrual migraines fell significantly from 7 to 4 days per month. Perimenstrual migraines barely changed, remaining at approximately 2 days per month both before and after treatment. Non-perimenstrual migraine days dropped from 7 to 4, but perimenstrual migraine days showed no significant improvement.
What it means for you
These common migraine prevention drugs work well for migraines on regular days but not for migraines tied to menstruation. This suggests hormonal factors may play a bigger role in perimenstrual migraine, requiring different or additional treatment. The study was small and included only women already on these treatments, so results may not apply to all women with menstrual migraine.
113
Women studied
2.0
Period migraines per month
7 to 4
Regular migraines reduction
About the study
- Original title
- Effectiveness of anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies and onabotulinumtoxinA in menstrually-related migraine: The unmet need of perimenstrual headache days
- Authors
- Mas-de-Les-Valls R, Gómez-Dabó L, Caronna E et al.
- Journal
- Cephalalgia : an international journal of headache
- Year
- 2025
- Study design
- Non-randomised trial
- Participants
- 113
- What was tested
- Anti-CGRP antibodies or botulinum toxin
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1177/03331024251332519
Topics
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