Pure menstrual migraine with sensory aura: a case report

Jiann-Jy Chen,Dem-Lion Chen,Yung-Chu Hsu

doi:10.1007/s10194-012-0450-9

Jiann-Jy Chen, Dem-Lion Chen + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10194-012-0450-9

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Abstract

Hormonal changes related to the menstrual cycle have a great impact on migraines in women. Menstrual migraine attacks are almost invariably without aura. Categorizing migraines into menstrual or non-menstrual types is one way to stratify migraines without aura according to the appendix criteria of the International Classification of Headache Disorders. We report a peri-menopausal woman whose sensory aura exclusively heralded menstrual migraine. A 51-year-old woman had suffered from monthly episodic headaches since the age of 46. Before a headache, and within 1 h on the first day of her menstruation, she always experienced numbness in her entire left upper limb. After the sensory aura, migrainous headaches occurred with nausea and photophobia. In the postmenopausal period, she no longer had sensory aura, and her headache pattern changed and became less severe. Her physical and neurologic exams as well as electroencephalography, brain magnetic resonance imaging, and conventional angiography were all normal. She fulfilled the diagnosis of pure menstrual migraine with typical sensory aura. To our knowledge, this is the first formal case report of pure menstrual migraine with aura.

Highlights

Hormonal changes, especially related to the menstrual cycle, have a great impact on the occurrence of migraines in women
We report a peri-menopausal woman whose sensory aura exclusively heralded menstrual migraine
She no longer had sensory aura, and her headache pattern changed and became less severe. Her physical and neurologic exams as well as electroencephalography, brain magnetic resonance imaging, and conventional angiography were all normal. She fulfilled the diagnosis of pure menstrual migraine with typical sensory aura

Summary

Introduction

Especially related to the menstrual cycle, have a great impact on the occurrence of migraines in women. Menstrual migraines (MM) are further classified into pure menstrual migraines (PMM) and menstrually related migraines (MRM), which affect 10–14 % and over 50 % of female migraineurs, respectively [2]. Women having migraines without aura encounter MM more frequently than those having migraines with aura [3]. A MRM sufferer may experience a migraine with aura outside the menstrual period, MM attacks almost invariably occur without aura [4]. We diagnosed a female patient whose PMM with aura exclusively occurred at the onset of menstruation in the peri-menopausal years. We believe this is the first formal report of PMM with aura

Case report

Findings

Discussion