Migraines, Melatonin & Egg Quality… A Fortuitous Link for Women Considering Egg Freezing or IVF
This might be the only good to come out of being a migraine sufferer!
I have suffered from aura migraines since puberty.
Every month without fail, a week before my period, I would get one. It didn’t seem to matter if I slept 8 hours a night, avoided all the ‘trigger’ foods, had religiously taken the beta blockers, amytryptiline, topiramate or whatever was the daily prevention pill of the month, I would still get one!
But that all changed two years ago after reading this study and taking 3 mg of melatonin every night.
I went from having…
12+ debilitating migraines a year to now only 1 or 2
(I keep track of them in an app called “Clue” which I also use to track my periods as they are so irregular — if you don’t have an app for this sort of thing then I highly recommend this one).
Melatonin is a hormone naturally produced by the body. Most people are probably familiar with its role in regulating ‘sleep-wake’ cycles. As migraine sufferers have been shown to have abnormally low levels of melatonin in the body (Peres et al. 2006), it stands to reason that taking melatonin supplements may help prevent them.
“But what does this have to do with freezing my eggs?”
Melatonin and Egg Quality
As quality seems to matter more than quantity when it comes to eggs and egg freezing I have been looking into ways I can improve the quality of my eggs.
Apart from the obvious… eat a healthy diet, don’t smoke, manage stress etc. One in particular caught my eye — take 3mg of MELATONIN daily.
As a scientist, I hunted down the studies and lo and behold melatonin is not only a “sleep” hormone but also an extremely powerful antioxidant that has been shown in numerous studies to significantly improve the quality of eggs (oocytes), the quality of embryos and increase fertilisation, implantation and pregnancy rates!
As the freezing of my eggs this month was a fairly last-minute decision to fit it in around my new job I have been feeling extremely underprepared for it BUT having taken melatonin for over 2+ years now…
Perhaps I am not as ill-prepared as I thought :)
Nx
Are you taking melatonin for migraine prevention? Is it working for you too? Or are you taking it to improve your fertility? Do you think it made a difference to your outcomes? I would love to hear your stories if you are willing to share.
