Menstrual migraine, old and new.

The authors reviewed the connection between sexual hormones and migraine crisis. Besides other exogenous factors, the fall of estradiol blood levels in the late luteal and premenstrual phase seems a causal factor in the origin of menstrual-related headache crisis. The behaviour of migraine crisis during the various events of female reproductive life, support this view. The role of PRL, T, FSH and LH was also discussed. On the other hand, menstrual migraine represents a model that fits perfectly with a neuroendocrine hypothesis which is based upon a faulty chronobiological response of the so-called antinociceptive system.