my neurologist and i spent two years building a migraine map. cycle days 25-27 were unmanageable, guaranteed. aura came late afternoon on flare days. nurtec worked in 90 minutes, consistent.
prodrome was textbook. i had it figured out. then perimenopause hit and the whole thing broke. my cycle became irregular, stretched to 45 days some months, then back to 28.
suddenly i’d get aura at random times, prodrome lasted hours instead of a predictable 4. nurtec started taking 2-3 hours or didn’t touch it at all. my photophobia got worse, but only on certain days. my trigger log became useless because the patterns weren’t repeating anymore.
it’s like i built a really accurate model of a system that no longer exists. my neurologist said this is actually pretty common in perimenopause - the hormonal instability makes migraine unpredictable for a while. but knowing it’s common doesn’t make tracking feel less pointless when the data doesn’t predict anything. i’m getting back on ajovy next week to try preventing instead of just aborting, but the whole foundation of my self-knowledge just cracked.
anyone else gone through hormonal shifts that completely scrambled their pattern?