Do you know the difference between 'migraine' and 'migraines'?

It’s not a semantic point - apparently doctors now refer to it as ‘migraine’ because it is a complex set of symptoms which are collectively considered a chronic disease.

Maybe you heard my friend and collaborator Sally Herships talk about those symptoms, in the episode we did earlier this year - a visceral description of an all-over body condition, nausea, pain, headache and more, through her powerful audio diaries.

Many of you told me that this was an important episode.

Another friend, Courtney Martin, recently sent me a voice memo and asked for a follow-up episode: what is the connection between migraine and hormones, anyway, she asked. And does perimenopause make it worse?

That follow-up is here: my conversation with Dr Rashmi B.Halker Singh, a migraine specialist from the Mayo Clinic. ​

This episode is migraine & hormones 101, and covers the estrogen connection, migraine in puberty, pregnancy and perimenopause, and it features information on how a migraine actually starts and treatment options

But - sing it with me - We. Need. More. Research. We're still learning about migraine in women and have lots of unanswered questions to dig into.

I want to go beyond this episode and ask you: if you are peri/menopausal, and have migraine - are you on HRT? And how do you manage that? What has worked for you if you've been dealing with hormone-related migraine, and what conversations have you had with your doctor? Tell me all the things.

Here's a super nerdy deep dive on migraine and the American Headache Society's resources page.

In other news:

We are almost at the end of season 5!

And to commemorate it, I'm having a virtual open house for Overlooked on Wednesday 10th December at 12 pm EST. There's no real agenda, I thought it'd be nice to say hi to listeners and subscribers and if you want to go behind the scenes a little bit on Overlooked and meet me and my producer Jes, reply to this email with 'open house' and I'll send you a zoom link.

What else I'm reading and listening to this week:

​Some things that didn’t suck in 2025 (really) (Arm and a Leg podcast, which covers the cost of healthcare. Always a relevant topic but especially this week).

​This machine could keep a baby alive outside the womb. How will the world decide to use it? (The Guardian)

​The ‘Worst Test in Medicine’ is Driving America’s High C-Section Rate (NYTimes)

Wishing you the best of health,

Golda