I first had migraine headaches at age 17. I could count my pulse by counting the throbbing in my head. I would start to vomit a short time after the onset of pain. If I didn't have to be in class or at work I would lay in a quiet, darkened room in an attempt to mitigate the pain. This helped with the vomiting, but didn't relieve the pain. The pain lasted for a day or 2 or three, and happened several times a month. Finally when I was 47 I was prescribed Tylenol # 3 which relieved the pain. I worked full time to support myself and my daughter and attended college full time in the hope that education would enable us to overcome poverty. I worked a job I did not enjoy and the pain usually began a few minutes after starting my shift. This led me to believe that stress was a major cause. Menopause heralded the end of migraines, so I wondered if hormones played a major role. People would think I just had a tension headache that I could cure with relaxation and an OTC pill. The pain was not related to my menstrual cycle but ended with menopause. What may have caused the pain/vomitING>