Prolactin and Pain Threshold in Women: Oral Contraceptives Can Reduce Pain

28. Oktober 2025

2 Min. Lesezeit

Ratgeber öffnen Sammlung öffnen Serie öffnen

Imagine taking the birth control pill and getting rid of your migraines at the same time. As it turns out, this is possible! Researchers in the Health Sciences Department of the University of Arizona have identified a mechanism that explains why women are more sensitive to pain than men, and what can help.

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

Imagine taking the birth control pill and getting rid of your migraines at the same time.
Women feel pain more
Evidence base

Für wen das ist

Für alle, die Hormone und Schilddrüse über Hormone, Frauengesundheit erkunden.

Warum es wichtig ist

Dieser Artikel hilft dir, dich schnell zu orientieren, und führt dich dann zu einer Sammlung oder Serie, wenn du weitermachen möchtest.

Artikelautor

Darya

Autor, Ornament

Women feel pain more

The cause of the increased sensitivity to pain is the neurohormone prolactin, known mainly for promoting lactation after childbirth.

It has often been believed that women experience less pain than men. This is supposedly designed by nature so that women can give birth and not die of pain shock. This has never been clinically proven.

Scientists did an experiment on mice of both sexes, some of which were stimulated to release prolactin. The brains of females reacted several times sharper to the pain signal after prolactin release than the brains of females without stimulation and both groups of males. The findings suggest that new pain treatments targeting prolactin suppression would be of great benefit to women suffering from pain syndromes.

Evidence base

To clarify the effect of prolactin on pain threshold in young women, 144 women were examined. The first group included 72 patients with elevated prolactin and 72 patients with normal levels. All of them were prescribed combined oral contraceptives for 14 cycles. The results of the evaluation of the hormonal profile showed that the levels of all hormones, including prolactin, in both groups under comparison were within the age norms. Patients in both groups reported that menstruation was less painful, and headaches, joint pain, and the premenstrual syndrome were less common.

"There are about 35 million migraine patients in the United States, and 3 out of 4 of them are women. In patients with fibromyalgia, 9 out of 10 are women; in irritable bowel syndrome, 3 out of 4 are women. If you can help them, it will change their lives," says one of the study's authors, Dr. Frank Porreca.

Sources: Yanxia Chen et al, The prolactin receptor long isoform regulates nociceptor sensitization and opioid-induced hyperalgesia selectively in females, Science Translational Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aay7550

Weiterlesen

Hormone und Schilddrüse#Hormone

Estrogen in Women: Lack and Excess

Estrogen hormone is responsible for many processes in a woman's body. What will it affect, and what happens when is it too high, or if its levels drop?

Dr. Ely28. Okt. 2025

Hormone und Schilddrüse#hormone replacement therapy

Hormone Replacement Therapy: Necessity or Risk?

Can aging be postponed? Yes, it can! That is when hormone replacement therapy steps in to help. Today, every woman who wants to take advantage of medical research can easily access it. But what are the risks associated with hormone replacement therapy?

Dr. Gerard28. Okt. 2025

Kardiovaskuläre Gesundheit#Herzinfarkt

Even Slightly Elevated Thyroid Hormone Levels Can Cause Sudden Cardiac Arrest

The risk of death from a heart attack was found to be almost equal in patients with severely elevated thyroxine levels and those whose levels were normal but closer to the upper limit.

Darya28. Okt. 2025

Gesundheit von Frauen#Frauengesundheit

The Pros and Cons of the IUD

The IUD is known as one of the most reliable means of contraception, but many women are still not convinced of its effectiveness and may even fear it. Let's take a look at its pros and cons.

Dr. Helene28. Okt. 2025

Installiere Ornament, um nicht nur diese Artikel zu lesen, sondern auch deine Gesundheit zu verfolgen, Testergebnisse zu speichern und auf weitere nützliche Funktionen zuzugreifen

Ornament installieren