Mail Online

SERENA’S SECRET BATTLE

WHEN tennis superstar serena Williams crashed out of a major tournament in 2004 to relative newcomer alina Jidkova it made headlines. It later emerged serena, then 23 and already six-times Grand slam champion, was in the grip of a crippling menstrual migraine. In an interview in Good health on May 3, 2005, she talked frankly about it and the treatment that finally helped. ‘WHEN I stepped out on court to play Alina Jidkova I should have been feeling confident. I was at the top of my game. Most of the crowd assumed the result was a foregone conclusion. Except it wasn’t. Because hours before the game I had started to suffer from a menstrual migraine.

‘The pain inside my head was intense. I felt sick and dizzy and as I walked onto the court, the light felt as though it was burning into the back of my eyes. I had no energy and had to force myself to keep going.

‘But as the migraine worsened, my playing fell apart. As I walked off the court I knew I finally had to get help. I first suffered from menstrual migraines when I was 18. It is an intense pain. I would just want to cover my face and lie in a dark area. ‘Sometimes, despite being in the grip of a blinding headache, I would have to go and play matches. To be honest, I don’t know how I got through them. Nothing seemed to work. [Then] one day I was telling a girlfriend about the headaches and she mentioned a medication she’d heard about [Frovatriptan]. It worked. I now have my career and life back on track.’

30 YEARS OF GOOD HEALTH

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2021-09-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://mailonline.pressreader.com/article/283377655107820

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