Thursday, October 07, 2010
Ibuprofen Strong Enough for Migraines?
From Health Behavior News Service
For many people suffering from migraine headaches, over-the-counter ibuprofen – Advil and Motrin are well-known brands – might be enough to relieve the pain.
A new Cochrane review finds that about half of those with migraine headaches will have pain relief within two hours after taking ibuprofen.
Migraine headache is intense throbbing pain on one side of the head, and an attack can last anywhere between four and 72 hours. Symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, aura and increased sensitivity to light and sound often accompany migraines.
According to the Migraine Research Foundation, migraine ranks in the top 20 of the world’s most disabling medical illnesses.
To relieve their headache pain, almost half (49 percent) of migraine sufferers use over-the-counter medication only, 20 percent use prescription medication and 29 percent use both, according to the Cochrane review.
The reviewers evaluated nine studies with 4,373 adult participants who had a diagnosis of migraine headache. The average age of the participants was 30 to 40 years and all had a history of migraine for at least 12 months before entering the studies.
In total, 414 people with migraines underwent treatment with 200 milligrams of ibuprofen, 1,615 received a dose of 400 milligrams, 208 received a 600-milligram dose and 1,127 received a placebo.
Twenty-six percent of patients taking the 400-milligram dose were pain free within two hours, compared with 20 percent who took the smaller dose and 11 percent who received a placebo. In the same period, 57 percent who took 400 milligrams of ibuprofen had their pain reduced from moderate or severe to “no worse than mild,” compared with 25 percent taking a placebo.
“For those who experience these outcomes, ibuprofen is a useful, inexpensive and readily available treatment,” Derry said. “Those who don’t experience good outcomes will need to look at alternative treatments.”
Roger Chou, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University and the director of clinical guidelines development at the American Pain Society, said that it is common to use OTC medications such as ibuprofen to treat migraines.
“Migraine sufferers really vary in what they do, in part because the severity and frequency varies so much,” said Chou. “People with relatively mild migraines probably do use over-the-counter medications and so do people who find that they work.”
He added, “Those with more severe migraines, or who don’t get relief with over-the-counter medications, or who have very frequent migraines, often end up in the doctor’s office and are given various prescriptions.”
Derry and her colleagues also found that the nausea and other symptoms that usually accompany migraines decreased within two hours and fewer participants used rescue medications with ibuprofen compared with placebo. Only mild side effects occurred with the ibuprofen.
Read the full article here.
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