By Martha Robert
A migraine is a throbbing painful headache, usually on one side of the head, that is often initiated or “triggered” by specific compounds or situations (environment, stress, hormones, and many others). They occur more often in women (75%, approximately) and may affect a person’s ability to do common tasks.
Over-the-counter drugs
There are many types of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines for headache pain. Some of the most common are aspirin, naproxen sodium, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen; some OTCs are marketed as treatments for migraines. Although all of these OTCs may be helpful, people should not overuse them to avoid toxicity, ulcers, and other gastrointestinal problems. In addition, overuse may make migraines worse.
Triptans
Triptans (Amerge, Axert, Frova, Imitrex, Maxalt, Relpax, Treximet, and Zomig) are the most commonly prescribed medication for the treatment of migraines. However, people with hypertension, heart disease, stroke, and those who take certain medications may not be able to take triptans; a doctor can help with medication choices. Unfortunately, side-effects of nausea, dizziness, chest pain, and paresthesia may occur with triptans.
Ergotamines
Ergotamines (Cafergot, Migergot, or Migranal) are used to treat migraines although they are usually not as effective as triptans. However, they have side effects such as nausea, dizziness, muscle pain, or an unusual or bad taste in the mouth and may interact with other drugs. These side effects and drug interactions may limit the patient’s use of the drug.
Is your treatment working?
Sometimes the initial treatments for migraines either do not reduce the symptoms or only marginally reduce them. If, after trying the prescribed treatment(s) about two or three times and getting little or no relief, you should ask your doctor to change the treatment. However, patients are urged to treat the migraines early (within about 2 hours) to get full benefit of treatments.
Limits of medication use
Some chronic headaches are due to overuse of medicine; avoid using migraine prescribed medicines more than twice per week. Using and tapering medicine for migraines should proceed under your doctor’s supervision. Narcotics are used as a last resort for migraines because they can be addictive.