I appreciated Ellen’s blog post on Home therapy for intractable Migraine. She mentions an interesting study, and brings up, once again, DHE migraine treatment!
DHE, or dihydroergotamine, has been a topic of conversation here more than once. See especially DHE Migraine Treatment: Why some people still use it and Levadex – inhaled migraine drug on the way. DHE has been used for migraine and cluster headache, and it remains a helpful treatment for many patients.
In her post, Ellen mentions a study in the USA reported on in Headache (from the American Headache Society) in January. The researchers wanted to find out how patients would react to a home based intravenous dihydroergotamine treatment.
This type of treatment is usually done in the hospital or clinic, which can make things a lot more difficult for many patients.
There are advantages and disadvantages to having treatment like this at home. But perhaps too often doctors default to the hospital visit, instead of considering some patients that may benefit more from home treatment.
The patients in the study saw good results. All had chronic daily headache (CDH), and in the end only one was still diagnosed with CDH. There were no serious adverse effects at all.
Though this was a very small study (only 31 patients), it may lead to more openness by doctors and specialists to new options in treatments – not only for DHE, but other treatments as well.
Thanks, Ellen!
For more, read Outpatient Home-Based Continuous Intravenous Dihydroergotamine Therapy for Intractable Migraine
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I had great success with DHE at home. My husband and I became experts at giving injections. Unfortunately the continuous use ended with dramatic results – mitral valve regurgitation. Luckily it healed when I stopped the DHE. The negative side of it is that I’m left with a slight murmur that is easily irritated by colds, the flu, allergies, and side effects from other medications.