Medications

6 October 2010

Migraine and Severe Motion Sickness

James Discoveries & Stats, Medications 6

Migraine and motion sickness and dizziness often go together – that’s no secret. Many migraineurs suffered from motion sickness when they were younger, many experience it now.

That doesn’t mean that the motion sickness is going on at the same time as a typical migraine attack. Of course, nausea is a very common migraine symptom.

But migraineurs actually often experience motion sickness when they’re not having a migraine attack.

Or… are they?

Just how and how much migraine impacts all of our lives is a matter of a lot of discussion. But an interesting new study, though small, may provide another answer to that question, and it may help those migraineurs who experience extreme motion sickness.

A group of doctors in Pittsburgh, USA, ran a study to see if they could help migraineurs who had motion sickness with…

A common migraine drug.

In this case, it was rizatriptan (Maxalt), one of many triptan type drugs which are abortives for migraine.

Almost 87% of the migraineurs tested responded to the rizatriptan treatment.

So… could it be that the migraine symptoms are really more spread out in our lives that we think?

More tests need to be done (again, this was a very small study), but it looks very likely that not just Maxalt but other triptans will help patients with motion sickness.

Now, there are a couple more things you need to be aware of. First, the ultimate goal is not to have you take more and more medication. You will have to talk this over very carefully with a specialist to see if this is the answer for you.

Second, these patients were pretreated with rizatriptan. This is for patients with severe motion sickness that have unavoidable travel, to take something before they go.

Migraine is not just a once-in-a-while-headache. It has an impact on your whole life. Making the connection between migraine and motion sickness will help us understand both conditions better, and help us treat them both.

Study Rizatriptan reduces vestibular-induced motion sickness in migraineurs.
Comments from Dr. A Mauskop

22 September 2010

Telcagepant to be Sublingual

James Medications, News 1

On Monday the announcement came from Global Health Ventures, Inc., that they would be developing a sublingual version of migraine drug telcagepant.

Telcagepant, a calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonist, has had a rocky beginning. Hailed in 2008 as the beginning of a new era in migraine treatment, the trials faltered over concerns about preventative use. Researchers were concerned when some patients developed high levels of liver enzymes (transaminases).

The drug’s developer, Merck, was cautious about the continued development of the drug, even as an abortive. Then, earlier this year, they announced that they would continue safety trials.

This past Monday, Global Health Ventures in Vancouver Canada, expressed their confidence in the future of telcagepant by announcing their commitment to developing a sublingual version. A special type of sublingual technology is one of the specialties of the company.

Global Health Ventures Inc. (the “Company”), a Specialty Pharma with focus on sublingual drug delivery, is pleased to announce that, it has initiated the development of a sublingual formulation of Telcagepant. Telcagepant is believed to be a powerful anti-migraine drug developed by Merck & Company. The drug blocks the recently discovered clacitonin-gene related hormone receptor (CGRP), a powerful vasodilator protein believed to be a key player in migraine.
…read more

30 August 2010

Zofran for Migraine (fight nausea)

James Medications 4

One type of medication that we haven’t discussed much is Zofran for migraine, or ondansetron. It’s not that unusual for a doctor to prescribe it, and we’ll see why in a moment.

Zofran is a common brand name, but ondansetron is also sold as Emeset, Emetron, Ondavell and others.

Originally used for nausea after and operation or chemotherapy, ondansetron is now much more widely used. When it comes to migraine, Zofran is commonly prescribed to fight nausea.

Zofran may be taken by adults and children both, so it may be useful for children who tend to experience a lot of vomiting and nausea with migraine. It works quickly, and usually has very minimal side effects. In fact, it will not cause drowsiness like many anti-nausea drugs will.

When you have migraine, particularly migraine with nausea, you want something that works fast. That’s why the "dispersible" versions – which dissolve in your mouth – are so popular. A generic version is available at Drugstore.com (8mg being the common dosage for adults).

26 July 2010

Menstrual Migraine: Will Topamax Help?

James Discoveries & Stats, Medications 1

It can … but not as much as we hoped, according to researchers in the University of Turin, Italy.

In a study published online last week, researchers reported on 198 women that suffered from menstrually related migraine. After one or two months of observation, patients were given 50-200mg of topiramate per day for six months.

The good news is that the women had fewer migraine attacks. Of course, this was not a blind study – patients knew they were getting treatment, which means we need to be aware of a significant placebo effect. Still, the significant decrease in attacks is encouraging.

On the other hand, the attacks that did come were no less severe, and were not shorter than normal.

There was no difference with patients who had aura, or in patients that took oral contraceptives.

Topamax (topiramate) may help, it seems, but women will probably want to be on the lookout for other treatments, either in combination or instead of just Topamax.

More about this study: Perimenstrual migraines and their response to preventive therapy with topiramate.

Menstrual migraine – real pain, real solutions

3 June 2010

1% Thursday: Take a Break

James Medications, Tips 2

This tip is not for everyone, and certainly not for everyone at every time. I’m not talking about taking a break from life or from your job, but taking a break from your preventative medication.

Let me be clear: you most certainly need to discuss this with your doctor. Don’t make assumptions, and don’t stop taking a daily medication without her approval.

Sometimes we are so anxious (with reason) to find a treatment that works, we zip along from one medication and one treatment to another, without stopping. Sometimes you need to do this – after all, you’re probably taking an abortive of some kind even if you’re not taking a preventative, and that can be even worse for your body.

On the other hand, there may be a time when you need to stop for two or three months, and remember what it’s like without the daily preventative. Drugs can affect you in ways you don’t even realize, and it can happen gradually. When you get off the drug for a few weeks, you may realize how significant the side effects were.

This could be wise advice for any treatment – but drugs seem to be the most significant when it comes to those side effects.

So if you’ve been going through a period of trying one preventative after another, talk to your doctor about taking a break of 1, 2 or 3 months. Take the time to remember what it’s like without. It may clear your head and allow you to evaluate future treatments in a more objective way.

What is 1% Thursday?

Every Thursday at Headache and Migraine News (weather permitting) we’ll talk about one measurable, practical thing we can do to make our lives just 1% better. Usually it will be something very easy, sometimes it will be a challenge. Let us know if you try it, or share an idea of your own – and maybe a year from now we’ll see that things have really changed for the better!