Headache
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Efficacy and tolerability of coadministration of rizatriptan and acetaminophen vs rizatriptan or acetaminophen alone for acute migraine treatment.
To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of coadministration of rizatriptan and acetaminophen in the acute treatment of migraine. ⋯ Rizatriptan coadministered with acetaminophen achieved 2 of the 3 primary hypotheses, proving superior to both acetaminophen and placebo for 2-h pain relief, but failing to achieve superiority to rizatriptan alone. RA was as well tolerated as each of the individual agents.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Botulinum toxin type A as migraine preventive treatment in patients previously failing oral prophylactic treatment due to compliance issues.
To examine the efficacy and safety of and satisfaction with botulinum toxin type A (BoNTA; BOTOX: Allergan, Inc., Irvine, CA) for prophylactic treatment of migraine headache in patients previously failing prophylaxis because of issues pertaining to compliance. Background.- Numerous factors (eg, adverse effects, tolerability, cost, frequency of dosage, hesitancy to take daily medication, failure to complete treatment) negatively influence compliance with the preventive pharmacology for migraine prophylaxis. BoNTA may offer benefit in improving compliance because of its long duration of action, injectable route of administration, and its tolerability (adverse event [AE]) profile. ⋯ BoNTA-treated subjects showed improvements from baseline in measures of headache frequency, and improvements from baseline and in comparison with placebo treatment in headache impact and treatment satisfaction at multiple time points in this study. However, BoNTA-treated subjects did not differ from placebo-treated subjects in measures of headache frequency and severity. BoNTA may be a useful treatment option for headache patients demonstrating poor compliance, adherence, or AE profile with oral prophylactic regimens.
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Some migraine patients find that regular exercise helps in reducing the frequency of headache attacks. In addition, exercise in migraine is recommended from many headache experts. However, most of these recommendations refer to some anecdotal reports or observational studies in literature stating that regular exercise can reduce the frequency and severity of migraine. ⋯ To further recommend exercise in migraine based on EBM-criteria, more studies are imperative. Future studies should adhere to the rules for randomized clinical trials in pharmacological migraines prophylaxis. Implications for further studies are given.
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Intractable pain, headache or otherwise, is a devastating and life-controlling experience. The need to effectively and aggressively control pain is a fundamental tenet of clinical care. In the past several years, increasing advocacy for continuous opioid therapy has become an important, if not controversial, theme in the development of treatment guidelines and teaching programs. ⋯ Significant adverse effects, including influence on sexual hormonal balances, physical and psychological dependence, the development of opioid-induced hyperalgesia, and cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death that can be seen with standard dosages of methadone, make a strong argument against widespread use of continuous opioid therapy (COT) in otherwise healthy young and middle-aged headache patients. We believe that COT should be used in rare circumstances for chronic headache patients, and propose initial guidelines for selecting patients and monitoring treatment. The physician should be well versed in the details of opioid prescribing, administration, and monitoring, and should be prepared to discontinue opioids when clinical justification, patient behavior, or failure to achieve therapeutic goals make discontinuance necessary.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Examining the utility of in-clinic "rescue" therapy for acute migraine.
Management options currently are limited for patients with acute migraine whose symptoms prove refractory to self-administered therapy. ⋯ Providing the alternative of in-clinic "rescue" for acute migraine refractory to self-administered therapy offers an attractive alternative for patients and appears to substantially lower use of an ED for headache treatment and the cost associated with that use.