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Helping You Live Better
The Headache Toolbox
New delivery systems help build out the toolbox of headache treatments. By Jackie Walker Gibson
THE PRIMARY TREATMENT for headache is medication in pill form. But as many people with headache know, it’ s not the only option, and it might not be the best option, depending on how pills react with your gastrointestinal( GI) tract.
“ People with migraine will manage multiple attacks of migraine over decades of time, so it is essential to understand that not all attacks of migraine are created equally,” says Roger Cady, MD, associate executive chairman of the National Headache Foundation and founder and director of the Headache Care Center, Inc. in Springfield, Mo.
Dr. Cady notes that while some migraines are severe from the start, others develop more slowly. Some migraines are associated with severe symptoms such as nausea or vomiting and others with less intense symptoms. Some migraineurs have unique treatment needs because of their obligations and responsibilities that may lie ahead.“ Consequently it is important that migraineurs have the right therapeutic tools to match their treatment needs,” he says. With seven triptans on the market, Dr. Cady notes that migraine patients often find themselves on a“ merry-go-round of switching from one pill to another in pursuit of successful migraine control. The reality is that what many patients with migraine need is not another pill but a better, more effective means of delivering their migraine medication.”
Nausea is a common symptom of migraine and also a common side effect of medication. According to the February 2012 issue of the journal Headache, 92 percent of migraineurs experience nausea during a migraine, and 31 percent of migraineurs report this symptom as interfering with their ability to take oral medications.
Fortunately, many new and novel products are available or being developed to meet migraineurs’ needs.
Injectable medications provide one delivery system that may be prescribed to provide quick relief. The needleless injection— one new form of injectable approved by the FDA— propels medicine into the fat of the skin in one-tenth of a second, fast enough to push it through the skin but without the sting of a sharp needle.
Patches also bypass the GI tract, but their efficacy depends on the delivery method. Lidocaine patches are local anesthetics that( like some topical creams) can reduce pain in an area by temporarily dulling feeling.“ Lidocaine patches are not commonly used as a treatment for migraine,” Dr. Cady says.“ They can be used to relieve muscle pain or skin sensitivity, but are not very
10 HEAD WISE | Volume 2, Issue 2 • 2012