Migraine Headache Sufferers Look For Better Medications

A migraine headache is very painful. Sufferers are looking for better medications that have a minimum number of side affects. Migraines are the third most common illness in the world. And, they also affect women more than men. Statistically, 18 percent of women suffer from migraines compared to just 6 percent of men.

Current medications are somewhat effective, but most also have side affects.

Migraine Headache: Symptoms

A migraine can cause severe throbbing pain or a pulsing sensation, usually on one side of the head. It’s often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound. Migraine attacks can last for hours to days, and the pain can be so severe that it interferes with your daily activities.

For some people, a warning symptom known as an aura occurs before or with the headache. An aura can include visual disturbances, such as flashes of light or blind spots, or other disturbances, such as tingling on one side of the face or in an arm or leg and difficulty speaking.

Some migraine symptoms are:

Current Treatments

Migraines are now treated with a number of medications. These range in strength from over-the-counter pain relievers, such as Advil, to opioid medications The opioids are moderately effective, but they are highly addictive and kill thousands who overdose on them every year.

In addition to being addictive, two opioid medications — oxycodone and hydrocodone can also cause these rebound headaches. They are so powerful that just taking them once a week can cause your migraine to get worse in frequency and severity.

Triptans are also used to treat migraines. These are prescription drugs that obstruct pain pathways in your brain. But, they have a bad side affect — they can cause recurring headaches, sometimes called ‘rebound headaches.”

Triptans also present problems for cardiovascular patients. They narrow the blood vessels. For this reason, doctors are reluctant to prescribe them for heart patients.

Currently, 3.5 million of the 40 million migraine headache sufferers can’t take triptans.

Therefore, researchers are looking for new drugs for migraine headache sufferers that have minimal side affects. One drug that might be the answer, according to a recent study is Rimegepant.

Researchers just published Phase 3 clinical trial results and found that rimegepant relieved migraine headache symptoms within two hours after taking the pill. Less than 2 percent taking this medication had side affects such as urinary tract infections. Moreover, participants with heart issues showed no blood vessel constrictions.