Popular Migraine Medication to Combat Your Pain

Migraines or a migraine with aura are considered a neurological disease that affect both men and women. While their cause is still unclear, there are a number of migraine medication options available to treat migraine headaches. Most people have triggers that start the process. A migraine headache diary is a good first step, since trigger avoidance is the first step in migraine treatment, and provides your doctor or health care provider with important information.

Migraines are often confused with symptoms from different types of chronic headaches, like cluster headaches, tension headaches, a tension-type headache, or sinus headaches. Just because you have chronic pain or a chronic daily headache, doesn't necessarily mean you have migraines, since they share symptoms with other headache types. A cluster headache, for example, can also cause severe one-sided pain. Migraines can also be classified as a secondary headache when caused by other factors such as neck pain or as a side effect to other medications. Therefore it is highly recommended to get a definitive diagnosis from your doctor. This will also give you access to the migraine medication right for you.

There are two treatment approaches for migraine medication once your physician has made the diagnosis: preventative and acute (taking a medication once the pain has started). Most are available as prescription drugs, but there are some non-prescription drugs available as well.

PREVENTATIVE MIGRAINE MEDICATION OPTIONS

Good candidates for preventive migraine medication are those who have frequent, disabling migraines despite acute treatments, lack of response or contraindications to acute medications, long term medication use or medication-overuse, leading to more headaches.

The goal of preventive therapy is to reduce the frequency, severity, and length of attacks, improve response to treatment, decrease patient disability, and lessen the need for acute medications These are considered chronic medications because you need to take them daily for adequate prevention. Common drug classes used to prevent migraines are: blood-pressure medications (calcium-channel blockers or beta-blockers), antidepressants, anti-convulsants, serotonin antagonists, and others including vitamins or herbal remedies.

Both classes of blood-pressure medications work on the vascular network that surrounds the brain, as well as on the blood itself, making them a good preventative migraine medication option for many people.

Calcium channel blockers stop arterial spasms, block serotonin release, and keep blood flowing freely by inhibiting platelet clumping. Calcium channel blockers include verapamil and nimodipine, and can cause weight gain, constipation, low blood pressure, and dizziness.

Beta-blockers work in a similar way. They also inhibit platelet clumping and constrict the arteries in your head to decrease blood flow by blocking beta receptors. Some Beta-blockers are Inderal (propranolol), Blocadren (timolol), and Toprol (metoprolol), and side effects are dizziness, nausea, depression, insomnia and fatigue.

Antidepressant medications, such as Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, or Elavil, work differently as a migraine medication than they do for depression. They still prevent serotonin from getting reabsorbed prevents migraines in some people. Common side effects are low sex drive and weight change. Older tricyclic antidepressants like Amitriptyline, Nortriptyline, Imipramine are also used at times and can cause dry mouth, weight gain, low sex drive and sleepiness.

Anti-convulsants increase levels of the amino acid GABA, which may play a role in migraine development. Topamax is one of the most talked about, but others in the class include Depakote (divalproex sodium) and Depakene (sodium valproate). Side effects are weight change, rash and sleepiness.

Cyproheptadine is a serotonin antagonist that is usually reserved for children, as it only has mild effects in adults.

Riboflavin has been used with some success, It can cause your urine to change color.

Herbal remedies that can be used as a migraine medication include feverfew, butterbur extract, peppermint, passion flower, willow, ginkgo biloba and cayenne pepper. Find a reliable source to ensure high quality herbs and best way to administer. Check for interactions with other medicines and conditions.

ACUTE MIGRAINE MEDICATION OPTIONS

Acute migraine medication options are used for active migraines and fall into one of three categories: triptans, ergots and analgesic and pain relievers. Many analgesics are available without a prescription, which makes them good first-line drugs to try for a migraine headache or good drugs for tension headaches.

The triptans are the newest migraine headache medication class. They work by targeting serotonin receptors and appear to reduce inflammation and constrict blood vessels. Some consider them a miracle medicine because they not only stop the pain, but they can also relieve nausea and drowsiness. They can be taken orally, injected, or inhaled via nasal spray. The triptans are Imitrex (Sumatriptan), Zomig (zolmitriptan), Maxalt (rizatriptan), Frova (frovatriptan), Amerge (naratriptan), Axert (almotriptan) and Relpax (eletriptan). Side effects are sleepiness, flushing, tingling, and tightness in the throat or chest.. Patients with heart disease are not good candidates for this class of drug.

Ergots like Ergotamine and dihydroergotamine mesylate (Migranal), need to be taken at the first sign of pain. They came before the triptans, and are still used in people who can't take triptans. They may activate other migraine pathways as well as decreasing serotonin activity and constricting blood vessels. Ergots are not recommended for migraine with aura. They are available in oral, rectal, nasal, injectable and IV formulations. Nausea and headaches are the most common side effect, but they can cause more serious damage to blood vessels, so physician monitoring is recommended.

Analgesics and other pain relieving medications are usually the first line treatment when people first experience migraines, because many of these migraine medications are available without a prescription or over the counter (OTC).

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil and Motrin) and naproxen sodium (Aleve and Naprosyn) reduce inflammation, give relief from pain, and raise one's pain threshold. They are not recommended as chronic headache medications because they can cause stomach problems, thin the blood, and can cause a rebound headache. A rebound headache is caused by taking a medication too often, causing a headache when you stop taking them. These can also be called a medication-overuse headache. NSAIDs are not recommended in pregnancy.

Acetominophen (Tylenol) is a pain reliever which also raises your pain tolerance. It should not be used with NSAIDs and can also cause a rebound headache. Do not exceed the daily recommended dose, as that can cause liver problems. It is sometime combined with narcotics. NSAIDs and acetominophen are a good choice to conquer a regular tension headache, and there are now some new migraine tension headache medication options that are available as OTC drugs .

Narcotics and barbiturates are used for extreme pain, and many times reserved for hospital use. Some narcotics are Codeine (Tylenol #1-3), Demerol, and Stadol; barbiturates are Luminal, Butisol, and Fioricet. These are given as injections, tablets and nasal sprays. These are not recommended as chronic headache medications as they are highly addictive.

Steroids are reserved for the most severe migraines. They are the migraine medication prescribed as a last-ditch effort when all else has failed, and are usually administered in the hospital.

Because the underlying cause of the disease of migraines is still unclear, and because every person is different, there are number of migraine medication options available to relieve the pain and symptoms of migraines and migraines with aura. If the first or second migraine medication you try isn't right for you, have faith! There's a migraine medication out there that can give you the pain relief you looking for!

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