New Study Suggests Migraine Helped by Naproxen or Acetominophen.

Those of us who've had serious headaches or even migraines know what having a fast-acting drug can mean.  When a migraine hits, I want it gone...now!

Fortunately for me, I've responded well to naproxen (Aleve) for quite a long time.   I don't get them that much anymore, but when I do, I'm thankful that I don't have to have a prescription of something nearby, or a syringe of some chemical to plunge into my leg. 

Many people think that that's odd, or think that I wasn't really getting true migraines or serious headaches.  Wrong.

New research shows that migraine sufferers may be able to get sufficient relief without turning to prescription drugs, just as I have.

The studies, published in the latest issue of the journal Headache, conclude that naproxen (marketed as Aleve) and acetaminophen (Tylenol) effectively decreased or eliminated pain and reduced migraine recurrence and migraine-associated symptoms to a degree defined as a "desirable outcome" of migraine therapy by the International Headache Society.

Migraine headache affects as many as 28 million Americans and costs the U.S. economy an estimated $24 billion every year.

About three-quarters of people who suffer from migraines report more than one migraine a month. The symptoms -- pain, light and noise sensitivity, nausea -- can last from 4 to 72 hours and often lead to missed days from school or work.

Researchers from Thailand analyzed four well-designed previous studies of naproxen at doses of 500 to 825 milligrams for treatment of acute moderate to severe migraines involving 2,168 patients.

The authors concluded that naproxen effectively reduced headache intensity, pain and symptoms within 2 hours of taking it - defined by the International Headache Society as a desirable outcome.

When compared to other drugs known as triptans, naproxen did as well as the prescription drug frovatriptan (marketed as Frova) but did not offer the same clinical benefits as almotriptan (marketed as Axert) and zolmitriptan (marketed as Zomig).

However, because of side effects, not all patients can take triptans, and naproxen offers those patients a non-prescription alternative.

Still, the authors found that naproxen "appears to be inferior" to aspirin in treating migraines. Researchers contend that science suggests 1,000 milligrams of aspirin is the best of several treatments that include naproxen and acetaminophen for acute moderate to severe migraine episodes, as long as patients can tolerate potential gastrointestinal side effects.

In the second study, the makers of Tylenol performed a study where the researchers randomly assigned 378 migraine sufferers to either 1000 milligrams of Tylenol or a dummy pill.

In the three-month study, they found that the Tylenol group began to benefit within an hour of taking the medication. At 2 hours, 52 percent of the acetaminophen group reported that their pain was reduced to mild or no pain, compared to 32 percent of the dummy pill group.

The team also reported a benefit for severe pain sufferers, but they could not determine whether that was due to chance, given the small number of patients in the trial.

The study also found that acetaminophen offered "significantly larger" relief than placebo from nausea and noise sensitivity at 2 hours and nausea, light and noise sensitivity and functional impairment at 6 hours.

The study, the authors concluded, adds to earlier clinical evidence supporting acetaminophen's use to treat migraine.

Acetaminophen is not currently approved by the FDA as a migraine treatment except as part of an aspirin or aspirin and caffeine compound.