View clinical trials related to Headache.
Filter by:According to the definition from International Headache Society, medication overuse headache (MOH) is diagnosed when patients takes painkillers for more than 10 or 15 days per month (depending on what kind of painkillers being used), for more than 3 months, which results in the deterioration of headache. The treatments of MOH include preventive medication of headache and withdrawal of the overused painkillers. Other than the simple oral advice, some researchers recommended non-pharmacological methods. Pryse-Phillips et al. (1998) reviewed the the treatment of migraine and suggested that biofeedback, relaxation, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), psychological therapy, hypnosis and physical treatment are effective. Researches also point out CBT is effective on withdrawing medication in patients with MOH (Kroner-Herwig, 2009). Lake (2006) reported that behavioural therapy maybe an adjunct therapy to preventive medication to reduce the relapse rate of medication overuse. The purpose of this study is to confirm the effect of CBT in patients with MOH. The target is to reduce the frequency of headache and use of painkillers. Patients could benefit from the education and relaxation training during CBT to cope with headache and reduce the use of painkillers. The research will recruit 60 patients with MOH at Neurology Clinics, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital. They will be separated into two groups, 30 in control group and the other 30 in the experimental group. Education of MOH, relaxation and cognitive restructuring would be included in the four weeks training program. The training program is under the supervision of a neurologist from Far Eastern Memorial Hospital and a psychology professor from Fu Jen Catholic University. The control group will accept four weeks telephone interview to confirm their headache diary including the frequency of headache and use of painkillers. The frequency of headache and medication use will be used for analyzing the effect of CBT.
PURPOSE The purpose of this research is to determine whether osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT) is a useful adjunct in evaluation and treatment of headaches. PROCEDURES If a practitioner determines that a patient has a significant headache he/she may order tests. He/ She may give the patient medications to treat the headache. The investigators will also ask permission to evaluate and treat the headache using osteopathic evaluation and Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT). The bedside evaluation and treatment will be performed by an emergency medicine resident. Osteopathic evaluation and OMT is not standard of care for this condition. The investigators also may call the patient in 7 days to see how they are doing. The investigators wish to see if emergency medicine physicians can use osteopathic evaluation and OMT to reliably treat headaches. The results of the examination and treatment will be recorded, but will not be used to change treatment or to change additional tests. The investigators wish to see whether in the future they can use OMT in certain cases instead of or in conjunction with medications. The investigators plan on asking 50 patients to participate.
Subjects enrolled into this 10 week study will for the first two weeks document the number of cluster headaches and the means of treating (medication) of these attacks. Subjects will then be randomized to into either two groups. The first group is continuing with standard of care and the second group is treatment with the investigational device (GammaCore) for a period of 4 weeks. After this 4 week period, all subjects will treat with the GammaCore for another 4 week period. It is hypothesized the the treatment group will have a reduction in mean cluster headaches per week by 50% compared to the standard of care group.
This study is intended to help guide the choice of needle diameter when performing a lumbar puncture. Smaller spinal needles have been shown to decrease rate of adverse events such as post-lumbar puncture headache and hearing loss. The main drawback to using smaller needles is diminished flow rate; some textbooks recommend using needles no smaller than 22 gauge because of the slow flow rate though others recommend smaller needles, namely 22-24 gauge. Some authors have described a successful use of spinal needles as small as 25 gauge when performing a lumbar puncture. The investigators do not believe that the flow-rate difference between 22 and 24 gauge needles is significant enough to justify using the larger needles. The investigators trial will compare the Whitacre 22 gauge and Whitacre 24 gauge needles for flow rate, and incidence of the known complications of pain during procedure and backache at 8 and 15 days post-procedure. The investigators will also look at whether smaller needles are associated with less pain during the procedure and less backache the next 2 weeks after the procedure.
The purpose of this study is to determine if ibudilast is effective in reverting patients with medication overuse headache suffering chronic daily headache back to their original episodic headache pattern.
Migraine headache occurs frequently in women more than men and is associated with symptoms not only of significant pain but also of symptoms typically including of photophobia, phonophobia, nausea and vomiting. Many migraine patients report difficulty in cognition from lack of concentration, difficulty in word finding or inability to remember. Many of these cognitive symptoms seem to be independent of the pain intensity and may occur completely separately from the headache pain but can be disabling. It is likely that the frequency and importance of cognitive symptoms associated with migraine are underreported. The Mental Efficacy Workload Test (MEWT) is a computerized battery that is designed to be an efficient and accurate measure of cognition during migraine headache. Treximet is a new migraine treatment recently FDA approved for the treatment for the relief of acute migraine that may be effective for the cognitive symptoms for migraine patients who have a history of cognitive dysfunction during a migraine headache. The primary efficacy parameter is to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment with Treximet versus placebo in patients with acute migraine headache measuring neuropsychological function using the MEWT during the migraine and comparing that score with a prior MEWT score when the patient had no migraine symptoms. A double blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study was chosen so that each patient may be her or his own control. It is the intent of this study to determine the type and intensity of cognitive dysfunction associated with migraine headache and to what extent that Treximet may relieve the cognitive dysfunction in a safe and effective manner.
We hypothesised that intravenous infusion of PGI2 induced headache or migraine and cranial vasodilatation in migraineurs.
The purpose of this study is to compare postlumbar puncture complaints as headache or backache after lumbar puncture with needles with Quincke design or with Sprotte design in children and adolescents.
The purpose of this study is to assess the benefits of almotriptan used as a transitional therapy and topiramate in subjects with medication overuse headaches (MOH.
: Headaches are a common complaint presenting to the emergency department (ED), accounting for 1-2% of all ED visits, with migraines as the second most common primary headache syndrome. Patients that ultimately present to the ED have failed outpatient therapy and exhibit severe and persistent symptoms. Treatment options have been traditionally with a parenteral opiod, generally Demerol. Unfortunately, patients with chronic painful conditions like migraines have been prone to dependency. In 1986, a nonopioid, compazine was noted serendipitously to relieve migraine headache pain. 1 Nonopioid regimens have evolved as standard therapy in the treatment of migrainne headache in the ED. Today, there are a number of nonopioid treatment options, but not without their own individual concerns. Ergotamine and dihydroergotamine are effective, but commonly cause nausea and vomiting. Sumatriptan is expensive has recurrence rate, is ineffective in about 20-30%, and is contra-indicated in patients with cardiac disease. Metoclopramide, a dopamine receptor antagonist, commonly used as an anti-emetic agent, has been widely studied for use with acute migraines. Its side effects include drowsiness and dystonic reactions. Compazine has been successfully used to treat migraine headaches for the past several decades, and has been accepted as standard treatment of headaches in the ED. 2 Its side effect profile includes extrapyramidal effects, dysphoria, drowsiness and akathisias. The ideal medication for treating headaches would have no addictive properties, few side effects, quick onset, be highly effective and have a low rate of recurrence. Somatostatin is known to have an inhibitory effect on a number of neuropetides, which have been implicated in migraine. Native somatostatin is an unstable compound and is broken down in minutes, but octreotide, a somatostatin analogue has a longer half life. Intravenous somatostatin has been shown to be as effective as ergotamine in the acute treatment of cluster headache. 3 The analgesic effect of octreotide with headaches associated with growth hormone secreting tumor has been established. 4 Five somatostatin receptors have been cloned with octreotide acting predominantely on sst2 and sst5. The distribution of sst2 within the central nervous system strongly suggests that this particular somatostatin receptor has a role in cranial nociception, being highly expressed in the trigeminal nucleus caudalis and periaqueductal grey. Kapicioglu et.al performed a double blind study comparing octreotide to placebo in treating migraine. They found there to be a significantly greater relief of pain with octreotide at 2 and 6 hours compared to placebo (76% vs 25%, p<0.02). They noted that 47% of those in the octreotide group had complete relief compared to no patients in the placebo group. They went on to note that those patients in the octreotide group had earlier relief of symptoms and no side effects. The only minor adverse event related to the administration of octreotide was a local reaction in 3 patients (18%). In a study performed recently in Netherlands, no clinically relevant changes in vital signs, routine chemistry, and urinalysis were observed with octreotide use. Electrocardiogram analyses showed no newly occurring or worsening of known cardiac abnormalities 2 and 24 h after injection with octreotide. 5 Levy et. al also compared octreotide to placebo in a double blinded study but found no difference. This was a poorly designed study, in that the patients treated themselves at home with an injection of either placebo or octreotide for 2 episodes of headache and recorded their level of pain relief at 2 hours. Matharu et. al also performed a double blind study comparing octreotide to placebo, but looking at cluster headaches rather than migraines. They found there to be a significant improvement with the use of octreotide over placebo (52% vs 36%). At Darnall Army Community Hospital the cost of 100 mcg Octreotide and10 mg Compazine, is $10.46, $2.02-8.00, respectively.