Effect of Different Meditation Types on Migraine Headache Medication Use

Abstract

Spiritual meditation has been found to reduce the frequency of migraines and physiological reactivity to stress. However, little is known about how introducing a spirituality component into a meditation intervention impacts analgesic medication usage. In this study, 92 meditation naïve participants were randomly assigned to four groups (Spiritual Meditation (N=25), Internally Focused Secular Meditation (N=23), Externally Focused Secular Meditation (N=22), Progressive Muscle Relaxation (N=22)) and practiced their technique for 20min/day over 30 days while completing daily diaries. Headache frequency, headache severity, and pain medication use were assessed. Migraine frequency decreased in the Spiritual Meditation group compared to other groups (p<.05). Headache severity ratings did not differ across groups (p=NS). After adjusting for headache frequency, migraine medication usage decreased in the Spiritual Meditation group compared to other groups (p<.05). Spiritual Meditation was found to not affect pain sensitivity, but it does improve pain tolerance with reduced headache related analgesic medication usage.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among US Adults With Headache or Migraine: Results from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey

“…The U.S. Headache Consortium Guidelines for prevention of migraine reported Grade A evidence in support of several non‐pharmacological interventions, including relaxation training, thermal biofeedback combined with relaxation training, electromyographic biofeedback, and cognitive behavioral therapy . However, studies examining the effectiveness of narrowly defined mind‐body exercise such as yoga, or meditation for headache are still in their infancy and as such, no conclusions can yet be drawn about the effectiveness of these interventions. As Wells et al pointed out in their review, future research that “adheres to published guideline recommendations and is designed to properly answer key questions is most likely to lead to progress in these goals.”…”

Chronic Migraine Headaches: Role of Smoking and Locus of Control

“…Future studies needed to recruit participants in different gender and different ages from multiple sites such as hospitals and community organizations. Lastly, medication overuse among chronic pain patients have been societal issues in the USA [22][23][24], so this should also be addressed in the future study.…”

Advancing our understanding of religion and spirituality in the context of behavioral medicine

“…But others are, within certain limits, amenable to such treatments. For example, it is quite possible to study the effects of spiritual meditation, prayer, or other RS behavioral variables (e.g., scripture reading) on stress reactivity in the laboratory by: (a) including only participants willing to be randomly assigned to one of these conditions; (b) using random assignment and including specifically designed controls; and (c) exposing participants to a stressor and measuring stress responses (e.g., Wachholtz & Pargament, 2005, 2008, Wachholtz et al, 2015). Such studies, as is true of all laboratory studies, are limited in terms of many aspects of generalizability, but they do provide a method for experimentally manipulating RS variables in a controlled environment.…”