Menstrual Migraine Headache: Results of a Controlled, Experimental, Outcome Study of Non‐drug Treatments

Abstract

SYNOPSISFemale migraineurs frequently report a severe migraine headache a few days prior to, during, or immediately following a menstrual period. Menstrual migraines were identified in a study of 193 migraineurs who participated in a controlled, experimental, outcome study of non-drug treatments for the control of migraine headaches. Participants were required to monitor their daily headache activity and drug usage for 36 weeks and were assigned to one of four groups: (1) No Treatment; (2) Autogenic Phrases; (3) Electromyographic Feedback, and (4) Thermal Feedback. Data were reduced and analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance and covariance. There was a tendency for all groups to improve over the 36 weeks. No significant difference was found among the four groups in headache improvement. (Headache 24:75-78, 1984)

Managing migraine headaches experienced by patients who self–report with menstrually related migraine: a prospective, placebo–controlled study with oral sumatriptan

“…It has been widely considered that menstrual migraine attacks are more severe and less responsive to drug treatments and non-pharmacological approaches than non-menstrual attacks [6,8], but the data to support this J Headache Pain (2005) 6:81-87 DOI 10.1007 Managing migraine headaches experienced by patients who self-report with menstrually related migraine: a prospective, placebo-controlled study with oral sumatriptan Abstract The objective was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of oral sumatriptan (100 mg) in patients who self-reported with menstrually related migraine. A prospective, multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebocontrolled, two-group crossover study was carried out in 20 UK primary and secondary care surgeries.…”

Migräne und Hormone: Was ist gesichert?

“…Bislang gibt es allerdings keine Studie, die die Wirkung einer solchen Prophylaxe speziell auf die menstruellen Migräneattacken untersucht. Nichtpharmakologische Ansätze (wie Biofeedback, Entspannungsverfahren und Akupunktur) zur Vorbeugung der menstruellen Migrä-ne haben sich bislang als nicht wirksam herausgestellt [43,44,45].…”

The Effect of the Definition of Menstrually-Related Headache on the Response to Biofeedback Treatment

“…Any migraine HA that occurs 3 days prior to onset of menstrual flow, during period of menstruation, and 3 days after cessation of flow 83 Women who met criteria for menstrual migraine (out of 136, including 22 males from larger study [Sargent et al, 1986] Gauthier et al (1985Gauthier et al ( , 1991 TBF or cephalic vasomotor BF (which have been shown to yield equivalent results (Gauthier et al, 1985) In the first paper on the topic of the use of thermal biofeedback (TBF) to treat menstrually-related migraine HA, Solbach, Sargent and Coyne (1984) selected women who met their definition of menstrually-related migraine HA (n = 83) from participants (n = 136) from a larger controlled evaluation of TBF plus autogenic training (AT) (TBF + AT) by Sargent, Solbach, Coyne, Spohn, & Fegerson, (1986) that had shown TBF + AT was significantly superior to the three comparison conditions combined (EMG-biofeedback [EMG-BF], AT alone, and symptom monitoring [SM] alone). In the Solbach et al study there was an overall reduction in HA activity across all four conditions, but no interaction of Condition × Time of measurement.…”

“…This literature is summarized in Table I (definitions and sample descriptions) and Table II (treatment procedures and treatment outcome). Solbach et al (1984) (n = 83)…”