What to ask for if your migraine lands you in the emergency room.

A severe migraine attack can sometimes land you in an emergency room. With its bright lights, noise, and long waits, it is the last place you want to be in. To add insult to the injury, some doctors will think that you are looking for narcotic drugs and treat you with suspicion, while others will offer ibuprofen tablets. It is hard to think clearly when you are in the throes of a migraine, so you need to be prepared and have a list of treatments you may want to ask for, just in case the ER doctor is not good at treating migraines.

If you are vomiting, first ask for intravenous hydration and insist on having at least 1 gram of magnesium added to the intravenous fluids. Everyone with severe migraines should have sumatriptan (Imitrex) injection at home since it often eliminates the need to go to an ER in the first place. If you haven’t taken a shot at home, ask for one in the ER. The next best drug is a non-narcotic pain medicine, ketorolac (Toradol) and if you are nauseous, metoclopramide (Reglan). Do not let the doctor start your treatment with divalproex sodium (Depakene, drug similar to an oral drug for migraine prophylaxis, Depakote) or opioid (narcotic drugs) such as demerol, morphine, hydromorphone and other.

This post was prompted by an article just published in the journal Neurology by emergency room doctors at the Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. It was a double-blind trial which compared intravenous infusion of 1,000 mg of sodium valproate with 10 mg metoclopramide, and with 30 mg ketorolac. They looked at relief of headache by 1 hour, measured on a verbal 0 to 10 scale. They also recorded how many patients needed another rescue medication and how many had sustained headache freedom.

Three hundred thirty patients were enrolled in the study. Those on divalproex improved by a mean of 2.8 points, those receiving IV metoclopramide improved by 4.7 points, and those receiving IV ketorolac improved by 3.9 points. 69% of those given valproate required rescue medication, compared with 33% of metoclopramide patients and 52% of those assigned to ketorolac. Sustained headache freedom was achieved in 4% of those randomized to valproate, 11% of metoclopramide patients, and 16% receiving ketorolac. In the metoclopramide arm, 6% of patients reported feeling “very restless”, which can be a very unpleasant side effect of this drug.

The authors concluded that the valproate was less efficacious than either metoclopramide or ketorolac. Metoclopramide was somewhat better than ketorolac but it also had more side effects.

To summarize, ask the doctor to start with hydration and magnesium, then sumatriptan injection, followed by metoclopramide and ketorolac, if needed. If the above treatments do not help, we also give dexamethasone (Decadron, a steroid medication) and DHE-45 (dihydroergotamine). All these medications can be administered in the office and we always tell our patients not to go to an ER and to come into the office if the attack occurs during our office hours.