An instructive case of dramatic relief of migraines

On March 10, I will be speaking on the Treatment of a Refractory Headache Patient at the annual meeting of HCNE in Greenwich, CT. One of the seven broad strategies I will be speaking about is trying multiple drugs within each therapeutic category. For example, if you did not respond to one beta-blocker, a different one might work better or have fewer side effects. Here is a part of a recent email from a former patient that supports this idea.

“For over fifty years, I have had migraines. Ever since Imitrex came out and I started to take it, I would get a migraine every day! We thought it might be rebound headaches from the Imitrex, but it was not. I tried every kind of medicine, and I mean EVERY. Nothing worked, and I just figured this was the way it would be until I died.
This summer, my hand was hurting and the doctor prescribed Celebrex. It did not help my hand, but my migraines WENT AWAY!!! Yes, after 50 some-odd years, no migraines. I thought it was a fluke, but no… my migraines are gone.
I take a Celebrex every morning after breakfast. If I even start to feel a headache, I take 2 Advil, and the headache is gone for the day. Every once in a while, I do get a migraine and I will take sumatriptan, but it is rare.”

Celebrex, or celecoxib, belongs to the NSAID family. It is somewhat different from other NSAIDs in that it is a selective COX-2 inhibitor. This means that it has fewer gastrointestinal side effects (ulcers, heartburn, etc.). Many people find that one NSAID works for an acute migraine much better than another – naproxen is better than ibuprofen, or diclofenac is better than naproxen, etc. This also holds true for the use of NSAIDs in the prevention of migraines. Meloxicam, indomethacin, aspirin, mefenamic acid, and others have been reported to be uniquely effective for some of my patients.

You can read about almost every drug in every category in the second edition of my latest book, The End of Migraines: 150 Ways to Stop Your Pain.