A new treatment for motion sickness in patients with migraines was reported by a group of doctors from Pittsburgh. Giving migraine sufferers who are prone to motion sickness a migraine drug, rizatriptan (Maxalt) prevented motion sickness . There were 25 subjects in the study and 15 of them developed motion sickness after being rotated in the darkness. Of these 15 patients, 13 showed decreased motion sickness after being pretreated with rizatriptan. This was a small study and not all patients benefited, but this is an option that should be considered in patients who suffer from severe motion sickness. It is likely that the effect is not specific to rizatriptan, but that sumatriptan (Imitrex), eletriptan (Relpax) and other triptans are also effective. However, just like when treating migraine attacks, it is possible that some patients will respond better to one triptan and others to another.
Read MoreDuring pregnancy, two thirds of women stop having migraine headaches. However, one third continues to have them, and sometimes even worsen during pregnancy. As a general rule, only acetaminophen (Tylenol) is considered safe, but for most migraine sufferers it is completely ineffective. Codeine is also benign, but it also either does not work or causes side effects, such as nausea and sedation. Triptans, such as sumatriptan (Imitrex), rizatriptan (Maxalt), and other are very effective for migraines, but are not proven to be as safe. Pregnancy registries in the US have information on over 1,500 women who took a triptan during pregnancy and so far the drugs look safe for the baby. A new study from Norway in the February issue of Headache reports on another 1,535 women who took triptans during pregnancy and compared them to 68,000 women who did not. This study also found no increased risk of congenital malformation, even if triptans were taken in the first trimester. Women who took triptans in the second and third trimester also had healthy babies, but they had a slightly increased risk of atonic uterus and bleeding during labor.
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