Interesting article on Medications....still not right...

Found this on our Migraine Action site. Seems we just dont get the right medication...


Posted on 29/06/10
Prescribing trends for severe headache and migraine signal inappropriate medication use



A new study assessing trends in prescribing has found that although more patients are being treated for severe headaches and migraine than ever before, they are often not receiving the right drugs.

Despite the availability of newer migraine-specific medications, investigators found the use of general pain relievers did not decrease. In fact, more opioids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, benzodiazepines, muscle relaxants, and barbiturates were used.

Dr Catherine Buettner, from the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, pointed out that opioids and barbiturates have been linked to an increased risk of chronic daily headache and are often not the right choice for patients with severe headaches or migraine.

Dr. Buettner studied 4280 people from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Investigators conducted in-home interviews and examined participants in mobile centres. They assessed health history, habits, and comorbidities.

Researchers weighted crude prevalence estimates and adjusted prevalence odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals to represent the US population and to account for the complex sampling design of NHANES.

They found that although non-specific medication use continued to increase, daily use of over-the-counter and prescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use decreased. Even when more specific treatments became available, patients continued to be prescribed other medications.

Dr Alan Finkel, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said, "It's very disheartening; patients clearly aren't getting the right medications."

Dr Vijaya Patil, The Edward Hines Junior Veterans Affairs Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, said she agrees the trend is worrisome. "I see a lot of patients who have been having severe headaches for years. There does seem to be a lack of awareness about the importance of appropriate treatment," she said.

Dr. Buettner said she is still encouraged by the high rates of medication use among patients with severe headaches and migraine. "The good news is that headaches are being taken seriously and are being treated," she said. "Now we just need to make sure that patients are receiving the right medications." Dr. Buettner plans to continue tracking these trends and will report new results as they become available

In my case the "migraine specific" drugs did nothing so I was left with the pain killers and muscle relaxers. Triptans worked a little but started to give me chest pressure and then pain, so no more triptans for me. Maybe if they investigated further they would see that is the reason for the results of the study. Wow, do I have a bad one right now. I looked at how I spelled "further" about ten times and still can't figure out if it's correct! Aw, who cares.

thanks, Pen. Good article, but it would be an even better one if they had included more specifics, ie., what the "right" drugs are. Not just triptans, which don't work for everyone, but other "right" drugs besides muscle relaxers (don't do a darn thing for me), NSAIDS, etc.

Let us know if you find a good follow-up article
Oh,but just a suggestion. Could you title your thread so it's clear what the topic is? For example "Interesting article on migraine medications" or "follow up to article on migraine meds" please? I thought from your thread title that this thread was going to be about your own medication not being right for you. Alot of people may not get to read this very interesting article because they don't understand the topic of the thread based on the thread title. Just a suggestion.

good find pen!!

I thought the same thing, Bubbs!

Good article, Pen, though indeed it needs a follow up to those of us who have tried everything under the sun. I guess it's more for those in the "amateur class".

Pen,

Do you know if the UK has any conferences for doctors who treat Migraines and headaches or doctors who want to learn more about treating them?

Teri

TeriRobert wrote:Pen,
Do you know if the UK has any conferences for doctors who treat Migraines and headaches or doctors who want to learn more about treating them? Teri

I am not sure Teri, but it you send a message to Lee at Migraine Action, she will know.
I know they had some big meeting at some point because she was talking ot me about it a few months back, but not sure exactly what it was. If it isnt her, then she will likely tell you it's Migraine Trust. I get a bit confused who does what with the two of them. But Lee would know.

Hope that helps,

Pen

Pen,

Guess I should have thought more before asking you that question. I know the Migraine Trust has a conference every two years. Looking at their web site, I see that they joined with the European Headache Federation in 2008, and now they have a joint conference every two years.

What I was leading to is that physician education could help with the problem discussed in that article. The American Headache Society has two such conferences each year. The National Headache Foundation has at least one a year, and they're working on setting up regional meetings across the U.S. that will have one day for physician education and one day for patient education. I don't know about the NHF conferences, but doctors from other countries attend the AHS conferences. Of course, the docs from other countries who attend the AHS conferences are Migraine and Headache specialists, so they have a major interest in coming to the conferences to learn the latest.

When I posted to you, I was trying to think of ways to solve the problem from the article. But, really, doctors have to want to know more, and doctors would have to take the lead in more physician education.

Teri

pen wrote:
I am not sure Teri, but it you send a message to Lee at Migraine Action, she will know.
I know they had some big meeting at some point because she was talking ot me about it a few months back, but not sure exactly what it was. If it isnt her, then she will likely tell you it's Migraine Trust. I get a bit confused who does what with the two of them. But Lee would know.

Hope that helps,

Pen

Teri,

Lee would be a good person to ask about this, and I appreciate what you are trying to do.
I will PM you her email, please give her a try. I find her very helpful, she knows me quite well...Ha!

Pen

Pen,

Just replied to your email on this subject. If Lee wants to contact me, that's fine. I'll tell her what I can. Wish there were more I could do to help, like trying to get some of the Migraine docs together to help educate other doctors. But, I'm already overextended, and I doubt that UK docs would be very responsive to me since I don't live there.

Teri

pen wrote:Teri,

Lee would be a good person to ask about this, and I appreciate what you are trying to do.
I will PM you her email, please give her a try. I find her very helpful, she knows me quite well...Ha!

Pen