It’s not “just a headache” if you’re one of the several million Americans who have chronic migraines – especially painful headaches, sometimes with other symptoms such as blurred vision or nausea. Chronic migraine means you have eight or more days per month with full-blown migraine attacks.
If you are a migraine sufferer, what you’re doing to help your severe pain may be hurting you more in the end: You may be taking medicine too often. This is known as “medication overuse.”
Medication overuse can give you even more migraines or mean migraines might not respond as well to other treatments. In addition, you may have side effects related to your medication.
To help you, and to learn more about medication overuse, Flagstaff Medical Center’s Specialty Clinic is participating in a clinical trial called Medication Overuse Treatment Strategy Trial. The study is conducted by Harvard University and the Mayo Clinic and is open to new participants running through 2021.
You may be able to participate if you are a chronic migraine sufferer who takes medication to stop your pain? Please call FMC’s Specialty Clinic at 928-773-2200 for more information.
“Hopefully, we’re answering a very important question: What’s the best way to treat chronic migraine with medication overuse?” said neurologist Justin DeLange, DO, the lead of the study at FMC. “This is such a common malady and the knowledge will be far-reaching.”
Study participants go into one of two groups – those who take only a preventive migraine medication and those who take a preventive medication plus the medication they are overusing. All patients keep an online headache diary to gather information. With this information, you may be able to better fight the migraines keeping you from living your best life.