Drug combo taken early relieves migraine

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A combination drug taken within an hour after the start of a migraine headache provides effective relief of pain and other symptoms for up to 24 hours, researchers report in the journal Neurology this week. The drug combines sumatriptan, a migraine-specific drug that affects the constriction of blood vessels, with naproxen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug that works on the inflammatory aspect of migraine and relieves non-traditional migraine symptoms such as sinus pain and pressure and neck pain. "Unfortunately, many migraine sufferers put off treatment," Dr. Stephen Silberstein of the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia said in a written statement. "This study provides more evidence that treating a migraine at the first sign of pain increases the likelihood of relief." Silberstein and colleagues conducted two studies with a total of 1,111 people with migraine who had suffered two to six attacks per month in the three months before the study started. Half of the study subjects were given the sumatriptan/naproxen drug within an hour after migraine pain started and while the pain was still mild; the other half were given a placebo. Two hours after the dose was given, about 50 percent of those who received the drug combo were free of any pain, compared to about 16 percent of those who got the placebo. The people who took the placebo were also two to three times more likely to progress to moderate or severe pain over four hours than those who took the drug combo. Subjects who took the drug combo also had fewer traditional migraine-related symptoms such as nausea and sensitivity to light and sound and fewer non-traditional symptoms such as neck and sinus pain than those who took the placebo.