Got Migraines? Try Aspirin

There are many expensive and complicated treatments for migraine headaches, but a new literature review shows that a single, 1,000mg-dose of aspirin is effective for more than half of all migraine sufferers.

Compared with placebo, aspirin reduced the symptoms of nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light (photophobia) and  and sound (phonophobia), and eliminated severe or moderate pain within two hours in 24 percent of people.

Fifty two percent of migraine sufferers reduced severe pain to no worse than mild pain by two hours after taking the aspirin, and headache relief was sustained for 24 hours more often with aspirin than with placebo.

For people who have migraine-associated nausea, adding metoclopramide (Reglan), an old-fashioned medicine that can even be used during pregnancy, significantly reduced nausea.

This study, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, is good news because it shows that an inexpensive, over-the-counter medication can help a large group of migraine sufferers. A normal-sized aspirin is 325mg, and most folks don’t take more than two at a time. For people with migraine headaches, however, it’s worth trying three aspirin at a time.

*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*


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