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Article: Migraine drugs.(Shorts)
- Article from:
- Townsend Letter: The Examiner of Alternative Medicine
- Article date:
- November 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 The Townsend Letter Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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An unsettling number of migraine sufferers may be using opioids or barbiturates to treat their headaches, according to a Harris Interactive online survey. The survey, commissioned by the National Headache Foundation in the US, polled 502 adult migraine sufferers, 101 neurologists, and 100 family practice doctors. About 20% of the migraine sufferers use potentially addicting opioids (e.g., Oxycontin, Darvon, Vicodin) or barbiturates (e.g., butalbital), which have not been approved to treat migraine. A little over half of the surveyed patients use triptans (Amerge, Axert, Frovalan, Imitrex, Maxalt, Relpax, and Zomig), which are FDA-approved.
Originally, doctors ...