New Help for Menstrual Migraines

Drug helps stop them before they start

FRIDAY, April 4 (HealthDayNews) -- The drug Frova may help prevent the monthly menstrual migraines experienced by millions of American women, says a Thomas Jefferson University Hospital study.

The nationwide study of 545 women with an average 12-year history of menstrual migraines found that about half of the women taking the drug for six days a month were migraine-free.

The results were presented this week at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in Honolulu.

The women were treated with either a once daily dose of Frova, two daily doses of Frova or a placebo.

The study found that 50 percent of the women who took 2.5 milligrams of Frova twice a day over six days had no headache. The same was true for 39 percent of the women taking a single daily dose of the same amount of the drug, compared to 26 percent of the women taking a placebo.

Frova is in a class of drugs called triptans. These drugs reduce inflammation of certain blood vessels in the brain believed to cause pain.

"We're excited about this study because this is the first time we've seen a triptan actually prevent these headaches in such a large number of women before they experience pain," study author Dr. Stephen Silberstein says in a news release.

About 9 million women in the United States suffer from migraines. About 60 percent of them, 5.4 million, report they have an increased number of headaches in association with their menstrual periods.

More information

Here's where you can learn more about migraine (www.nlm.nih.gov).

--Robert Preidt

SOURCE: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, news release, April 1, 2003

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Last updated 4/4/2003.

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