Medications are agents that help counteract a condition’s effect on the body. Many categories of medications are used for headache management. Some are used primarily as preventive migraine headache treatment, some to treat headache symptoms (called abortive treatments) and some serve dual purposes.
Migraine Headache Treatment
Medications are used in the following ways:
- Analgesic, or pain relief. Such agents include over-the-counter (OTC) remedies, such as aspirin, acetaminophen, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, naprosyn, which are used to relieve migraine headache symptoms. Some analgesics require prescriptions and include other NSAIDS, neuroleptics, and opioids are effective Migraine Headache Treatments.
- Abortive. These agents are used to reverse, abort or reduce migraine headache once they start. They include such medications as ergotamine and the newest class of abortives, the triptans, including sumatripan, rizatriptan, and naratriptan. These medications are most appropriate when used no more than two days a week to avoid the risk of a rebound migraine headache or when prophylactic, or preventive, medicines either aren’t effective or can’t be used.
- Prophylactic, or preventive. These agents are prescribed when headaches occur more than twice a week and/or are extremely painful. They are also prescribed when other medications or remedies used to treat headache symptoms either don’t work or cannot be used. Such agents include beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers and serotonin antagonists and are very effective migraine headache treatments.
Migraine Headache Treatment
There are a number of natural treatments for a migraine headache. One of the more common ones is Aroma Therapy. Aromatherapy for treating a migraine headache has been around for hundreds of years and it works well. Most use massage oils or inhale different herbal oils. This method of treating a migraine headache has been around for centuries. Your local natural food store or GNC should be able to point you in the right direction.
If your looking for more information on Migraine Headache treatments, you can visit Migraine Headache Help