| Migraines
Lidocaine Hydrochloride Nasal Solution
"Studies have shown that Lidocaine Hydrochloride nasal solution
is a safe and effective agent in aborting migraine and cluster headaches
in as little as 15 seconds!"
There are numerous ways of classifying headaches, including (1)
vascular headaches; (2) tension-type (muscle contraction) headaches;
and (3) traction and inflammatory headaches.
The first group, the vascular headaches, includes migraines and
cluster headaches.
Migraines
Migraine headaches affect an estimated 16-18 million Americans.
Migraines are periodic headaches, usually unilateral (one-sided)
in onset, but they may become generalized. They are associated with
irritability and nausea and often with photophobia, vomiting, constipation
and diarrhea. Pain is usually limited to the head but may include
the face and the neck. Migraine is more common in women than in
men, usually occurring in the 2nd and 3rd decades of life. Factors
involved may include stress, fatigue, certain psychological patterns,
diet (alcohol, tyramine, aspartame, cured meats), hypoglycemia,
and hormonal changes.
Cluster Headaches
Cluster headaches occur primarily in males at a ration of about
five males to one female. In contrast to migraine headaches, cluster
headaches only rarely involve a hereditary history. The clinical
picture involves pain lasting from a few minutes to several hours,
most often 30-45 minutes. It is severe and burning and always unilateral
(one-sided), although an attack can vary from side to side, it almost
never occurs on both sides at the same time. The pain may be so
severe that the patient feels better walking around as apposed to
patients with migraine who often prefer to lie down. A chronic cluster
headache is defined by attacks occurring for more than a year with
out remissions or with remissions lasting less than 14 days.
Treatments
Traditional drugs of choice for treating migraine and cluster headaches
have been many. However, many of those medications have limitations
which offset their usefulness. These limitations include multiple
side effects, high costs and require a significant amount of time
before providing pain relief. A therapy may be either prophylactic
or abortive. If headaches are experienced only once every month
or 2, abortive therapy is preferable. Lidocaine HCL is a local anesthetic
which is used in abortive therapy, is safe, brings rapid results,
and is available (is not a controlled substance.)
Our compounding pharmacists can custom make this and several other
alternatives to those medications which target migraine pain quickly
and provide rapid relief, with few side effects, and less cost.
These include:
- Suppositories:
We are capable of compounding a product similar to the discontinued
Cafergot-PB suppositories to prevent migraine headaches. Ergtomine
Tartrate suppositories formula is used to abort or prevent vascular
headaches such as migraine or cluster headaches that may be complicated
by tension and GI disturbances, e.g., nausea.
- Troches:
Dihydroergotamine troches can be prepared to deliver medication
to treat migraine or cluster headaches.
Piroxicam sublingual troches can also be prepared for symptomatic
treatment of migraine headaches. Piroxicam, which is a non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory, has been found to significantly reduce pain
severity after just 15 minutes. 75% of patients reported complete
relief within 60 minutes.1
- Capsules:
As shows by the results of an open study, compounded capsules
of high-dose riboflavin (Vitamin B2) can be used to treat and
prevent recurrences of acute migraine headaches. To treat an active
migraine, the study shows, 200mg capsules are taken at the first
sign of a migraine headache and to be repeated in 1 to 2 hours
if symptoms persist. For prophylactic (preventive) therapy, 400mg
doses taken daily for 3 months can reduce migraine severity by
as much as 70%.
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