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Neurotin News - Chronic Headaches
Neurontin effective in relieving chronic daily headaches
From medicalnewstoday.com - September 16, 2004
Based on finding of a recent study researchers say the drug
gabapentin (Neurontin) taken at 2,400 milligrams a day is an
effective preventive measure for people with chronic daily headaches.
Gabapentin is an approved anti-epileptic drug. Studies have
also shown its success in treating other pain-related health
issues like diabetic neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia, and
migraine headache. Since gabapentin often reduces migraines
by more than 50 percent and chronic daily headaches often have
migraine-like features, researchers in Australia conducted a
double-blind, placebo-controlled study to determine the drug's
specific effect on chronic daily headaches.
This type of study is the gold standard of clinical research
studies where neither the researchers nor the participants know
who received the drug or an identical dummy substance, called
a placebo.
For the study researchers recruited 133 patients who had headaches
at least 15 days every month that lasted more than four hours
at a time. The patients were randomly selected to receive gabapentin
or a placebo for six weeks. After that period, none of the patients
received either treatment for a week, and then each group switched
to the opposite treatment for a second six weeks.
Results showed 36 percent of the patients taking 2,400 milligrams
of gabapentin a day stopped having chronic daily headaches.
Negative effects of the drug included vomiting, dizziness, dysarthria
(problems speaking), sleepiness, and constipation. |
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