Acupuncture May Help Ward Off Migraine

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who opt for acupuncture instead of a drug to prevent migraines report feeling fewer initial symptoms, attacks, and side effects from the treatment, new study findings report.

Dr. Gianni Allais of the Woman's Headache Center in Torino, Italy, and colleagues found that women who received acupuncture reported fewer migraine attacks during the first 4 months of treatment, and less need for pain medication during the initial treatment period, than did those who took flunarizine to prevent migraines.

However, by 6 months, there were no differences between the two groups in terms of the number of headaches.

The people included in this study suffered from migraines without auras, which are visual disturbances and other symptoms that signal an impending migraine attack. Flunarizine belongs to a class of drugs known as calcium channel blockers, and is often used to help people prevent migraines.

Migraines are marked by intense, throbbing pain, sensitivity to light and sometimes nausea and vomiting. The process underlying migraine headaches is not fully understood, but researchers generally believe that it involves some changes in the brain's blood vessels.

An ancient therapy that arose in China more than 2,000 years ago, acupuncture involves placing fine needles at specific points on the body's surface. Traditional theory holds that these points connect with energy pathways, or meridians, that run through the body, and acupuncture helps keep this natural energy flow running smoothly.

Previous studies have suggested that acupuncture may help relieve people from new migraine episodes, but these studies have typically included design flaws.

During the current study, reported in the recent issue of Headache, Allais and colleagues asked 80 women to undergo acupuncture once each week for 2 months, then once monthly for an additional 4 months. Needles were placed in the same points during each treatment, and left in the patient's body for 20 minutes.

Another group of 80 women took the drug flunarizine, 10 milligrams each day for 2 months, then 20 times per month during the next 4 months.

Both treatments worked, and the women experienced fewer headaches overall. However, women who used acupuncture had fewer migraines than did those taking flunarizine during the first 4 months of the study (an average of 2.3 in the acupuncture group versus 2.9 in the flunarizine group). What's more, acupuncture appeared to reduce the strength of migraine pain and lower the need for patients to take medicine to relieve their pain. Six months after the therapy started, the groups were similar in terms of number of headaches.

Overall, women taking flunarizine were more likely than those receiving acupuncture to drop out of the study, for reasons that included depression, weight gain and sleepiness.

However, the authors note that a greater "placebo effect" could have occurred in patients getting acupuncture, as they received "much more attention and hands-on treatment" than those taking medication.

SOURCE: Headache 2002;42:855-861.

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