Oxygen therapy for migraine and cluster headache treatment
While surfing the net this past week, I found a really interesting article Oxygen Therapy Might Ease Pain of Migraines on Medical News Today.
Australian researchers have discovered that two different types of "oxygen therapy" might be able to relieve some of the migraine and cluster headache pain that adults currently suffer from. 201 participants in these nine studies were treated with normobaric or hyperbaric oxygen therapy. "Normobaric therapy consists of patients inhaling pure oxygen at normal room pressure, and hyperbaric therapy involves patients breathing oxygen at higher pressure in a specially designed chamber."
Michael Bennet, lead reviewer of the Diving & Hyperbaric Medicine at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, Australia is quoted saying "We wanted to locate and assess any evidence from randomized trials that oxygen administration was a safe and effective treatment for migraine or cluster headaches. We hoped this would assist physicians to make effective treatment decisions in this area."
Five studies looked at hyperbaric vs. sham therapy for migraine headaches, two looked at hyperbaric vs. sham therapy for cluster headaches and two looked at normobaric vs. sham therapy for cluster headaches. Three studies showed significant relief within 40 to 45 minutes of hyperbaric therapy. With regards to the cluster headaches, 69 patients in two studies showed that after 15 minutes of normobaric therapy, showed significant headache relief.
Unfortunately, the article brings up two major downfalls of this kind of treatment: availability of appropriate chambers and headache time management. John Kirchner, M.D. (Kirchner Headache Clinic) reminds readers that "this would not be practical as the headache comes on fast and does not last long," meaning there might not be time to get the patient to a chamber for treatment.
This is exciting to me, as I know many people who live drug-resistant migraine-filled lives; and this could help them! While this most likely won't prevent future migraine or cluster headache attacks, this abortive method seems less intrusive than many.
For more information on migraine headaches, please join WEGO Heath's migraine group. Post on the message boards, write blogs like I do, write on the comment wall, or just read the articles!
For more information on cluster headaches, check out the WEGO Health cluster headache page. Check out the causes, symptoms and treatments available for those who live with pain.
Australian researchers have discovered that two different types of "oxygen therapy" might be able to relieve some of the migraine and cluster headache pain that adults currently suffer from. 201 participants in these nine studies were treated with normobaric or hyperbaric oxygen therapy. "Normobaric therapy consists of patients inhaling pure oxygen at normal room pressure, and hyperbaric therapy involves patients breathing oxygen at higher pressure in a specially designed chamber."
Michael Bennet, lead reviewer of the Diving & Hyperbaric Medicine at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, Australia is quoted saying "We wanted to locate and assess any evidence from randomized trials that oxygen administration was a safe and effective treatment for migraine or cluster headaches. We hoped this would assist physicians to make effective treatment decisions in this area."
Five studies looked at hyperbaric vs. sham therapy for migraine headaches, two looked at hyperbaric vs. sham therapy for cluster headaches and two looked at normobaric vs. sham therapy for cluster headaches. Three studies showed significant relief within 40 to 45 minutes of hyperbaric therapy. With regards to the cluster headaches, 69 patients in two studies showed that after 15 minutes of normobaric therapy, showed significant headache relief.
Unfortunately, the article brings up two major downfalls of this kind of treatment: availability of appropriate chambers and headache time management. John Kirchner, M.D. (Kirchner Headache Clinic) reminds readers that "this would not be practical as the headache comes on fast and does not last long," meaning there might not be time to get the patient to a chamber for treatment.
This is exciting to me, as I know many people who live drug-resistant migraine-filled lives; and this could help them! While this most likely won't prevent future migraine or cluster headache attacks, this abortive method seems less intrusive than many.
For more information on migraine headaches, please join WEGO Heath's migraine group. Post on the message boards, write blogs like I do, write on the comment wall, or just read the articles!
For more information on cluster headaches, check out the WEGO Health cluster headache page. Check out the causes, symptoms and treatments available for those who live with pain.
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