- Is migraine inherited?
- Is my migraine linked to my menstrual cycle?
- Is there something serious causing the pain of migraine?
- I feel 'woolly headed' after a migraine attack. Is this normal?
- I get tingling in my arm during a migraine attack. Is this normal?
- What drugs can be taken during pregnancy?
- What is the best medication for migraine?
- Can I use complementary treatments in conjunction with medications?
- Why was I prescribed an anti depressant for migraine when I know I'm not depressed?
- What is the risk of stroke if I am a migraine sufferer and am on the pill?
About half the medications used for migraine were not actually developed for migraine in the first place. Beta Blockers, which were developed for regulating blood pressure were the first drugs to be shown to have an 'unintended' side effect of actually helping migraine. Since then, low dose Tricyclic anti-depressants have also been shown to help migraine. In doses lower than normally prescribed for depression, these drugs affect neurotransmitters in the brain that are altered at the start of a migraine attack. Using these anti-depressants, your migraine threshold is increased, making it more difficult for a migraine to occur. So it is the actions that the drugs have on receptors related specifically to migraine that are beneficial, rather than any actions that they have in relation to depression.
