Can aspirin really help a migraine?

Can aspirin help?

Anyone who suffers from migraines will know how painful they are, and how debilitating they can be. But according to new research, there could be help available. Research has found that taking more than the recommended dose of aspirin can reduce the pain of a migraine within two hours for over 50 percent of people.

The results come from a Cochrane Systematic Review using data from 13 studies. Researchers found that a high dose of aspirin also reduces nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light or sound - other symptoms of a migraine.

Despite the findings, experts stress aspirin can cause side effects and some people will still need to rely on migraine medication.

Migraine relief

In the review, which looked at the data from 4222 participants, researchers found taking up to three tablets - up to 1000mg - in one go could leave one in four sufferers pain-free within two hours, researchers from the University of Oxford said.

A standard tablet contains about 300-350mg of aspirin, and adults are commonly advised not to take more than two within a four hour period.

But for more than half (52 percent) of patients who took a higher dose of 900-1000mg, symptoms went from "moderate to severe" to mild over the same time, the British paper The Times reports.

Researchers also found that a combination of aspirin plus an anti-emetic, which stops people feeling sick, was particularly good at reducing the migraine symptoms of nausea and vomiting. However, it did not produce any greater pain relief, the BBC report.

Co-author of the study, Sheena Derry, who works in pain research at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, said the use of aspirin would not be an effective therapy for everyone with acute migraine attacks.

"This is largely down to genetic differences," she said. "Different people respond to different drugs in different ways, and at different times."

Researchers say that further studies are needed to establish the effectiveness of aspirin compared with other drugs.

Further migraine research

"We are currently doing reviews of how paracetamol and ibuprofen impact on migraines," Derry added.

Taking aspirin resulted in only a small increase in mostly mild side effects in the participants in the studies.

Jodie Humphries

Jodie Humphries graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA Hons in Creative Writing in 2008. She has worked for GDS Publishing for the digital group since July 2009. She has previous experience with writing for the web, running her own website since April 2007.

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: