Two studies of the non-pharmacological treatment of menstrually-related migraine headaches

In order to evaluate the effect of non-pharmacological treatment on menstrual and non-menstrual migraine headache (HA), 2 studies have been conducted. In Study 1 which was a retrospective examination of between group reactions to non-drug treatments, 37 self-defined menstrual migraineurs and 62 non-menstrual migraineurs showed comparable overall improvement (reduction in HA activity) after treatment, but menstrual migraineurs maintained larger usage of medication across time than non-menstrual migraineurs. In Study 2 which was a prospective examination of within subject reactions to non-drug treatments, 15 carefully documented menstrual migraineurs again showed comparable levels of overall improvement but also showed that level of menstrual headache activity remained higher across time than non-menstrual migraine HA. Because there were no interactions of time and type of migraine in either study, these results raise some questions about the existence of differential effectiveness of non-pharmacological treatment of menstrual vs non-menstrual migraine.