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Updated: May 18, 2026

3D-Neuronavigation In Vivo Through a Patient's Brain During a Spontaneous Migraine Headache
Published on: June 2, 2014
[Self-medication of regular headache: a community pharmacy-based survey in Belgium]
E Mehuys1, K Paemeleire, T Van Hees
1Eenheid Farmaceutische Zorg, Universiteit Gent. els.mehuys@ugent.be
Aim:
This observational community pharmacy-based study aimed to investigate headache characteristics and medication use of persons with regular headache presenting for self-medication.
Methods:
Participants (n=1205) completed ii) a questionnaire to assess current headache medication and previous physician diagnosis, (ii) the ID Migraine Screener [ID-M] and (iii) the MIDAS questionnaire.
Results:
Forty-four % of the study population (n=528) did not have a physician diagnosis of their headache, and 225 of them (225/528, 42.6%) were found to be ID-M positive. The most commonly used acute headache drugs were paracetamol (used by 62% of the study population), NSAIDs (39%) and combination analgesics (36%). Only 12% of patients physician-diagnosed with migraine used prophylactic migraine medication, and 25% used triptans. About 24% of our sample (n=292) chronically overused acute medication, which was combination analgesic overuse (n=166), simple analgesic overuse (n=130), triptan overuse (n=19), ergot overuse (n=6) and opioid overuse (n=51). Only 14.5% was ever advised to limit intake frequency of acute headache treatments.
Conclusions:
This study identified underdiagnosis of migraine, low use of migraine prophylaxis and triptans, and high prevalence of medication overuse among subjects seeking self-medication for regular headache. Community pharmacists have a strategic position in education and referral of these self-medicating headache patients.
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