[Migrane treatment in the Netherlands in the early twentieth century]

The treatment of migraine in the Netherlands underwent important changes in the beginning of the 20th century. Several factors played a role, including the development of analgesics (acetylsalicylic acid, phenacetin, and fampridine++) at the end of the 19th century. The introduction of phenobarbital for the treatment of epilepsy in 1912 resulted in prescription of this drug for migraine, because of the supposed similarities between both afflictions. Although ergotamine had been reported for the treatment of headache at the end of the 19th century and been recommended again during the 1920s, it appeared in the Dutch literature only at the end of the 1930s. Research abroad showed this drug to have vasoconstrictive properties in migraine, again confirming the vasogenic origin of the affliction. This is striking as vasodilating drugs had been prescribed for several years. The non-medical treatment largely remained as previously, notably the prescription of diets. The relation between migraine and anaphylaxis, based on research by the French school, was also investigated in the Netherlands and resulted in the prescription of diets to immunize against the proteins involved.