Clinical guidance for choosing the right pharmacotherapy for migraine attacks

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Migraine as headache attacks with autonomic symptoms is a serious condition and it is important to treat a single attack effectively in order to improve not only the patient’s quality of life at a given moment but also to prevent the migraine from becoming a chronic one.

Area covered

The article briefly presents the guidance in selecting the most appropriate pharmacological treatment of migraine attack, indicating a personalized approach to migraine patient.

Expert opinion

In this short paper, we show the implementation of new drugs into everyday clinical practice. Good cooperation between the physician and the patient and having the patient’s trust is one of the elements of a personalized therapeutic approach and the key to achieving satisfaction of both the patient and the doctor.

KEYWORDS:

• Ditans
• gepants
• guidance
• migraine attack
• Nsaids
• recommendation
• simple analgetics
• triptans

Article highlights

• The best choice to treat a migraine attack depends on its severity.

• The medicine should be taken as soon as possible in an appropriately high dose.

• The first choice may be a drug from the SA/NSAI group, and in the case of ineffectiveness, contraindications, or other indications, then a triptan, next switching to another triptan, combining a triptan with NSAID, and ditan/gepant.

• Patient preferences (e.g. drug costs), comorbidities, side effects, and previous success with migraine treatment should always be taken into account.

Declaration of interest

I Domitrz has served as an expert on Advisory Boards and as a lecturer for the following companies: Allergan/AbbVie, Novartis, Teva, Elli Lily, Pfizer, Lundbeg.

The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers in this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.