Received a blinding headache? Some GLP-1 remedy may surprisingly assist. A latest scientific trial has discovered early proof that these well-liked medicine, usually used to deal with weight problems and sort 2 diabetes, may additionally scale back migraine episodes.
Researchers in Italy carried out the small pilot trial, which concerned dozens of sufferers dwelling with weight problems and continual migraine complications. Individuals skilled a big drop within the variety of migraine days every month upon taking liraglutide, the researchers discovered—even after they didn’t shed pounds on the drug. The outcomes, whereas preliminary, point out that GLP-1s might be a worthwhile add-on remedy for some folks with migraines who haven’t responded to different medicines, the examine authors say.
“Our findings present that liraglutide could also be efficient within the remedy of unresponsive high-frequency or continual migraine in sufferers with weight problems,” the researchers, based mostly on the College of Naples Federico II, wrote of their paper, revealed this month within the journal Headache.
GLP-1s mimic a hormone essential to regulating starvation and metabolism. This drug class has been round for 20 years, and the newest accepted iterations, semaglutide and tirzepatide, are considerably more practical at serving to folks shed pounds and management their blood sugar than food regimen and train alone. Scientists have realized over time that the potential well being advantages of GLP-1s might lengthen past weight reduction alone, nevertheless. Some early research have advised GLP-1s can tamp down the drug-related cravings of individuals with substance use problems, as an example.
Continual migraines are a posh situation, with many attainable components behind them. However one such issue is elevated intracranial strain within the head, in accordance with the examine researchers. Since previous analysis has proven that GLP-1s can scale back this strain, they hypothesized this drug class might be a possible migraine remedy.
They examined liraglutide, an older GLP-1 drug, on 31 sufferers with weight problems and unresponsive migraines for 12 weeks. By the examine’s finish, folks’s common month-to-month days of migraine had dropped from round 20 days to simply below 11—a virtually 50% drop. One participant even grew to become fully freed from migraines. Some folks additionally skilled modest weight reduction, however apparently sufficient, their diploma of weight reduction wasn’t correlated to the development in migraines they skilled. In different phrases, liraglutide’s impact on migraines gave the impression to be unbiased of its weight reduction impact.
Because the researchers absolutely acknowledge, this was only a proof-of-concept examine, not meant to definitively show something. And there are essential lingering questions left to resolve. Will newer GLP-1 medicine like semaglutide (Ozempic and Wegovy) be more practical at relieving pressure-related migraines as nicely, for instance? However given how troublesome migraines could be to treatment, even with latest drug approvals, discovering a brand new and already examined avenue for remedy might be invaluable.
Extra research ought to validate whether or not intracranial pressure-reducing medicine, GLP-1s included, could be a new goal for migraine aid, the researchers say. Nevertheless it’s a promising begin.
