Headache Care: How Your Pharmacist Can Help

Most people with migraine or other recurrent headaches depend on medication to control or prevent their attacks. However, a recent survey reports that pharmacists are used as a source of information by only 6% of people with migraine.

Most patients interact with their pharmacist much more frequently than their physician. So, it is important that headache sufferers establish a good working relationship with their pharmacist. Over 90% of migraine sufferers have used OTC medications at some point to treat their migraine attacks. Several OTC medications contain caffeine or other ingredients that can lead to rebound headaches if overused.

Your pharmacist can advise you on the OTC medications that are most useful for headaches and the appropriate doses to use. If you take prescription medications, it is very important that your pharmacist be aware of all OTC medications you are using, including vitamins and herbal products. Some OTC medications can interact with prescription medications. These interactions can be avoided by good communication with your pharmacist.

Daily Headache medications need to be checked against your other medications to confirm that there are no significant drug interactions. Your pharmacist can help prevent potentially harmful drug interactions by checking your prescriptions.

But there are problems too: 

Few practicing pharmacists are familiar with current migraine treatment approaches, and pharmacy students receive little migraine education, creating situations for false beliefs to proliferate. So it is essential that even the pharmacists must also be given proper education for handling the patients with migrane or headache.

References:

http://www.achenet.org/

Newsletter of ACHE, Winter 2001-2002, vol. 12, no. 4

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/478604