Aspirin and Migraine

For nearly a century, aspirin has been used to treat migraine and other headaches. Aspirin has several actions that make it useful for treating migraine. First, it is an analgesic or pain reliever. Secondly, it blocks or reduces inflammation. This action is controlled in the body in part by a series of chemicals called prostaglandin. Aspirin blocks the ability of the body to manufacture these compounds. Thirdly, aspirin reduces the ability of platelets to aggregate or stick together. The aggregation of platelets is important as it serves as the first step in the body's ability to stop bleeding. It also plays a role in migraine attacks and other processes. In migraine, platelets aggregate, causing them to release serotonin into the blood stream, which eventually leads to the vascular actions and other effects of migraine.

In migraine preventive therapy, aspirin has been tried several times with some benefit. Previous studies used large amounts of aspirin in order to reduce the frequency of migraine attacks. Several years ago, a study was conducted among physicians to determine if low doses of aspirin would help reduce heart attacks. An additional finding of this study was a 10% reduction in the frequency of migraine attacks among male physicians taking low-dose aspirin. Currently the National Headache Foundation is providing funding to examine the benefit of low-dose aspirin in preventing migraine in female subjects.

In the previous study with male physicians, the dose of aspirin used in the heart attack prevention trial was 5 grains every other day.