Use of Prescribed and Non-Prescribed Treatments for Cluster Headache in a Swedish Cohort.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cluster headache (CH) is a debilitating condition, but current therapies leave CH patients in pain. The extent of this problem in Sweden is unknown.

Methods

An anonymized questionnaire was sent to 479 Swedish CH patients to investigate patterns and perceived effects of treatments.

Results

Three hundred fourteen answers were analyzed. The population was representative regarding age of onset and sex. Less than half (46%) were satisfied with their abortive treatments, 19% terminated functioning abortive treatments due to side effects. Additionally, 17% of chronic CH patients had not tried the first-line preventive drug verapamil. A small subset had tried illicit substances to treat their CH (0-8% depending on substance). Notably, psilocybin was reported effect

SUBMITTER: Smedfors G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11048603 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature