Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 May;6(3):115-23.
doi: 10.1177/2040622315579627.

The diagnosis and treatment of chronic migraine

Mark W Weatherall  1
Affiliations
Review

The diagnosis and treatment of chronic migraine

Mark W Weatherall. Ther Adv Chronic Dis. 2015 May.

Abstract

Migraine is the most common disabling brain disorder. Chronic migraine, a condition characterized by the experience of migrainous headache on at least 15 days per month, is highly disabling. Patients with chronic migraine present to primary care, are often referred for management to secondary care, and make up a large proportion of patients in specialist headache clinics. Many patients with chronic migraine also have medication overuse, defined as using a compound analgesic, opioid, triptan or ergot derivative on at least 10 days per month. All doctors will encounter patients with chronic headaches. A basic working knowledge of the common primary headaches, and a rational manner of approaching the patient with these conditions, allows a specific diagnosis of chronic migraine to be made quickly and safely, and by making this diagnosis one opens up a substantial number of acute and preventive treatment options. This article discusses the current state of management of chronic migraine.

Keywords: chronic migraine; headache; medication overuse headache; migraine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement: The author declares no conflict of interest in preparing this article.

References

    1. Afridi S., Shields K., Bhola R., Goadsby P. (2006) Greater occipital nerve injection in primary headache syndromes–prolonged effects from a single injection. Pain 122: 126–129. - PubMed
    1. Aurora S., Winner P., Freeman M., Spierings E., Heiring J., DeGryse R., et al. (2011) Onabotulinum toxin a for treatment of chronic migraine: pooled analyses of the 56-week PREEMPT clinical program. Headache 51: 1358–1373. - PubMed
    1. Bigal M., Serrano D., Buse D., Scher A., Stewart W., Lipton R. (2008) Acute migraine medications and evolution from episodic to chronic migraine: a longitudinal population-based study. Headache 48: 1157–1168. - PubMed
    1. Blumenfeld A., Bloudek L., Becker W., Buse D., Varon S., Maglinte G., et al. (2013) Patterns of use and reasons for discontinuation of prophylactic medications for episodic migraine and chronic migraine: results from the second international burden of migraine study (IBMS-II). Headache 53: 644–655. - PubMed
    1. Buse D., Manack A., Serrano D., Reed M., Varon S., Turkel C., et al. (2012). Headache impact of episodic and chronic migraine: results from the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention study. Headache 52: 3–17. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources