amitriptiline migraine

Mood and anxiety disorders are comorbid with migraine. The coexistence of a psychiatric disorder alters the quality of life, the total disability, the course of migraine and the final prognosis; it increases the probability of central sensitization, other chronic pain conditions and the evolution to chronic migraine. All patients presenting with frequent episodic and chronic migraine should be screened for depression and anxiety. When these conditions are present, drugs for migraine prevention that may worsen the psychiatric comorbid disorder have to be avoided...

To reduce frequency and severity of the attacks, migraine was treated preventively between the attacks. The most effective drugs were beta-blockers and antidepressants. In a single-blind study we estimated comparative efficiency of amitriptiline (inhibitor of noradrenaline and serotonin reuptake and 5-HT2-receptor antagonist) 12.5-25 mg/daily, fluoxetine (a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) 10-20 mg/daily, and maprotiline (a selective noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor) 10-25 mg/daily. The duration of the therapy of migraine between the attacks was 12 weeks...