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<\/p>\nCalgary neurologist Dr. Serena Orr spent her career researching migraine attacks and trying to bring patients relief from the painful symptoms.<\/p>\n
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But it wasn\u2019t until she moved to Calgary that she gained a whole new perspective with a migraine attack of her own.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had mild headaches in all the other places I lived but didn\u2019t think anything of it. It was during COVID. I couldn\u2019t get off the couch. I had severe nausea and brain fog. When the fog started to fade, I realized I didn\u2019t have COVID. I had experienced a severe migraine attack,\u201d Orr said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t understand how bad it was until I experienced it myself. It is super ironic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orr, an associate professor at the University of Calgary\u2019s Cumming School of Medicine, worked in collaboration with researchers at the University of Calgary\u2019s Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Barrow Neurological Institute at Dignity Health St. Joseph\u2019s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona.<\/p>\n
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The findings are published in \u201cHeadache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain\u201d and update the 2016 guidelines of the American Headache Society for the management of migraine attacks in emergency departments.<\/p>\n
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The update reviewed 26 studies from the past nine years that met the criteria involving\u00a0migraines\u00a0and visits to emergency departments to bring the treatment recommendations up to date.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis update marks a major change in emergency department migraine care and implementing these treatments can improve patient outcomes and reduce reliance on opioids,\u201d said study co-lead Dr. Jennifer Robblee, a neurologist and migraine and headache disorders specialist at Barrow Neurological Institute.<\/p>\n
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The research recommends occipital nerve blocks should be offered in emergency rooms to treat acute migraine attacks.<\/p>\n
The use of intravenous Prochlorperazine which blocks dopamine receptors in the brain is recommended but is not readily available. That leaves the greater occipital nerve block where a local anesthetic and a corticosteroid are injected near the greater occipital nerve.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe occipital nerves at the base of the skull bring in pain signals to the same area of the brain where pain signals from all over the head are coming in. By anesthetizing these nerves, patients get relief,\u201d said Orr.<\/p>\n
\u201cA needle at the back of the head and pushing in a local anesthetic for the nerves to numb the back of the head also changes the pain signaling from all over the head and the brain.\u201d<\/p>\n
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