Her headaches began at age 13 with menarche. These headaches, which occurred once or twice a month, were associated with photophobia, phonophobia, and nausea, and usually lasted 8 to 12 hours. They gradually progressed in severity (from mild/moderate to moderate/severe) and frequency (to 2 or 3 per week). The headaches affected the patient's job performance and attendance, and she complained of fatigue, lack of sleep, and difficulty in concentrating. She also reported increasing stress in her home life: after her husband lost his job a year earlier, she had been the sole support of her family, including her 2 young children.
The patient had been taking aspirin(Drug information on aspirin)/butalbital/caffeine tablets for her headaches. She increased the dosage to obtain pain relief, but nausea and/or heartburn developed as a result. She occasionally resorted to the emergency department, where she received meperidine. She had previously treated her headaches with acetaminophen/aspirin/ caffeine(Drug information on caffeine) tablets and, before that, with ibuprofen(Drug information on ibuprofen) and acetaminophen.
This patient was 5 ft 5 ½ in tall and weighed 125 lb. Results of the neurologic examination were normal. Her heart rate was 78 beats per minute and regular, and her blood pressure was 110/74 mm Hg. Her chest was clear, and she appeared well nourished and otherwise healthy. However, she exhibited signs of depression.
Laboratory test results (including complete blood cell count, blood chemistry, and levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone) were normal, as was an MRI scan of the brain. The patient's Beck depression scale indicated moderate depression.
The diagnosis was migraine headaches, depression, and overuse of caffeine-containing analgesics.
She was counseled to discontinue caffeine-containing medications, to eliminate caffeinated foods and drinks from her diet, to establish consistent daily sleeping and eating patterns, and to increase her daily physical activity. To help wean her from caffeine-containing analgesics and foods, and to assuage potential withdrawal symptoms, bridge therapy with tapering doses of a corticosteroid was started. For pain relief, the patient also took 500 mg of naproxen twice daily for 1 month. Amitriptyline(Drug information on amitriptyline), 10 mg/d, and sertraline(Drug information on sertraline), 50 mg/d, were prescribed for her depression. For acute-migraine treatment, almotriptan(Drug information on almotriptan), 12.5 mg, was to be taken at the first sign of a headache; the dose could be repeated once in 2 hours if the headache did not resolve, for up to 4 doses per week.
