Clinical characteristics of the patients with migraine in whom goshuyutou is effective

Abstract

No large clinical scientific study of goshuyutou has yet been reported. We prescribed goshuyutou for 20 migraine patients (5 men and 15 women) whose headache was uncontrollable with typical Western medicines. The headache did not disappear after one month of goshuyutou medication in any patients. The intensity or frequency of the headache improved in 13 patients. No effect was observed in 4 patients. Therefore, the final effective rate was 65%. There were no marked differences in the age or sex between the effective and ineffective groups. Neck pain, shoulder stiffness, nausea, photo sensitivity, phono sensitivity, family history of migraine, medication overuse headache and coldness of extremities were observed in both groups. The effective group tended to have low migraine frequency and a long migraine history; however, because of the small number of patients, Mann Whitney test demonstrated no significant differences (p<0.05). Five patients in the effective group had aura; however, no patients in the ineffective group had aura. Menses-related migraine was observed in 1 of 3 female patients in the ineffective group and 6 of 10 female patients in the effective group. Goshuyutou was effective for the patients with aura and menses-related migraine.