Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Other medications:
- tell your doctor if you are taking any medications, especially those that decrease clotting, vasoconstriction or platelet count.
Potential side effects:
- Check with your doctor immediately if any of the following serious side effects occur:
- chest tightness
- difficulty breathing
- fast heartbeat
- rash, hives or itching
- swelling of the mouth, face, lips or tongue
- Common side effects include:
- bloating
- mouth sores
- nausea
- stomach distress
Brand names: herbs such as feverfew are packaged and sold by many different manufacturers.
Related information:
- Medication Overuse Headache - When the Remedy Backfires
- Migraines, Dietary Supplements, and a Final FDA Rule
- Safe Migraine Medications and New Laws in Effect
- Supplements for Migraine - They ARE Drugs
____________
Resources:
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). "Feverfew." Herbs at a Glance. Last revised updated July, 2010.
Erlich, Steven D., NMD. "Feverfew." University of Maryland Medical Center. Medical Reference. Complementary Medicine. Last reviewed: December 13, 2010.
Thanks for reading,
Follow me on 
or 
visit my blog, Migraine and Other Headache Disorders
© HealthCentral Network, 2012.
Last updated May 2, 2012.
22 Things About Migraines You May Not Know 
27 Foods That Can trigger Migraines 
10 Things NOT to Say to a Person with Migraines 
12 Tips for Living Well with Migraines 
what about the things we see about feverfew to abort a migraine? things like gelstat migraine?
Hi minnie,
Thanks for reading. I know gelstat was advertised as a way to abort a Migraine attack, but I never had any luck with it. Gelstat contains ginger and feverfew - while the ginger may help settle our stomachs, feverfew didn't abort a Migraine for me.
.
I meant it would be helpful if you would mention products that use feverfew for times when we have a migraine not just prevention. Kinda incomplete without that part. I meant gelstat as just an example. There are others too.
Hi Minnie,
This post is part of our drug/supplement profile. I will be do an article on feverfew next week. Stay tuned!
you're still missing my point, Nancy. You "profiled" feverfew as being only for prevention, but it's also used in some holistic things for aborting a migraine. doesn't really matter if they worked for you or not, it's still used that way.
Thanks minnie for pointing that out to me. In addition to Gelstat I found feverfew and ginger in LipiGesic which claims "feverfew acts to inhibit over-aggregation of platelets, thought to be a part of the migraine 'cascade'. In a migraine attack, these platelets release serotonin, which causes abnormal blood vessel tone, and can result in both their dilation and constriction (both of which are believed to contribute to migraine attacks). Inflammatory substances are released locally, which then contribute to the severity of the attack. Feverfew blocks the production of these inflammatory substances and short-circuits the migraine cascade."
There was study conducted in 2005 to see if using LipiGesic would be useful to abort a Migraine during the beginning of the attack. The study results said LipiGesic seemed effective as a abortive for a group of Migraineurs with mild headache before the attack became more intense. See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21631494
Do you know of any other products feverfew is in you'd like to share with us?