Ginger Treatment for Acute Migraine Headache

by | Jan 13, 2020 | 2019, Botanicals, Brain Health, Ginger, Headaches

Written by Joyce Smith, BS. The addition of ginger to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may be beneficial as an adjunct treatment for migraine.

headache - painApproximately 12% of the Western world ‘s population  suffer from migraine headache 1 with 53% requiring bedrest 2 and  1% reporting migraine headaches one day per week 3. Patient dissatisfaction with conventional therapies has led to an increased search for  complementary and  alternative  therapies including the use of neutraceuticals 4. Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.), is a medicinal plant common to China and India where it is used for treating multiple conditions. The plant rhizome contains volatile compounds responsible for its aroma and flavor as well as pharmacologically active nonvolatile compounds such as gingerols and shogaols which provide significant antiemetic, anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic, neuroprotective and analgesic effects 5, all of which could be helpful in the treatment of acute migraine. Ginger’s analgesic activity may be due to its ability to block arachnoid acid metabolism via the cyclooxygenase (COX) pathways and blocking lipoxygenase (LOX) 6. (Concomitant blocking of COX-2 and 5-LOX potentiates anti-inflammatory effects and reduces the side effects observed when only COX-2 is inhibited.) 6 In addition, shogaols may modulate the neuroinflammatory response through the down-regulation of inflammatory markers on microglial cells 7, while gingerols may act as agonists of the capsaicin-activated vanilloid receptors 8.

Marten and colleagues 9 recruited 60 patients with moderate to severe migraines from the emergency department of the Vera Cruz Hospital in Brazil. They were randomized to receive either 400 mg of ginger extract containing 20 mg of gingerol (ginger group) or a cellulose placebo and standard medical migraine treatment (control group). Participants were 18 to 60 years of age with a medical diagnosis of migraine with or without aura for at least one year and with one to six monthly migraines attacks. All patients received intravenously 100 mg of ketoprofen (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug). The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients who responded to treatment two hours after drug intake. Multiple secondary endpoints also were assessed.

The ginger group reported lower pain intensity at one and two hours after drug intake compared to the control group: 1 h (p=0.04), 1.5 h (p=0.01) and 2 h (p=0.04). Also a higher number in the ginger group were pain free after two hours of receiving ginger (56.7 vs. 33.3; P = 0.03) and more reported “no disability” than in the control group. Photophobia was reported less frequently in the ginger group and there was no vomiting after treatment in both groups. Most patients (73.1%) who received ginger extract reported complete satisfaction with treatment compared to 28.1% of patients receiving placebo (P < 0.01). Only 8.7% of the ginger group used rescue medications compared to 13.3% of placebo group (p=0.39). Side effects were not different between groups.

Adding ginger extract to conventional treatment for acute migraine may improve pain and restore functional capacity of patients faster and more significantly than conventional therapy alone. However, it should be noted that intravenous ketoprofen is not a common migraine therapy in the United States.

Source: Martins, Laís Bhering, Ana Maria dos Santos Rodrigues, Débora Fernandes Rodrigues, Luana Caroline dos Santos, Antônio Lúcio Teixeira, and Adaliene Versiani Matos Ferreira. “Double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) addition in migraine acute treatment.” Cephalalgia 39, no. 1 (2019): 68-76.

© International Headache Society 2018

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Posted January 13, 2020

Joyce Smith, BS, is a degreed laboratory technologist. She received her bachelor of arts with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Biology from  the University of Saskatchewan and her internship through the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine and the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She currently resides in Bloomingdale, IL.

References:

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