Rationale and Comments

Opioid and butalbital treatment for migraine should be avoided because more effective, migraine-specific treatments are available. Frequent use of opioids and butalbital can worsen headaches. Opioids should be reserved for those with medical conditions precluding use of migraine-specific treatments or for those who fail these treatments.

Sponsoring Organizations

• American Academy of Neurology

Sources

• Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement
• U.S. Headache Consortium guidelines

Disciplines

• Neurologic

References

• U.S. Headache Consortium guidelines. http://www.american headachesociety.org/professional_resources/us_headache_consortium_guidelines/.
  
• European Federation of Neurological Societies guideline on drug treatment of migraine. http://www.efns.org/fileadmin/user_ upload/guidline_papers/EFNS_guideline_2009_drug_treatment_of_migraine.pdf.
  
• Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement. Headache, diagnosis and treatment of. https://www.icsi.org/guidelines__ more/catalog_guidelines_and_more/catalog_guidelines/catalog_neurological_guidelines/headache/.