Collaboration is key to managing migraines

New guidelines from the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians--American Society of Internal Medicine and the American Headache Society tell primary care physicians how to treat headaches.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Dec. 9, 2002.

Washington -- Primary care physicians already treat the majority of migraine headache patients in the nation, and now there is a set of guidelines to help them with this task.

Two groups that together represent nearly 200,000 primary care physicians developed the guidelines, which detail how migraines can be successfully treated and, in many cases, prevented.

"Headaches are the seventh leading reason patients in the United States visit their physicians," said Eric W. Wall, MD, MPH, who represented the American Academy of Family Physicians in developing the guidelines. The American College of Physicians--American Society of Internal Medicine was the other lead organization and the American Headache Society provided assistance.

"It is important that physicians know the evidence supporting migraine headache treatment that is currently available and discuss treatment options with patients who have migraine headaches," Dr. Wall said.

In addition, "Migraine patients should know that migraines can and should be treated at once," said Kevin B. Weiss, MD, chair of the ACP-ASIM's Clinical Efficacy Assessment Subcommittee.

"We don't want patients suffering longer than needed. We want to help them get on their feet and functioning," Dr. Weiss said.

The new guidelines speak directly to the primary care physician, Dr. Wall said. "In the past, most practice guidelines for migraine headache have come out of the specialist community," he said. But the estimated 28 million migraine patients in the country are far too many for specialists alone to handle. [...]