After months of fruitless searches for headache or migraine related on NIH‘s clinical trials database, there’s a plethora of trials. The database currently has 43 headache and 36 migraine studies listed. Topics include:
- Improving migraine treatment in the ER
- New preventives and abortives
- Headache-specific studies of preventives and abortives currently used off-label
- Studies specifically for adolescents and children
- Nerve blocks
- Menstrual migraine
- Steroids for breaking rebound headaches
- Controlling nausea
- Marinol (a synthetic version of THC) as abortive
- Contrast imaging for diagnosis
- Nerve stimulation
And there are a lot more. Many are for drugs, but others have minimal risks.You can search by which phase trails are in, I, II and III. The website breaks down how the trials differ:
- In Phase I clinical trials, researchers test a new drug or treatment in a small group of people (20-80) for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.
- In Phase II clinical trials, the study drug or treatment is given to a larger group of people (100-300) to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.
- In Phase III studies, the study drug or treatment is given to large groups of people (1,000-3,000) to confirm its effectiveness, monitor side effects, compare it to commonly used treatments, and collect information that will allow the drug or treatment to be used safely.
To learn more about clinical trials and for definitions, visit the site’s resources page.
The best feature is the map, where you can click on your state or nearby states for studies close to home.