Can Coq10 And Butterbur Battle Migraine?

By Author: Dr. Victor Marchione
Total Articles: 90
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Migraine pain can be debilitating and a truly unfortunate
aspect of many people's lives.

Only those who experience migraines can truly and intimately understand how bad it
can be.
But it doesn't necessarily have to be so. And drugs
are not the only answer.
In my ongoing series, I'm addressing the top natural supplements for migraine. Here
are coenzyme Q10 and the herb butterbur.

Coenzyme Q10

There are several recent studies that showed encouraging
results with coenzyme Q10 in preventing the migraine
attacks.

1. Thirty-two migraine patients (26 women, six men) were
given coenzyme Q10 (150 mg a day) in an open-label
study. Coenzyme Q10 reduced migraine frequency by 55%
at the end of three months.

2. Forty-two migraine patients were given either coenzyme
Q10 (three doses of 100 mg a day) or placebo. This study
showed that coenzyme Q10 was superior to placebo
treatment in reducing the attack frequency, the number of
headache days, and the number ...
... of days with nausea.

3. Among 1,550 pediatric and adolescent migraine suffers,
about one-third was found to have coenzyme Q10
deficiency. The researchers treated those with low
coenzyme Q10 with one to three mg/kg per day of
coenzyme Q10 in a liquid gel capsule, resulting in
significant reduction in headache frequency and disability.

Butterbur

This herb is known to have anti-inflammatory and
antispasmodic effects on blood vessels. Recent clinical
studies showed encouraging results in the prevention of
migraine headache:

1. Thirty-three migraine patients took 25 mg butterbur
twice daily and 27 patients took placebo treatment.
Butterbur treatment reduced the number of migraine
attacks
from 3.4 before treatment to 1.8 after three months of
treatment, as compared to placebo group (2.9 before and
2.8 after).

2. In a study conducted in 108 youngsters, they were given
50 to 10 mg of butterbur root extract over four months. A
reduction of the attack frequency was reported in 63% of
migraine patients.

3. The effect of butterbur and music therapy was conducted
in 39 school children with migraine. This study showed
that
both music and butterbur led to the reduction of headache
frequency.

In the next part, I will look at two more supplements and
give my closing thoughts.

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