The Effect of Intravenous Fluid Therapy in Acute Migraine Attacks

Introduction Headache is a common complaint that is seen in 70-80% of the population and is a common health problem in emergency services. When evaluating the patient with headache, the first step is to determine whether the headache is primary or secondary (1, 2). Primary headaches are classified according to their symptoms and clinical features. Tension-type headache, migraine, and cluster headache are the most common types of primary headaches (3). Secondary headaches can be classified as headaches due to the head and neck trauma, headaches secondary to neurovascular diseases, and headaches due to withdrawal syndromes secondary to drug abuse (4). Migraine is a primary type of headache characterized by recurrent throbbing (usually unilateral) and associated with photophobia, phonophobia, nausea, and other symptoms. Patients with migraine are usually not pleased with the treatment options due to headaches refractory to treatment (5). The current approach to the treatment of migraine headaches consists of two components: treatment of the acute migraine attacks, and prophylactic treatment. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), migraine attacks are the eighth cause of loss of work and performance in the attack period among all lifelong diseases (12). Therefore, effective treatment of migraine attacks is important for the patient and socioeconomic wellbeing of the community. More than 90% of the migraine patients experience acute migraine attacks despite prophylactic treatment and need pain medications (6). Common treatment options used in the ED are phenothiazines (7), serotonin receptor agonists (8), and corticosteroids (9). Headache guideline of the American Academy of Neurology published in 2000 also recommends diclofenac as an effective alternative for the treatment of acute migraine attacks (10, 11). Effective attack therapy has the potential to significantly reduce inefficiency caused by migraine attacks by shortening the duration and reducing the severity of attacks. Although clinical evidence is uncertain, approximately 40% of patients presenting to the ED with a headache are treated with IV fluids (13). Studies with healthy volunteers showed that mild dehydration reduces the pain threshold and increases central pain-related activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and thalamus (14). Therefore, it is logical to think that dehydration may trigger acute migraine attacks (15). This led to the common approach to use IV fluids besides pain medications in the ED as a routine procedure. A clear benefit would obviously increase the satisfaction of the patient from the ED services, by increasing the pain threshold, decreasing length of stay, and need for rescue treatment. However, on the contrary, IV fluid therapy without an obvious benefit to the patient has a cost burden on the system, uses labor and time of the ED staff, and may increase the duration of the length of stay in the ED. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and side effects related to the addition of 1000 cc bolus NS to the standard treatment of migraine in the ED.