14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers at the University of Mississippi have determined in a new study that it is a lot cheaper to treat migraines with behavior therapy, then with expensive drugs. This approach, they say, could be included in clinical strategies used around the world to address this debilitating condition.
Some of the techniques the experts looked at included relaxation training, hypnosis, and biofeedback. After studying the effects that these courses of action had, they compared their efficiency with that of drugs designed specifically to fight persistent headaches.
The investigation uncovered that the former methods were more efficient than drugs even one year after the study began. One of the main goals of the research was discovering ways of reducing the costs associated with treating chronic migraines.
Some of the prescription prophylactic drugs that migraine patients take regularly to ensure that the aches do not begin can cost several dollars daily. To this, experts also add the cost of the prescriptions, as well as the money spent for visiting the doctor.
UM investigator and study coauthor Dr. Donald Penzien says that, in the end, the costs of treating migraines become very high, especially if the condition persists for years. Handling this problem with behavioral therapy seems a much more effective way of achieving the same results, he explains.
“The cost of behavioral treatment is front-loaded. You go to a number of treatment sessions but then that’s it. And the benefits last for years,” the expert says. Details of the research he and his team conducted appear in the latest issue of the scientific journal Headache.
In the new investigation, the experts compared the costs associated with the two approaches at six months after treatment began. Minimal-contact behavioral treatment costs were found to be competitive with the costs of pharmacological treatments of up to 50 cents per day.
But these data were collected mid-way through the study. When experts did the same comparison one year after the treatment began, they found that the minimal-contact method saved people an average of $500.
“We have a whole armamentarium of behavioral treatments and their efficacy has been proven. But headache sufferers are only getting a tip of these options,” explains Dr. Timothy Houle.
He holds an appointment as an associate professor of anesthesiology and neurology at the Wake Forest University (WFU). The expert was also the principal investigator on the new research effort.
“One reason is people think behavioral treatment costs a lot. Now with this study, we know that the costs are actually comparable, if not cheaper, in the long run,” he concludes, quoted by PsychCentral.