The Food and Drug Administration has just approved a powerful new option to help millions of adults who suffer from migraines, and while it’s not new to the drug market, it is beating migraine pain.

Some 28 million Americans suffer from migraines, the majority of them women. Michelle Carpentier-Lazarz knows first hand how bad these headaches can be. “They usually start at the front of my head. It’s always on the left side for me, and they typically will be a throbbing pain over my head and then it, as they get more severe, they can go back and they kind of grip at the back of your head, kind of like a vice.”

Now the FDA has approved a new treatment option called Vioxx. In clinical studies, Vioxx relieved migraine pain and migraine associated symptoms. “In reality, a migraine isn’t just a headache. The pain of migraine is usually moderate to severe. Different patients need different treatments and this is the first one we have approved in this class of drugs. Vioxx is an excellent new option for patients to treat their migraine attacks.”

In the trials, one Vioxx relieved moderate to severe headache pain within two hours after patients took the medicine. “The approval of Vioxx for treatment of migraines in adults is so important because it gives us another tool for patients to use for their acute migraine attacks.”

Vioxx also is approved for the treatment of osteoarthritis and adult rheumatoid arthritis, management of acute pain and primary dysmenorrhea. For patients, like Michelle, the new migraine indication for Vioxx is important news.

Patients taking Vioxx did have some side effects, including dizziness and nausea, and people with allergic reactions, such as asthma, to aspirin or other arthritis medicines should not take Vioxx.

More pain relief medications:? 

• Ultracet pain relief drug - Combination medicines containing opioid analgesics (nar-KOT-ik an-al-JEE-zicks ) such as tramadol (TRA-ma-dole) and acetaminophen (a-seat-a-MIN-oh-fen ) are used to relieve pain.
• Ultram pain relief drug - used to relieve moderate to moderately severe pain.
• Fioricet pain relief drug - the combination of acetaminophen, butalbital, and caffeine is used to relieve tension headaches.

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