The efficacy and safety of different antidepressants and anticonvulsants in chronic daily headache

Efficacy of antidepressants and anticonvulsants (amitriptiline, milnaciprane, escitaloprame, maprotiline, topiramate, valproate, gabapentine and carbamazepine) was studied in 406 patients: 199 with chronic migraine, 122 with chronic headache of tension and 85 with a combination of the above types of headache. Mean age of the patients was 40,4±11,7 (from 19 to 65 years), most patients were female (n=235). The treatment was conducted during 12 weeks with assessment of efficacy every 2 weeks and 4 weeks after the end of the treatment. The response was high for all antidepressants and anticonvulsants, with the highest efficacy in chronic migraine. Among antidepressants and anticonvulsants used amitriptiline, milnaciprane and topiramate proved to be most effective. The use of antidepressants, anticonvulsants allows the reduction of the dosage of analgetics as much as twice and the complete withdrawal of the latter in 20% of cases.