Effects of medication use on health state in postictal migraineurs

We investigated whether headache-free patients with migraine report a lower health state compared with healthy controls, and whether health state is d ifferently affected during the postattack period after using sumatriptan ve rsus habitual nonvasoactive medication. Mood, health state, and personality questionnaires were administered once during an interictal period and twic e within 30 hours after different migraine attacks treated with sumatriptan or habitual nonvasoactive medication. Twenty migraineurs without aura, 10 migraineurs with aura, and 30 matched and headache-free controls participat ed in this study. During an interictal period, patients with migraine repor ted more problems regarding social activities and pain compared with health y controls. During the postictal period, mood (fatigue and emotional state) was negatively affected by an attack that was treated with habitual medica tion, whereas health state (physical pain, social activities, current pain) was similar to the migraine-free period. Sumatriptan treatment had benefic ial effects on aspects of health state and mood during the postictal period .