High-dose aspirin may reduce withdrawal

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SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Aspirin in high doses may help ease the pain of severe headaches some people suffer during drug withdrawal, a U.S. researcher says.

Dr. Peter Goadsby of the University of California's San Francisco Headache Center suggests high-dose intravenous aspirin -- currently not widely available for headache sufferers in the United States -- may offer a non-toxic, non-addictive and non-sedating alternative to other drug regimens for severe headaches. It's also less expensive.

The study, published in Neurology, determined patients receiving intravenous aspirin reported a significant reduction in pain 25 percent of the time and a modest reduction of pain about 40 percent of the time.

"These results tell migraine sufferers, their doctors and insurance providers that high-dose intravenous aspirin is a beneficial way to treat difficult withdrawal headaches via a medicine that is not addictive or toxic," Goadsby, the lead investigator, said in a statement. "We hope to make this inexpensive therapy more available to patients seeking treatment for severe pain."

Goadsby and colleagues gave 51 men and 117 women ages 18-75, admitted to the hospital for severe headache complicated by medication overuse, 1-gram doses of aspirin through an IV.