I saw an article today that emphasized for me why we should always try to look at alternatives to medication for chronic problems such as headaches.

This University of Pennsylvania study found that using ibuprofen on a long-term basis after brain injury actually worsened cognitive recovery. The study was an animal study, but since both human and non-human work pretty much the same way, it's worth thinking seriously about.

Many individuals who sustain a mild brain injury live with chronic migraine-like headache or other kinds of pain. In an attempt to avoid the more "heavy-duty" medications that they know make them feel foggy, they use over-the-counter medications such as ibuprofen. This study suggests that even these "milder" medications may worsen the person's thinking abilities.

This kind of risk is why I recommend using non-medication approaches wherever effective.

For migraines, in particular, there is an effective intervention called HEG which helps the brain learn to prevent or reduce the migraine pain. You can read more about HEG in my article on "Do you Have to Tolerate Migraines?".

Another useful technique for headaches and other pain is Heart Coherence, which reduces the overall stress load of your body and brain. Read "The Heart of Neurofeedback" for more about this technique developed by The HeartMath Institute.

And now -- the article itself:


The University of Pennsylvania issued the following news release:

Long-term Ibuprofen Treatment After Brain Injury Worsens Cognitive
Outcome in Animal Model; Possible Implications for Traumatic Brain
Injury Patients

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found
that chronic ibuprofen therapy given after brain injury worsens
cognitive abilities. These findings - in a preliminary, animal-model
study - have important implications for traumatic brain injury (TBI)
patients who are often prescribed such nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs (NSAIDS) as ibuprofen for chronic pain. The findings appear online
this month in Experimental Neurology.

Because several studies in animals and humans have shown that long-term
use of ibuprofen for inflammation improves outcome for Alzheimer's
patients by reducing symptoms and delaying the onset of dementia, the
researchers investigated whether ibuprofen improved long-term cognitive
outcome in brain-injured animals.

Over four months, rats received ibuprofen in their food proportional to
doses given to humans. In the two groups of injured rats (one fed
ibuprofen and the other not), there was a significant overall deficit in
the animals' ability to find an underwater platform in a Morris water
maze, a common test used to assess cognitive ability in animals.

"But to our surprise, we found that the injured rats given ibuprofen
were far worse compared to the injured rats that had no treatment at
all," says lead author Douglas H. Smith, MD, Director of the Center for
Brain Injury and Repair. "Although most untreated injured animals could
find the platform, they were much slower to learn its location than non-
injured animals. In contrast, almost none of the treated, injured
animals could find the platform at all."

However, there were no outward signs of difference in the extent of
atrophy in the hippocampus or cortex of treated versus non-treated
injured rats. Although ibuprofen treatment did reduce chronic
inflammatory changes in the brains of injured animals, that did not seem
to have an influence over the extent of damage to the brain regions
associated with learning and memory.

This initial study demonstrates that the effects of long-term treatment
with NSAIDS like ibuprofen after a head injury are poorly understood.
"We have to remember these are animal studies, and what we can take home
is that we need further examination of potential negative effects in
patients," says Smith. "I hope these findings inspire studies in
patients to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and potential long-term
problems with cognition of chronic ibuprofen use in TBI patients."

In Alzheimer's patients, chronic ibuprofen appears to be beneficial by
delaying onset and severity of symptoms. Similarly, chronic ibuprofen
therapy in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease reduces plaque build-up
in the brain and improves function. However, finding that this same
approach to treatment worsens the outcome in an animal model of TBI may
have important implications for TBI patients who are often prescribed
NSAIDS for chronic pain. With few alternative over-the-counter pain
medicines available to these patients, further investigation is
essential, says Smith.

Study co-authors are Kevin D. Browne, Akira Iwata, and M.E. Putt, all
from Penn. The research was supported by grants from the National
Institutes of Health.