ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There is no universally accepted and effective prophylaxis of migraine headache episodes. We aimed to investigate the effects of Lippia alba (Mill.) N. E. Brown (chemotype geranial-carvenone) in the treatment of migraine patients. METHODS: Twenty-one women were enrolled in a prospective, phase 2, non-controlled cohort study to orally receive hydroethanolic extract of L. alba leaves. Symptom intensity and impact were assessed using MIDAS and HIT-6 instruments before and after 2 months of treatment. RESULTS: We observed a significant decrease on HIT-6 total score, as well as MIDAS number of missed days, number of headache days, and pain intensity. More than 70% of patients experienced a minimum 50% reduction on pain frequency. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with L. alba leaves (geranial-carvenone) hydroethanolic extract is a cheap, safe, widely available, highly effective therapy to reduce both the intensity and the frequency of headache episodes of women with migraine. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01259947.
