Migraines are a pain, in more ways than one; but did you know you are more likely to die trying to stop the pain than from the headache itself? There were 5 deaths reported from migraines in 2001 and 2 in 2005. Compare that to the number of accidental deaths from drugs (illegal and legal—including drugs prescribed for migraines) which increased 72% from 13,024 deaths in 2001 to 22,448 in 2005. According to a recent New York Times article, the rate of death caused by prescription drugs is 3 times the rate of death caused by all illicit drugs combined. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/us/14florida.htmlAnd that’s not all!
Scientific American shares the horrific but true story of a woman seeking treatment for her migraine, who opted for an alternative method of administering an anti-nausea drug by having it injected directly into the vein in her arm instead of her butt. Unfortunately the shot missed the vein and went directly into her artery. After her hand and forearm turned black with infection; she had to have it amputated. I would say that this is one time when the cure was definitely worse that the condition.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-pre-emption-drug-lawsuit
Gangrene photo courtesy of Charlie Goldberg, M.D.
http://meded.ucsd.edu/clinicalimg/browse.htm
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