Non Drug Treatment for Migraine Headache With Associated Raynaud's Disease

SYNOPSIS Patients presenting migraine headache associated with Raynaud's disease have been successfully treated in our clinic by using peripheral skin temperature biofeedback (BFB). The diagnosis of primary headache was established in all patients many years before Raynaud's disease appeared. We selected 15 females for this study. Subjects were taken off all medication and patients' motivation for feedback therapy was ascertained. The time sequence of the peripheral skin temperature BFB sessions was the same as the one commonly followed at the Biofeedback Unit of the University of Rome Headache Service, i.e., two sessions per week in the first month of training, one session per week in the second, and subsequently one session every two weeks for four months, The use of a Headache Rating Scale for clinically evaluating BFB treatment for the relief of migraine attacks produced objective and comparable data suitable for statistical analyses, just as did the results of cold pressor tests studied before and after BFB training for evaluating the Raynaud's disease improvement.