USE OF ERGOT PREPARATIONS IN MIGRAINE

Abstract

It is most commonly stated, and as recently as 1948,¹that no instance of ergotism has occurred in persons receiving ergotamine tartrate for migraine. That patients with migraine are usually resistant to deleterious effects of ergot is certainly substantiated by numerous instances of patients' taking large doses without harm. Von Storch²reports a patient taking ergotamine tartrate (gynergen®) once a week for five years, Moench³refers to 2 patients taking 0.25 mg. of ergotamine tartrate daily for four and seven years, and we⁴have knowledge of a patient taking 0.75 mg. (1.5 cc. in divided doses) daily for eight years with a two year symptom-free interval. Disquieting reports,⁵however, are heard, particularly of late, of the toxicity of ergot in the treatment of periodic headache. The failure to establish the diagnosis prior to therapy in the first two reports,^{5a, b}a point repeatedly emphasized