A trial of opipramol in the treatment of migraine.

A double blind trial of opipramol (Insidon) compared with placebo for a group of matched patients suffering from migraine has been carried out. The total number of the migraine attacks in a group of 14 patients on opipramol (as compared with the same patients during a pretreatment period of six weeks) showed a 33% reduction in the number of attacks experienced during the first six weeks. During a further consecutive six weeks after this on treatment, attacks were further reduced to 49% as compared with the pretreatment period. In the placebo group there was a 20% increase in the number of migraine attacks in the first six week treatment period as compared with the base line six weeks on no drugs. In the second consecutive six weeks migraine attacks were 2% more frequent than in the pretreatment period. These figures indicate that opipramol is a drug with considerable promise and effectiveness in the control of migraine attacks.