Disease States

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Migraine Headaches

Severe recurrent headaches can be incapacitating. These headaches are frequently described as pounding, throbbing headaches associated with nausea and vomiting. There is a tendency to see bright lights, hear noises and smell noxious fumes that intensify the headache. Frequently migraines are accompanied by visual obscurations, which include loss of peripheral vision, and seeing “wavy lines.” Some patients experience numbness or weakness of an arm or leg, and speech difficulty during an episode. Migraine headaches are vascular headaches that are caused by dilation of the blood vessels within the brain. It has been well established that oxygen therapy can relieve a headache within only a few minutes by reducing the dilation of the blood vessel.

Drs. Daniel E. Myers and Roy A. Myers at the University of Pittsburgh conducted a study to compare the effects of hyperbaric and normobaric (oxygen at only 1 atmosphere of pressure) oxygen in migraines. It has been theorized that the efficacy of raising blood oxygen levels in vascular headaches is mediated by vasoconstriction and metabolic effects. Hyperbaric oxygen can provide a much higher level of blood oxygenation than normobaric oxygen, and in recent studies it has been used in the treatment of cluster headaches.

Twenty patients were divided randomly into two groups, and studied in a hyperbaric chamber during a typical headache attack. Headache severity was measured on a verbal scale before and after exposure to oxygen. One group received 100% oxygen at 1 atmosphere of pressure (normobaric) while the other group received 100% oxygen at 2 atmospheres of pressure (hyperbaric).

One of the group of the 10 patients in the normobaric group achieved significant relief, while 9 of 10 in the hyperbaric group had relief. Those patients who did not find significant relief from the normobaric oxygen were given hyperbaric oxygen. All 9 found significant relief.

The results suggest that hyperbaric, but not normobaric, oxygen may be useful in the management of migraine headaches. Possibilities for the mechanism of this effect include vasoconstriction and an increase in the rate of energy-producing and neurotransmitter related metabolic reactions in the brain which require molecular oxygen.

Another study at The Mount Vernon Hospital in Westchester, New York found that hyperbaric therapy reduced intracranial pressure significantly and help abort attacks of migraines, reduce migraine headache pain, and prevent cluster headaches.

Hyperbaric Center of Alabama provides treatment options for migraine headache sufferers using hyperbaric oxygen chambers. We serve patients from Alabama, Mississippi, West Georgia and Northwest Florida in our hyperbaric clinic in Birmingham.