Medicine: B1 for Migraine

The blinding, throbbing, lacerating pains of migraine headache, long a baffling problem to physicians, can now be controiled by injections of vitamin B₁. This new treatment was discussed last week by Dr. Harold Dean Palmer of the Pennsylvania Hospital for Mental and Nervous Diseases.

Doctors know little about migraine except that it runs in families, may be caused by many conditions, ranging from nervous excitement to allergy for certain foods, such as eggs or chocolate. The headaches may come on every day or once a year; Dr. Palmer himself suffered three attacks every week for many years. Characteristic symptom of migraine is violent, pulsating pain on one side of the head, caused by irritation of nerves of the blood vessels in the head. If a doctor examines the interior of his patient's eye with an ophthalmoscope during an attack, he can occasionally see a spasm of the tiny blood vessels of the retina. Bright lights and noise cause migraine victims excruciating pain; during an attack the sight is usually blocked off on the sides by flickering, jagged streaks.

About five years ago, Dr. Palmer read about some British scientists who discovered that pigeons deprived of vitamin B _I developed the symptoms of violent headaches, suffered severe pain on exposure to strong light, loud noise. The pigeon disease seemed so similar to human migraine that Dr. Palmer had a hunch his own headaches were caused by lack of B ₁. The vitamin deficiency, he believed, upset body metabolism, produced a poisoning of body tissues. Migraine, Dr. Palmer concluded, is only a symptom of this toxemia.

For treatment, Dr. Palmer injects large amounts of thiamin chloride (synthetic B₁ into his patients' muscles every day for four weeks, until they have had a huge quantity of the substance. After that, injections are given three times a week for a fortnight, then once or twice a week for several months. In addition, patients are given large amounts of capsules and syrup containing the other B vitamins (nicotinic acid and riboflavin), as well as vitamins A, C and D.

For the past 18 months, Dr. Palmer has had no headaches. Of 200 patients, 65% including one patient who suffered from migraine for 52 years, have been completely relieved since treatment.