Background: The use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) dates back to being quite pervasive amongst patients suffering from chronic ailments such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and migraine. While data pertaining to the use of CAM among adults with migraine is limited and mostly undercover thereby veiling their effects. Hence, this analysis was taken up to project the paradigm of CAM usage among sufferers of migraine in our domain.
Aim and Objectives: To examine various attributes of CAM utility in patients of migraine.
Materials and Methods: Following the approval by the Institutional Ethics Committee vide order no. IEC/GMC/2019/767 dated November 26, 2019, this study was performed in migraine patients visiting Medicine out patient department of Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu over a span of 3 months. After receiving their consent, they were confronted with a prevalidated questionary consisting of two sections viz. socio-demographic profile and CAM use aspects.
Results: A total of 100 patients were inducted in our research, of which 64 agreed to use various CAM modalities alongwith ongoing conventional migraine therapy. Females (73.43%) belonging to rural setting (57.81%) depicted quite high use of CAM than their male (26.56%) counterparts. Ayurvedic balm/oil massage (56.25%) was the most common type of CAM used with family/friends (59.37%) being major informants about various CAM practices. The less educated patients (46.87%) showed relatively more use of CAM than in illiterates (9.37%). 53.12% of those on CAM proclaimed about its safety, being less costly (18.75%) yet effective (14.06%). Only 29.68% of patients disclosed about their CAM use to their treating doctor while the majority (70.31%) were non-revealers.
Conclusion: CAM is prevalent in patients suffering from migraine with more propensity among females of rural strata. Ayurvedic balm/oil massage was the most extensively practiced CAM. Ironically, a vast chunk of patients did not reveal regarding CAM usage to their treating physician. As such theres a dire need to embolden such patients to divulge regarding CAM to their treating doctor so as to thwart any impending undesired interplay.
Key words: Migraine; Headache; Complementary and Alternative Medicine; Tertiary Care
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