Q. You wrote about a 13-year-old girl with migraines that lasted five days. I too used to suffer from such headaches. They’re horrible!
In my late 30s, I started taking atenolol for high blood pressure. It brought the blood pressure down, but more importantly, it was like flipping the off switch on the migraines. I am now 71 and have had no more since then.
Please pass this on so the girl’s father can discuss it with her doctor. My doctor acted as if he didn’t believe me, but it worked really well.
A. Beta-blocker heart drugs such as atenolol or propranolol have long been used to prevent migraine headaches (Neurologic Clinics, May, 2009). We don’t know why the doctor didn’t mention this secondary benefit from beta-blockers.
