Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0018681 (headache)
 56,091 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The purpose of this study has been to establish a battery of tests of autonomic functions: Quantification of submandibular/sublingual salivation, nasal secretion and tearing on both sides. The tests were performed in a control group of 20 healthy students. We used a parasympathomimetic drug, pilocarpine 0.1 mg/kg body weight, to stimulate the different secretory functions. Saliva was collected with a pair of dentistry spiral suctions. Tearing was assessed with Schirmer's test tapes. Nasal secretion was quantified using Schirmer's test tapes, too. Nasal secretion and salivation on average was fairly symmetrical, whereas there was some asymmetry in tearing (which may be artificial). In single individuals, there may be considerable asymmetry in salivation as well. This test battery will be used in the study of possible autonomic dysfunctions in patients with unilateral headache.
Cephalalgia 1983 Sep
PMID:Quantification of salivation, nasal secretion and tearing in man. 662 81

Pilocarpine, a parasympathomimetic drug used in the treatment of glaucoma, produces a variety of ocular and systemic adverse reactions. Ocular side effects include miosis, accommodative spasm, frontal headaches, twitching lids, conjunctival injection, cataractous changes, allergic reactions, iris cysts, retinal detachment, increased permeability of the blood-aqueous barrier, anterior chamber narrowing, and the potential for inducing an acute angle-closure attack. Systemic side effects include nausea, vomiting, tenesmus, abdominal spasm, salivation, lacrimation, sweating, pulmonary edema, and bronchial spasm. The systemic side effects can best be minimized initially through proper use of the medication and nasolacrimal occlusion. The Ocusert, a long-acting pilocarpine-incorporated ocular insert, is a recent advance in delivery technique that offers an adequate hypotensive action with fewer side effects. Pilopex is a promising new experimental pilocarpine polymer salt presently being studied in Israel. Photomydriasis, a process involving the use of a laser to enlarge miotic pupils also offers help for these patients. N-demethylated carbachol is a new parasympathomimetic drug currently under study for glaucoma therapy. Initial results show that it may have considerable ocular hypotensive action with fewer adverse effects.
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PMID:Miotics: side effects and ways to avoid them. 707 Jul 79

Nine pale perspiring drug addicts with drowsiness, nausea, headache, normal blood pressure and marked sinus bradycardia with premature ventricular beats were seen at the Casualty Department soon after alleged i.v. cocaine administration. Eight were treated with atropine, as the bradycardia suggested intoxication with a parasympathomimetic compound. Seven were discharged in good condition after a few hours' observation. One patient developed a blood pressure of 150/120 mmHg after atropine. Subsequently, a hemiparesis was found and an intracerebral haematoma was evaluated at surgery. Another patient was admitted forthwith to the CCU. He did not receive any medication and recovered within two days. Urinalysis of these two patients disclosed contents of naphazoline, a powerful alpha-adrenergic agent. Samples of the alleged cocaine contained 97% naphazoline HCl. A conscious rabbit was injected with naphazoline and thereafter with atropine. I.v. naphazoline doubled mean arterial pressure (MAP) and reduced heart rate (HR) from 167 to 30 beats/min. Atropine doubled HR, but caused a marked rise in MAP, too, stressing the adverse effects of atropine in these cases. When confronted with patients after alleged cocaine abuse, the role of substitute drugs, especially alpha-adrenergic compounds, should be considered as this should influence the therapeutic approach.
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PMID:Intravenous naphazoline intoxication. 724 78

Although not without controversy, an influence of the autonomic nervous system in headache is a matter for current debate. A possible contact site of autonomic and sensory nerves is the dura mater, where they form a dense network accompanying blood vessels. We investigated interactions between autonomic and nociceptive fibres by measuring release of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) from the dura mater, in vitro. The parasympathomimetic agent carbachol did not change basal release of CGRP or PGE2, whereas it diminished release induced by a mixture of inflammatory mediators. Norepinephrine did not change induced release of CGRP or PGE2, nor basal release of CGRP. However, basal release of PGE2 was enhanced by norepinephrine, and this enhancement was reduced by serotonin through 5-HT(1D) receptors. We conclude that sympathetic transmitters may control nociceptor sensitivity via increased basal PGE2 levels, a possible mechanism to facilitate headache generation. Parasympathetic transmitters may reduce enhanced nociceptor activity.
Cephalalgia 2006 Mar
PMID:Effect of sympathetic and parasympathetic mediators on the release of calcitonin gene-related peptide and prostaglandin E from rat dura mater, in vitro. 1647 34

The first patient with chronic paroxysmal hemicrania (CPH), a 41-year-old woman, first seen in 1961, was followed until an adequate treatment was found, 12 years later. Clinically, attack frequency and duration differed widely from the general pattern of cluster headache. Ocular variables, such as intraocular pressure and corneal indentation pulse amplitudes, also differed in our case (clear symptomatic side increment during attacks) and cluster headache. Pupil reactions to directly and indirectly acting sympathicomimetic drugs were also vastly different in our case and cluster headache: no signs of Horner s syndrome in our patient, while cluster headache exhibits a "Horner-like pattern." In cluster headache, there is a relative hypohidrosis in the forehead on the symptomatic side if body temperature is increased, and a clear hyperhidrosis on direct parasympathomimetic stimulation. This was not so in our case. Indomethacin was highly effective in our case, while "cluster headache drugs," such as ergotamine/sumatriptan, were ineffective. Indomethacin was inactive in cluster headache. Accordingly, our case seemed to differ decisively from cluster headache: CPH had been discovered.
Curr Pain Headache Rep 2006 Aug
PMID:Chronic paroxysmal hemicrania: from the index patient to the disease. 1683 45