ANCIENT HEADACHE CURES PROVEN EFFECTIVE

Many ancient headache treatments, recorded by Persian physicians, have
been proven in modern-day studies to be effective pain relievers
according to a new German report.

Medieval Persian texts revealing that opium and cannabis were often
used, as well as oil from willow trees - from which aspirin was
derived centuries later - suggest that many other such remedies should
be scientifically tested for therapeutic value as well, says Dr Ali
Gorji, of the Institute for Physiology, Munster University, in
Germany, in a report in the journal Trends in Pharmacological Sciences.

"Despite progress in the development of therapy in recent years,
effective and potent drugs are still required for the treatment of
headache," Gorji says. "The search for new pharmacologically active
analgesics obtained from plants has led to the discovery of some
clinically useful drugs that, during the past two centuries, have
played a major role in the treatment of human diseases. However, most
medicinal plants prescribed by Persian physicians remain largely
unexamined."

Persian headache treatments go back to the 6th century BC, but
physicians there in the medieval era scrupulously observed and
diagnosed different headache types and assembled much information on
traditional remedies from ancient Greece, Egypt, India and China to
augment their own innovative treatment arsenal, he says.

In turn, Persian medical theories and knowledge were brought to the
West during the renaissance and some of them have influenced medicine
ever since, although they are little recognised as such.

"Medieval Persian physicians described the treatment of headache using
many substances with variable modes of action. They attributed the
therapeutic actions of plants to a specific analgesic, sedative or
prophylactic drug property of variable strength," he says.

Their medicines were mainly applied topically to the head: they were
mixed with vinegar, the head was shaved and the skin was washed with
water and salt to increase their penetration. To reduce side-effects
and dilute potent substances, some were mixed with flour, egg white,
or milk. Others were given orally, nasally and rectally.

Treatment plans, which recognised trauma and environmental factors as
the causes of some headaches, included abstinence from certain foods
or activities, foot and head massage, as well as the use of ointments,
essential oils and even leeches. All are finding renewed favour in
mainstream and alternative medicine today.

Medicine Cabinet in the Garden

But it is the long list of medicinal herbs and plant extracts - some
of them toxic in large doses -- recorded in these old documents that
Gorji believes may hold hidden chemical treasures. They include
garlic, camomile, artemisia, deadly nightshade, camphor, caraway,
frankincense, myrrh, saffron, spearmint, turmeric, henna, Spanish
lavender, gum arabic and rose oil.

Myrrh, for example, has been shown to delay the onset of pain in mice
through its interaction with the brain receptors for narcotic drugs
such as opium. Opium poppy itself - and cannabis - was widely used by
the Persians for strong pain and was applied to the skin or ingested.

Garlic contains antioxidants and other active compounds that may
inhibit some of the causes of migraines, and frankincense has been
shown to have pain-relieving and sedative effects in rats. Rose oil,
which was prescribed for recurrent unilateral and bilateral headaches,
contains several active substances including eugenol, which acts on
pain receptors in the spinal cord in rats.

"Medieval Persian physicians accumulated all the existing information
on medicine at that time and added to this knowledge their own astute
observations and experimentation, with the introduction of many new
remedies," said Gorij. "Such information provides comprehensive data
on clinical remedies based on centuries of experience in the field of
headache, and thus might help the testing of the probable benefits of
these remedies for the treatment of cephalic pain [headache]."