Effects of preemptive intravenous paracetamol and ibuprofen on headache and myalgia in patients after electroconvulsive therapy: A placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical trial.

Background: The aim of this study is to determine the efficacy of preemptive analgesia with paracetamol and ibuprofen to reduce the intensity and incidence of headache and myalgia after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Methods: Sixty patients with major depression who were treated with ECT were randomized to receive ECT 3 times a week. The first 3 sessions were included in the study. The patients were divided into 3 groups; Group C (Control, Saline, n = 20), Group P (Paracetamol, n = 20), and Group I (Ibuprofen, n = 20). Demographics, duration of seizure, visual analog scale (VAS) for headache and myalgia and nausea, vomiting and pruritus were evaluated at postoperative 24 hours period.

Results: Duration of seizure after ECT was similar in all groups (P = .148). In the study, heart rate and mean arterial pressure were found to be some changes in some of the sessions. There were no significant differences in any comparison for all groups in all sessions regarding VAS scores for headache and myalgia. Incidence of headache and myalgia in Group I was lower than the other groups (P = .233, P = .011, respectively). But, there was no significant difference between the other groups. There was no significant difference in vomiting, intergroups, and intragroup.

Conclusions: The findings of our study indicate that pain intensity of headache and myalgia did not show a significant change between groups and within groups. While pain intensity of myalgia between the groups reached no statistical significance, ibuprofen was significantly lowered the incidence of myalgia at postoperative 24 hours period.