Essential plant oils and headache mechanisms.

The rationale for using essential oils to alleviate headache is based on several assumptions. Especially for peppermint oil certain analgesic mechanisms were recently described. Local application of peppermint oil generates a long-lasting cooling effect on the skin, caused by a steric alteration of the calcium channels of the cold-receptors.

Exteroceptive suppression of temporalis muscle activity during migraine attack and migraine interval before and after treatment with sumatriptan.

We compared the early (ES1) and late (ES2) exteroceptive suppression (ES) periods of temporalis muscle activity in 18 migraine patients during both the migraine interval and migraine attack and investigated the effect of sumatriptan and placebo on ES parameters. The measurements were performed in a balanced sequence at four different times on each patient, twice during the migraine interval and once in each of two migraine attacks. First ES1 and ES2 were measured (stimulus intensity 20 mA, stimulus duration 0.