Popular diabetes and weight loss medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro show potential for treating a slew of other health issues, from osteoarthritis to binge eating. Now, new research suggests that these drugs—which belong to a class known as GLP-1s—might also help relieve migraines.
Specifically, people with obesity and chronic migraine experienced significantly fewer headaches after a three-month stint taking liraglutide, a GLP-1 currently used to treat type 2 diabetes, researchers reported June 17 in the journal Headache.
Migraine affects roughly 14% of the global population, making it a leading cause of disability worldwide. The new study was small, with just 31 people, and experts caution that more research is needed. Still, the findings hint at a promising new pathway for migraine relief.
“Despite many advancements in migraine treatment in recent years, there are still many patients who suffer from intractable migraines who may benefit from emerging treatment,” said Samantha Flanagan, DO, an obesity medicine physician with Temple Health.
To understand how GLP-1s impact migraine, the researchers recruited 26 women and five men with obesity (a body mass index over 30) and chronic migraine (headaches on at least 15 days per month).
Participants took a daily shot containing 1.2 milligrams of liraglutide over 12 weeks. Each day, they filled out a diary detailing the intensity and frequency of their migraine symptoms. Roughly 38% of the participants experienced mild gastrointestinal side effects like nausea and constipation.
At the end of the study, participants experienced an average of 11 fewer headache days a month. Most patients noticed improvements within the first two weeks. The participants also recorded substantial boosts in quality of life via a tool called the Migraine Disability Assessment Test.
These improvements occurred despite the group’s BMI barely changing—on average, it dropped from 34.0 to 33.9. Because of this, the researchers concluded that GLP-1s may effectively reduce migraine symptoms, even in the absence of significant weight loss.
Despite the promising results, the study had several limitations. First, it was observational and lacked a control group, making it unclear whether the migraine improvements were directly caused by liraglutide or influenced by other factors, Richard Baron, MD, a neurologist with Stanford Medicine, told Health.
There was also no blinding—both the participants and the researchers were aware that they were taking the medication, which could introduce bias.
That said, the study, while small, opens up the door for future research, Flanagan said.
Looking forward, Baron said he’d like to see randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trials—considered the gold standard of scientific testing—examine the impact of GLP-1 drugs on migraine frequency and intensity.
Though it’s still too soon to know if GLP-1s truly can alleviate migraine symptoms, researchers have some theories about how they might do so.
One thought is that they may lower intracranial pressure, or pressure that builds up from the presence of fluids within the skull. Even slightly elevated pressure may sensitize the trigeminovascular system, a network of neurons in the brain closely involved in migraine. This can trigger the release of headache-causing compounds called calcitonin gene-related peptides, which lower a person’s threshold for pain and headaches.
Previous research supports this theory: GLP-1s have been found to reduce cerebrospinal fluid secretion and intracranial pressure. Additionally, several small studies suggest that GLP-1s may improve migraine symptoms in people with idiopathic intracranial hypertension, a condition that causes chronically high intracranial pressure, said Deena E. Kuruvilla, MD, FAHS, a neurologist and medical director of the Brain Health Institute. (Notably, the new study excluded people suspected of having this condition.)
Another possibility, according to Baron, is that GLP-1s may counteract the effects of obesity that are thought to contribute to migraine attacks, such as inflammation and fluctuations in hormones like leptin and orexin.
“Given that the GLP-1 agonists seem to reduce inflammation associated with obesity, affect obesity-related hormonal signaling, and decrease intracranial pressure—even before weight loss is achieved—it is very reasonable to expect these medications to be helpful in reducing migraine attack severity and frequency in patients with migraine and obesity,” Baron said.
While there are several migraine treatments available—including oral medications, injections, lifestyle changes, and neuromodulatory devices—the condition is notoriously difficult to treat.
According to the American Headache Society, inadequate preventative medication and unidentified triggers are two of the most common reasons migraine treatments fail. In addition, many people continue to experience refractory, or intractable, headaches that are resistant to standard treatments.
GLP-1 drugs are not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration for migraine prevention, and treating migraine with them is not yet the standard of care, Kuruvilla said.
But Kuruvilla told Health that she’s had several patients with refractory headaches “who had exhausted multiple traditional migraine preventives without success” take GLP-1 s and experience significant migraine relief. “I always stress that migraine improvement is a potential secondary benefit, not a guaranteed outcome,” she said.
Baron, on the other hand, said it’s reasonable to consider GLP-1s for people with migraines and a BMI over 30. The medication may improve migraine symptoms—and boost their metabolic health to boot. “Having more tools to treat the condition is always welcome,” he said.
