An End to the Yom Kippur (and Ramadan) Headache

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2004-11-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Fasting is a known trigger for headache. People who fast to comply with religious edict have been shown to be prone to headache which becomes more likely to occur with increasing length of fasting, and in people prone to headache. This has been documented as 'Yom Kippur Headache' and 'First of Ramadan Headache.' We performed a study to test the hypothesis that Rofecoxib, a pain medicine and anti-inflammatory, with a prolonged duration of action would prevent or attenuate headache when taken just prior to the complete (no food or drink) 25 hour fast of Yom Kippur.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Sheba Medical Center
• Treatments: Rofecoxib

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• History of fasting headache

• Age 18-65

• Intention to fast on Yom Kippur

• History of Fasting on Yom Kippur

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnant or Nursing Women

• Known allergy to NSAID type medication

• History of chronic illness including heart, kidney, liver or peptic ulcer disease, hypertension, diabetes, lung disease including asthma, or a history of gastrointestinal bleeding.