Over 2 months of treatment , SSRIs are no more efficacious than placebo in patients with migraine .
In patients with chronic TTH , SSRIs are less efficacious than tricyclic antidepressants .
In comparison with SSRIs , the burden of adverse events in patients receiving tricyclics was greater .
BACKGROUND Headache is a common medical problem .
In view of recent discoveries about the role of serotonin in pain mechanisms , selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors ( SSRIs ) have been evaluated for the prevention of  migraine and tension-type headaches ( TTH ) .
OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of SSRIs for preventing migraine and TTH .
A randomized general practice * group‐comparative study of femoxetine and placebo in the prophylaxis of migraine
ABSTRACT — In a r and omized general practice study , the prophylactice effect of femoxetive ( a 5HT uptake inhibitor ) was compared with placebo in migraine patients . Treatment , with separate r and omization schedules in each practice , was allocated to 65 patients . Each patient was treated for 16 weeks with 200 mg increasing during the first nine days to 600 mg daily . No effect of femoxetine could be demonstrated in attack frequency and headache index . Separate analysis of maximum reduction in serotonin concentration during treatment revealed no difference in efficacy when compared with placebo . This supports earlier studies that femoxetine generally exerts no prophylactic effect on migraine , and the hypothesis that platelet 5HT might be of major importance in the pathogenesis of migraine is not supported
Over 2 months of treatment , SSRIs are no more efficacious than placebo in patients with migraine .
In patients with chronic TTH , SSRIs are less efficacious than tricyclic antidepressants .
In comparison with SSRIs , the burden of adverse events in patients receiving tricyclics was greater .
BACKGROUND Headache is a common medical problem .
In view of recent discoveries about the role of serotonin in pain mechanisms , selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors ( SSRIs ) have been evaluated for the prevention of  migraine and tension-type headaches ( TTH ) .
OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of SSRIs for preventing migraine and TTH .