Migraine Prevention: Meet Your Care Team

The FDA based its approval on findings from two studies involving 1,061 adults with sHTG. People in the studies started with average triglyceride levels around 1,116 mg/dL even though they were already taking standard treatments. Each person was randomly given either Tryngolza 50 mg, Tryngolza 80 mg, or a placebo (an inactive treatment) once every four weeks for 12 months. After six months, triglyceride levels decreased by about 49%-63% in people taking the 50-mg dose, compared with the placebo. In people taking the 80-mg dose, triglyceride levels decreased by about 55%-72% when compared with the placebo. These improvements lasted through the entire 12 months of the study. About 86% of people using Tryngolza reached triglyceride levels below 500 mg/dL, which is an important target for lowering pancreatitis risk. And people who were using the medicine had fewer acute pancreatitis episodes during the study. The most frequent side effect was a reaction – such as redness, itching, a rash, or pain – at the site where the medicine was injected. Liver enzyme levels increased in about 3%-4% of people.

Melatonin is best known for helping regulate the body’s sleep-wake cycle, but researchers think it may influence pain in more than one way. The first is an indirect pathway: Melatonin may help reduce pain by improving sleep, which can further improve mood, reduce anxiety, and help people stay more active during the day, all of which may in turn help reduce pain intensity, says Wu. It could also impact pain directly. Melatonin may have its own pain-relieving properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects that could help modulate pain, he says.