Background: There is an increasing trend in healthcare to make more medicines available 'Over The Counter' (OTC). Migraine is a common, chronic, episodic disorder, and therefore it is predicted that more treatments for migraine will be made available OTC.

Objectives: To understand consumer experiences of migraine and its impact on them, to determine how consumers treat their migraines, and to understand consumer views of the treatments they use.

Design: Respondents for the saurvey were sourced from 33 000 UK members of a market research panel. Individuals were invited by email to complete this secure web-based survey; 500 sufferers of migraine in the last 12 months aged 16 years or over were selected and responded. The online survey was completed on 1–5 July 2004.

Results: The majority (63%) of respondents were female; 31% suffered migraine more than once a month. Eighty-four per cent suffered headache every time they had a migraine. Apart from headache, the symptoms most frequently suffered were photophobia (57%) and nausea (49%). Thirty-eight per cent described their migraines as mainly or always severe. Only 4% said that migraine had no impact on their lives. A minority (28%) took a painkiller as soon as they had a headache, with 36% waiting until their headache got really bad or they knew it was definitely migraine. A majority (48%) used ibuprofen or another general analgesic as their most frequent medication compared to 16% who used a prescription product. The most important factors in choosing a painkiller were rapid effect (61%), efficacy (54%), and relief of all symptoms (43%). Twenty per cent of subjects were either quite or very dissatisfied with their chosen medication. The most common reasons for dissatisfaction were lack of efficacy (44%) and delayed onset of action (32%).

Conclusions:

- As not all respondents suffered headache every time they had a migraine, some believed that they have migraine but would not be medically classified as having migraine.

- A large proportion of respondents (43%) recognise that migraine has a major impact on their lives.

- Consumers want treatments that are effective and work quickly.

- Reasons for dissatisfaction are primarily lack of efficacy and delayed onset of action.

- Consumers do not use existing medications early enough.