Nerve Stimulation Helps Prevent Migraine?
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Blurred vision, eye pain, temporary blind spots, nausea, fatigue, and sensitivity to light or sound are all symptoms for migraine sufferers. Research is now suggesting a new treatment option for those who suffer from this frustrating problem.
Researchers have discovered that wearing a nerve stimulator, which is placed on the forehead and delivers electrical stimulation to the supraorbital nerve, for 20 minutes a day may help migraine sufferers.
Sixty-seven people who had an average of four migraine attacks a month were examined for one month with no treatment. Then, they received the stimulation 20 minutes a day for three months or sham stimulation, where they wore the device but the stimulation was given at too low of levels to have any effect.
Patients who received the stimulation had fewer days with migraine in the 3rd month of treatment, compared to the first month without treatment. The number of days with migraine decreased from 6.9 days to 4.8 days per month. Those who received the sham treatment did not experience anything different.
Also, the study examined the number of people who had 50% or higher reduction in the number of days with migraine in one month. It was 38% for those who had the stimulation, compared to 12% of those who had the sham treatment.
"These results are exciting, because the results were similar to those of drugs that are used to prevent migraine, but often those drugs have many side effects for people, and frequently the side effects are bad enough that people decide to quit taking the drug,” study author, Jean Schoenen, MD, PhD, of Liège University in Belgium and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, was quoted as saying.
SOURCE: Neurology, February 2013
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Blurred vision, eye pain, temporary blind spots, nausea, fatigue, and sensitivity to light or sound are all symptoms for migraine sufferers. Research is now suggesting a new treatment option for those who suffer from this frustrating problem.
Researchers have discovered that wearing a nerve stimulator, which is placed on the forehead and delivers electrical stimulation to the supraorbital nerve, for 20 minutes a day may help migraine sufferers.
Sixty-seven people who had an average of four migraine attacks a month were examined for one month with no treatment. Then, they received the stimulation 20 minutes a day for three months or sham stimulation, where they wore the device but the stimulation was given at too low of levels to have any effect.
Patients who received the stimulation had fewer days with migraine in the 3rd month of treatment, compared to the first month without treatment. The number of days with migraine decreased from 6.9 days to 4.8 days per month. Those who received the sham treatment did not experience anything different.
Also, the study examined the number of people who had 50% or higher reduction in the number of days with migraine in one month. It was 38% for those who had the stimulation, compared to 12% of those who had the sham treatment.
"These results are exciting, because the results were similar to those of drugs that are used to prevent migraine, but often those drugs have many side effects for people, and frequently the side effects are bad enough that people decide to quit taking the drug,” study author, Jean Schoenen, MD, PhD, of Liège University in Belgium and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, was quoted as saying.
SOURCE: Neurology, February 2013
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