Migraine Pain Relief

CHICAGO (Ivanhoe Broadcast New) -- Chrissy Freuh's migraines started early. "I remember the lights bothering me and the sun," she says. And they got worse after she had kids. "You always think, 'Could it get worse?' And it does get worse."

Her mom, sister and two kids also have migraines. The nine drugs she takes don't always work. Headache specialist Fred Freitag, D.O., says that's not uncommon.

There are plenty of medications to treat the painful pounding of a migraine, but they don't work for everyone. Drugs that prevent the onset of migraines actually only work in 50 percent of sufferers.

"If we could just offer them another tool, another approach to bring management to their headaches, to bring back their quality of life, it is all worthwhile," Dr. Freitag, of The Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago, tells Ivanhoe.

He's teaming up with Sandeep Amin, M.D., a pain physician at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, to study nerve stimulation for migraine relief.

"You are stimulating large nerve fibers, which have the ability to block the sensation of pain," Dr. Amin tells Ivanhoe. When implanted, the device sends electrical impulses to the occipital nerves in the head.

Dr. Freitag says, "When we stimulate these nerves in the upper neck with the stimulator, it goes in and actually turns off the center of the brain that causes the migraine to begin."

Half of the people who get spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain have about a 60-percent reduction in pain. Dr. Amin expects similar results for migraines. "I think it opens a window for probably millions of patients who are suffering from migraines," he says. "Patients who have no alternatives."

Freitag is first in line to get the device. She believes it will be the answer she's been waiting for. "Having chronic pain every day, it gets to you," she says. "There's just nowhere to go. You are constantly with it and even the strongest of people ... You run out of coping skills."

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Diamond Headache Clinic
(800) 432-3224

Clinical Trial: Treatment for Migraines With an Implantable Device