Stopping a migraine before it starts

For many who suffer from migraine headaches, neural disturbances called, "auras" arethefirst symptoms. These symptoms include seeing showers of shooting stars, flashing lights, zigzagging lines, loss of vision, weakness, tingling, or confusion. Then the headache comes.

An experimental electronic device, called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is apparently effective in eliminating the headache when used at its onset. The device has been undergoing investigation at the Ohio State University Medical Center. The TMS was developed based on the understanding that it is neuronal electrical hyper excitability that brought on the headache. Findings of the three-month study indicate significant reduction in nausea, noise, and light sensitivity after treatment.

Treatments with the TMS are painless, with patients merely feeling a little pressure. In action the device sends a strong electric current through a metal coil , creating an intense magnetic field for a millisecond. This pulse, when held against a patient's head creates an electric current in the neurons of the brain which interrupts the aura before it turns into a migraine headache.

In the study, 80\% of patients with migraines were free of the headache within two hours of the treatment. Funding for the test was provided by NeuralLieve, a company located in Sunnyvale, CA.