Can Migraine Be Cured 2024
Migraine is one of the most disabling of all medical conditions and for women is their most common illness-more frequent than hypertension, heart disease, gastric reflux, obesity, or cancer. Twenty-five percent of women have migraine while six percent of men have it and it is active between the years of the early twenties and fifty-five to sixty.
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Migraine is considered to be a chronic, repetitive neurological condition usually lasting 4-5 hours but sometimes up to 72 hours.
Please read my article “What is Migraine?” on my website at www.doctormigraine.com.
This is an article by Britt Talley Daniel MD, retired member of the American Academy of Neurology, Migraine textbook author, Podcaster, YouTube video producer, and Blogger
There is no reliable Migraine Cure, because migraine is a genetic, inherited medical problem and genetic problems currently cannot be cured. There are five different genes known now that relate to Migraine. However, Migraine is a treatable disease and modern treatment can significantly reduce Migraine occurrence and reduce the severity of Migraine headaches when they occur.
Migraine treatment consists of living the Migraine lifestyle and using acute and preventive therapy when the headaches come.
The Migraine lifestyle is regular meals, sleep, avoiding overtreating with caffeine or drugs, and aerobic exercise. Be consistent. Eat at about the same time every day. Don't skip meals. Fasting increases the risk of Migraines.
Keep a food journal. Keeping track of the foods you eat and when you experience Migraines can help identify potential food triggers. Avoid foods that trigger Migraines.
For acute therapy 70-80% of patients may be headache free if treated at onset with a tripan. Other new drugs such as Nurtec ODT, Ubrevly, and Reyvow known as CGRP treatment drugs may be used along with older drugs such as DHE and Timolol.
Read my article, “Migraine Medication,” on my website at www.doctormigraine.com.
Preventive treatment is given on a daily basis in order to reduce “attacks” of Migraine. In case of severe Migraine headaches, medicines to reduce the duration and severity are prescribed on “when required” basis. With simple treatment and avoidance of “triggers”, Migraine could be controlled in majority of cases.
Read my article, “When to Start Preventive Therapy for Migraine?’ on my website at www.doctormigraine.com
However, a small percentage of patients may require sophisticated treatments. Controlling Migraine with proper treatment could be a life changing experience for good number of patients. Some patients who take one of the new CGRP drugs (Aimovig, Ajovy, Emgality, Vyepti) will actually go from having frequent migraines to being migraine free. This happens in about 25% of migraineurs on treatment.
Related questions
There are reports of migraine completely stopping in some patients.
There's no cure for Migraines yet, but medications can help prevent, stop, and keep your symptoms from getting worse. You can also avoid things that trigger your Migraines. Lifestyle changes like easing stress and having good sleep habits can help, too.
Stress is the number one issue driving Migraine attacks and some persons will say their Migraines completely stopped when they quit a stressful job they were suffering through. I have heard patients say this when reviewing their medical history and they were presenting to me for some completely different neurologic problem, like carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms of pain and nocturnal tingling that woke them up at night.
I have seen migraine patients who were having five to ten migraines a month state that their headaches “completely went away” after I started them on a CGRP drug. To me the phrase “Migraine Cure” implies that the Migraine sufferer got to a point where they had no more headaches, but were not taking any preventive or acute therapy drugs.
It is like their “cure” came and now they do not need to take anything for treatment again. This would not be the same as patients who had great responses to preventive treatment with a CGRP drug like Ajovy and has no more headaches, but still has to treat.
Patients who are not having headaches but are still taking a preventive treatment are not really “cured.” I would call this “successful treatment.” Therefore, the phrase “Migraine Cure” means the headaches are just gone, and do not require any further treatment.
Migraine is a disorder of the nervous system, something that appears to be genetically predisposed, with environmental and biological factors that may increase or decrease the sensitivity of the nervous system to the attacks we call “migraine.” It is not like an infection that can be eradicated by taking antibiotics, nor like a tumor that can be surgically removed. Migraines can be controlled in the sense that there are treatments to reduce the frequency and severity of the attacks, and medications to take when an attack occurs.
Also ageing usually helps and Migraine in general tends to become less frequent as people age, beyond 60 years.
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Although this site provides information about various medical conditions, the reader is directed to his own treating physician for medical treatment.
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All the best.
Britt Talley Daniel MD