More on the hand-held-migraine-zapper (if you have aura)

Noninvasive transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, continues to be a topic of conversation in the medical world.  At its 50th conference, the American Headache Society listened to a positive report out of the Ohio State University about the TMS devices.

The TMS is transforming from a large device in a specialist’s office to a handheld device that can be used in the home.  The hope is that the TMS can be used early in a migraine attack to stop the migraine chain reaction without drugs.  Apply it to the head and turn it on, and zap the migraine away.  Could it work that well?

For some migraineurs, the results seem to be encouraging.  In this study, migraineurs with aura.  Out of 164 patients, 39% reported being pain-free two hours after using the device.  That may not sound like much, but remember that no drugs were used.  And 39% is a lot better than a placebo (in this test, 22% of the placebo-using patients found similar relief).

But these were patients with aura, who used the device during the aura stage of the attack.  Would patients who don’t experience aura be able to use the device with success?  Time and more study will tell.

For those that have seen the headlines about the TMS device, 39% vs 22% on placebo may not live up to the hype.  Still, this looks like it may be a safe, effective alternative for some people.  Especially since many don’t respond or can’t even take regular migraine medication.  As one of the researchers said (himself a neurologist):  "Because of the lack of adverse events in this trial and the established safety of the TMS device, this is a promising treatment for migraines with aura." (Dr. Yousef Mohammad)

Read more about this preliminary study here:  Electronic device zaps migraine pain, study says