There's a new cure on the horizon for migraine sufferers, folks! A new drug in the works showed positive results for reducing the number of migraines per month for habitual sufferers. Average people in the clinical trial suffered had 18.8 "migraine days" per month, and that number was reduced by an average of 6.6 days when taking the drug, versus 4.4 via the placebo. It's still not enough.
Migraines are painful enigmas that, sometimes, come on without warning, causing the person who suffers to have a variety of symptoms other than just a severe headache. Triggers can include lights and smells, stress, nearly anything and everything, but sometimes they come on without the slightest bit of a warning. Migraines differ from a regular or tension headache in that they have these peripheral symptoms that are usually tailored to the individual. Symptoms include vomiting, sensitivity to light, auras (blurry or narrowed vision, pins and needles sensation, speech and language problems), fainting and severe unrelenting throbbing pain.
I never had one until I was in my late teens, but when my first one hit, I felt immense guilt over doubting those who I knew suffered from them. Migraines only plague many people maybe two or three times a month, but I'm sure you can make a list of your friends and family who suffer tremendously. My mom, my sister-in-law and my best friend stay in pain for days, wrestling with whether to take another drug to try to get the pain to stop, knowing that there's a good chance it won't work, or to try and "suck it up." If you've never been in an unrelenting pain that people dismiss again and again, then it's not your place to celebrate when sensational headlines read "new drug shows promise in migraine therapy" because we know that until someone gets to the root of why migraines exist in the first place, millions will suffer in silence.
I'll hope in a new drug when I see that people who never have relief before get their lives back; I'll support a company when I know they're committed to curing an invisible illness, rather than just be out there to make money. Until then, it is irresponsible to get millions of people's hopes up over the words that have come to ring true every time- "this will work for some, but not everyone."
Don't get me wrong, here; reducing migraine days by a little over 33 percent is huge, but please, stop promising things that fall flat. if this works, on average those who chronically have migraines will still suffer almost 30 percent of the month, meaning millions of people will still walk around feeling like there is an ice pick in their head during that time. Ask every other person with migraines out there how much a miracle drug worked for them. Please, don't quit making the effort for a cure, but be honest about what it is: an effort.
