As any migraine sufferer can attest there are few other health-related ailments (such as possibly passing a gall stone) that deliver the nearly unbearable pain that a migraine can drop in just minutes and with little warning.
Typically the current treatment ranges from heavy pain meds as the migraine is triggered to heavy pain meds as it hits and, if the victim is lucky, being able to go to sleep as quick as possible.
But a Belgium tech company believes it has developed the best alternative remedy: a diadem battery-powered headband that uses electrodes to shut off a migraine via nerve stimulation before the monster headache builds power.
As a new report reveals, right now one in seven adults worldwide have to deal with migraines. Cefaly Technologies hopes to make that percentage quite a bit smaller and while it's not calling the portable headband a 'cure,' it claims it can stop the early migraine from developing into the blinding migraine category.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration apparently thinks it's worthwhile as it green-lighted the device last month and that approval, says Cefaly, should lead to a 25 percent spike in sales between now and 2019.
"European companies like this one are at the forefront of innovation," said MedTech Europe's CEO Serge Bernasconi in a news report.
As described in one news report the headband device delivers an electrical current to the skin that stimulates the trigeminal nerve that has long been cited as playing a critical role in the development of migraines.
It's likely Cefaly will keep working on the headband remedy given feedback from clinical test trials indicated it wasn't comfortable for every tester.
While more than half of the 2,300 patient testers reported less migraines, more than a few said the headband didn't work and was uncomfortable to wear. It also proves to be ineffective once a migraine hits its full pain power.
