What Can Help Ease The Pain Of Migraines? - Philadelphia News, Weather and Sports from WTXF FOX 29

Unless you get them, it's difficult to understand that not everybody can pop a couple of pills and sleep it off a migraine.

They cost us millions of sick days and billions of dollars in lost revenue for business.

It's a medical problem that can be tough to treat and nearly impossible to suffer through.

A staggering 27 million women are affected by migraine – and that's in the United States alone – compared to 9 million men with migraines, according to the Migraine Research Foundation.

But research shows there may be new hope for millions who are missing out on everyday life curled up in a dark quiet room.

Do you really need a bag of pills? FOX 29's Joyce Evans investigates whether there is anything to ease the pain.

She reports on a doctor and his team who are working on potential new treatments, including a not yet FDA approved "occipital nerve stimulator." A five-year study was just completed on the treatment, which uses electrodes implanted at the back of head and a wire that runs down to a battery pack implanted on the body.

Some neurosurgeons are doing the procedure now. But because it has not been FDA approved, many insurance companies won't pay for it.

Free of charge clinical trials may be starting up again in our area. Interested? We'll be passing the information along to you as soon as we get it, Evans reported.