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HeadWay, Issue #153 -- Devices for fighting attacks without surgery... May 23, 2017 |
| Hi! *Please note: URLs may wrap onto the next line. To visit the website, cut and paste the entire URL into your address bar on your browser* In this issue: Devices for fighting attacks without surgery...Migraine World Summit 2017 Follow-UpSay what?! Non-invasive stimulatorDo you believe in the service that HeadWay provides to those with migraine, cluster, and other types of headache, as well as their doctors, family, and friends? Consider sponsoring HeadWay with a one or two line ad. For more information, visit this page. Devices for fighting attacks without surgery...Today I wanted to give you a bit of an update on the non-invasive devices that are available today to fight migraine. This is actually too big a topic for an exhaustive treatment, but this will be a sampling.Devices for migraine aren't cheap. However, considering the fact that they can be used again and again, and save you from taking medication, they can be an excellent investment. Cefaly: Cefaly is one of the most well known devices used as a migraine preventative. It is technically an external trigeminal nerve stimulator (e-TNS) device. It's used for a few minutes on a daily basis, and many people have found that the treatment significantly decreases the number of migraine attacks they experience. Cefaly has come out with a new model. For information on where to buy it in your country visit A Quick Update on Cefaly for Migraine. gammaCore: gammaCore is a brand new device which is used not only for migraine, but also cluster headache. In this case, the device is an abortive treatment - only used when you're actually having a migraine or cluster attack. gammaCore uses vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) at the time of an attack, a treatment which has been done with surgery in the past. Here's an introduction from a few years back: Vagus Nerve Stimulation For Cluster Headache and Migraine – without surgery? For more, visit the gammaCore website. SootheAway Continuous Thermal Therapy Device: SootheAway is a very simple concept done at a professional level. It's well known that controlling the temperature of the head can help control migraine symptoms. But ice packs have serious drawbacks - such as the inability to properly control the temperature. SootheAway does what has been done by doctors for certain conditions for a long time - it uses water at a controlled temperature to cool the head. I did a review of the device here: SootheAway Continuous Thermal Therapy Device: Review. SootheAway is now also sold as the ThermaZone Heating & Cooling Device, which can be purchased with a variety of attachments for various types of headache and other conditions (which makes it a worthwhile investment for the whole family). The device is available here and here. SpringTMS: SpringTMS is a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) device. It is another abortive device for migraine. For more on the device, see this post from 2013: FDA Approves for Device for Migraine with Aura. For where to find the device today, see Getting the SpringTMS device for Migraine. There are more devices on the way! Stay up to date at Headache and Migraine News. Migraine World Summit 2017 Follow-UpThanks to all of you who joined us for the 2017 Migraine World Summit! You were one of over 60,000 participants who heard some of the most practical cutting edge migraine-fighting information available.Some of you, like me, will be absorbing all this information for a long time via the amazing library of World Migraine Summit materials. This collection is a worthwhile investment. If you're thinking about getting the material, you might want to read my post Get the Most out of Your Migraine Summit Library to save yourself some money and get the most out of the materials. Since I wrote that post, all the extra materials are now online! Just one more note - you can get these materials and see/listen to/read all of the presentations from the summit even if you didn't previously get a ticket. Say what?! Non-invasive stimulatorThe devices listed above can all "stimulate" something under the skin without surgery or needles. That's what the term "non-invasive" means. These may be devices you can use yourself, or devices that are used at the doctor's office.Each device stimulates or affects a different part of the body that plays a part in the migraine or cluster chain reaction. These devices may not just lessen symptoms - they may actually interrupt the attack or even keep it from happening in the first place Thanks for reading! Remember, if you have feedback or ideas for future issues, visit the HeadWay MailRoom. Your password is nomoache. |
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