Upton held the magnetic stimulator next to Hughes’s head and pressed a button, sending out two pulses five seconds apart. Hughes says he felt a “surge, like a rush of energy” entering his head. Minutes later, after a second round, the headache was gone. No more pain, no more agonizing sensitivity to light when the blinds were opened. “It was amazing,” Hughes says. “Like a flood of release of the pain and pressure. You’ve no idea unless you’ve had migraines. I even drove home.”
In Upton’s clinical trials, three-quarters of all test subjects who arrived at the hospital suffering from a migraine reported feeling much better immediately after treatment. Better yet, every one of Upton’s subjects who has made it to the hospital during the aura phase has found that the magnetic stimulator dispels the aura and prevents the headache from occurring. Migraine drugs all have some side effects, including nausea, chest discomfort, and sometimes rebound headaches. But no side effects have yet been detected as a result of using the stimulator. In fact, Upton says, if the cycle of headaches—or seizures, for epileptics—is broken, then the patient may “forget” the pattern of electrical activity that leads to the symptoms. Since Hughes’s first three treatments, he hasn’t had a migraine in three years.
No comments:
Post a Comment