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American Morning

Migraine Cure Being Sought

Aired December 04, 2003 - 09:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: More than 28 million Americans suffer from migraines, the splitting headaches that just don't seem to go away. But doctors are working on treatments that could relief migraines permanently. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from the CNN Center with details. Does this mean some kind of surgery, Sanjay?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it doesn't, actually. It's still talking about medications. And for people who've had migraines you know what we're talking about. Soledad, I know you've had them, I've had them. It's sort of the worst kind of headache. And it's sometimes just debilitating, you have to go into a dark quiet room, really troublesome.

Here's the thing though. About 53 percent of the time, of the 28 million people that you mentioned, more than half the time you can prevent these from ever occurring in the first place. So this is a pretty big deal. These prevention medications have been out there for some time.

But now a new study out of the American Medical Association says that only 5 percent of the time do people actually use a preventive medications. Most people wait until they start having pain before they take any medication at all.

The goal of the preventive therapy, obviously, to decrease the number, decrease the severity of these headaches to try to reduce the cost of these headaches.

There's also other (UNINTELLIGIBLE) benefits, as well, to society as a whole. It costs about $17 billion to treat migraines every year. You decrease doctor's visits by 51 percent, ER visits by 82 percent, CT scans by 75 percent, MRIs by 88 percent.

Soledad, your question, how do you do it? We're talking about medications still, not surgery. All different classes of medications potentially being used to try again and prevent migraines. They're not talking about treatment here. Hypertension drugs, anti- hypertensive drugs, that is. Anti-depressants, as well. Those are often used to prevent migraines. Epileptic drugs. There's a new one out called Topamax, again for people out there who have migraines. Remember the name. Topamax is out there for potentially a good preventative medication.

Botox injections, as well. Not for the reasons that most people think of Botox, but to actually stop some of the inflammatory pain pathways. Botox is pretty expensive, about $1,500 a year to use actually that to prevent migraines, but also an option, as well. The key out there, though, Soledad, preventing these migraines, not letting them occur in the first place can be a big deal.

O'BRIEN: How do you know which of those that you just listed there is the one that's going to work for you? Or do doctors essentially work you through the list until they figure out what works?

GUPTA: Oftentimes it could be a lot of trial and error which can be a little frustrating for patients. But again the big step being recognizing that you have a migraine in the first place and then trying to get the preventive treatments.

Some of the hallmarks of migraines, by the way, and, Soledad, Again, you know this and I know this, but the hallmarks of people trying to distinguish between do they have migraines or just a regular headache. It's oftentimes a moderate to severe headache. Oftentimes accompanied by nausea.

Light or sound sensitivity. People want to go into a quiet, dark room to try and get rid of the headache. Nasal stuffiness. Oftentimes the headache is just located on one side of the head, as well. And they say that it's disabling. I mean you just really can't do anything if you've had one of these migraine headaches.

So again prevention being the key here. That's the real message. More than half the time it can be prevented -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: I always thought when they said how do you know if you have a migraine, it's the same thing as, how do you know you're going into labor? It is like the most painful thing you're ever going to experience, so you will know.

GUPTA: That's right.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

GUPTA: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 4, 2003 - 09:22   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: More than 28 million Americans suffer from migraines, the splitting headaches that just don't seem to go away. But doctors are working on treatments that could relief migraines permanently. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from the CNN Center with details. Does this mean some kind of surgery, Sanjay?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it doesn't, actually. It's still talking about medications. And for people who've had migraines you know what we're talking about. Soledad, I know you've had them, I've had them. It's sort of the worst kind of headache. And it's sometimes just debilitating, you have to go into a dark quiet room, really troublesome.

Here's the thing though. About 53 percent of the time, of the 28 million people that you mentioned, more than half the time you can prevent these from ever occurring in the first place. So this is a pretty big deal. These prevention medications have been out there for some time.

But now a new study out of the American Medical Association says that only 5 percent of the time do people actually use a preventive medications. Most people wait until they start having pain before they take any medication at all.

The goal of the preventive therapy, obviously, to decrease the number, decrease the severity of these headaches to try to reduce the cost of these headaches.

There's also other (UNINTELLIGIBLE) benefits, as well, to society as a whole. It costs about $17 billion to treat migraines every year. You decrease doctor's visits by 51 percent, ER visits by 82 percent, CT scans by 75 percent, MRIs by 88 percent.

Soledad, your question, how do you do it? We're talking about medications still, not surgery. All different classes of medications potentially being used to try again and prevent migraines. They're not talking about treatment here. Hypertension drugs, anti- hypertensive drugs, that is. Anti-depressants, as well. Those are often used to prevent migraines. Epileptic drugs. There's a new one out called Topamax, again for people out there who have migraines. Remember the name. Topamax is out there for potentially a good preventative medication.

Botox injections, as well. Not for the reasons that most people think of Botox, but to actually stop some of the inflammatory pain pathways. Botox is pretty expensive, about $1,500 a year to use actually that to prevent migraines, but also an option, as well. The key out there, though, Soledad, preventing these migraines, not letting them occur in the first place can be a big deal.

O'BRIEN: How do you know which of those that you just listed there is the one that's going to work for you? Or do doctors essentially work you through the list until they figure out what works?

GUPTA: Oftentimes it could be a lot of trial and error which can be a little frustrating for patients. But again the big step being recognizing that you have a migraine in the first place and then trying to get the preventive treatments.

Some of the hallmarks of migraines, by the way, and, Soledad, Again, you know this and I know this, but the hallmarks of people trying to distinguish between do they have migraines or just a regular headache. It's oftentimes a moderate to severe headache. Oftentimes accompanied by nausea.

Light or sound sensitivity. People want to go into a quiet, dark room to try and get rid of the headache. Nasal stuffiness. Oftentimes the headache is just located on one side of the head, as well. And they say that it's disabling. I mean you just really can't do anything if you've had one of these migraine headaches.

So again prevention being the key here. That's the real message. More than half the time it can be prevented -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: I always thought when they said how do you know if you have a migraine, it's the same thing as, how do you know you're going into labor? It is like the most painful thing you're ever going to experience, so you will know.

GUPTA: That's right.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

GUPTA: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com