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CNN Saturday Morning News
Dentist Develops New Migraine Treatments
Aired February 16, 2002 - 07:50 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.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Does fruit contribute to migraines? I'm not sure. There is a lot of debate over just what causes the severe pain. And now, a dentist has used his head and his training to devise a new migraine treatment.
CNN medical correspondent Christy Feig has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTY FEIG, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty- eight million Americans suffer from migraines.
BETHANN BYRNE, MIGRAINE SUFFERER: It's like being clamped in by the head.
FEIG: More than a typical headache, experts believe migraines are triggered when blood vessels in the brain expand, pressing on nearby nerves.
DR. SEYMOUR DIAMOND, NATIONAL HEADACHE FOUNDATION: There are medicines that are very specific for migraines. The new triptan drugs have been just like a miracle.
DR. MARK FRIEDMAN, NEW YORK MEDICAL COLLEGE: Put your head back now. Let me see. Open a bit.
FEIG: Now, that conventional thinking of what it is that causes a migraine is being challenged from an unusual place.
(on camera): You're a dentist, right?
FRIEDMAN: I am a dentist and my...
FEIG: What made you look for migraines?
FRIEDMAN: ... my practice was limited to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and jaw joint disorders. So as a result, I poked around a lot. And I found that the tenderness occurred often.
FEIG (voice-over): This tenderness led Friedman to believe it's not blood vessels in the brain, but inflammation above the top molars that presses on a nerve and causes migraines.
FRIEDMAN: What do you do for swelling? Cold. FEIG: Friedman built a device that pumps cold water through tubes to hold against the area. He also created an anti-inflammatory gel that patients can use at home.
BYRNE: If I have a headache and I put on the gel, inside 20 minutes the headache is gone.
FEIG: Bethann Byrne used to miss several days of work a month because of migraines.
BYRNE: I used to remember when I would get headaches all the time, you know, I wonder what it's like not to have pain all the time. And now, I think to myself, I wonder what it's like to have headaches all the time.
FEIG: Still, some experts aren't convinced.
DIAMOND: I'd like to see multi clinic studies maybe doing 500 or 1,000 patients to see if his work proves out.
FEIG: But Friedman says he has treated thousands, many of whom are happy.
BYRNE: It has absolutely changed the quality of my life.
FEIG (on camera): It isn't unusual for migraine sufferers to turn elsewhere for treatments. Some patients swear by magnesium and even biofeedback. And about 30 percent of patients can actually control the headache by simply avoiding certain foods.
Christy Feig, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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