A small electronic device implanted below the skin is giving migraine sufferers relief from debilitating pain.
The small battery powered electronic stimulator is implanted below the skin, similar to a pacemaker.
Two wires then travel up the back to the base of the skull where electrodes send impulses to nerves in the brain, in effect, turning off the migraine before it starts.
It's estimated 40 million Americans suffer from migraine headaches and up to 4% of those adults have headaches 15 or more days a month.
The occipital nerve stimulator system is being tested for the management of the pain and disability associated with intractable chronic migraine.
Dr. Stephen D. Silberstein, Director of the Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University said, "We had people who've had this who had no life, they couldn't leave the house, they couldn't work, and they've got their function back they've got their life back."
The device is still undergoing clinical trials.
