A British team is to test a home "brain stimulation" method to short-circuit migraines before they become disabling.

DIY brain therapy could halt migraines

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Migraine is the most common neurological condition in the developed world. It affects over 15% of the UK population and is a more than just a headache; it can cause intense throbbing, visual disturbance and nausea and attacks can be so severe that sufferers have to take time off work.

Recently, a team at Ohio State University showed that zapping the brain with a magnetic field, using transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS, can abort attacks as they start to develop, when sufferers see an "aura" , a disturbing pattern of zig zags, stars or flashes.

But the coil has to be applied to precisely the right part of the brain to be effective and now a simpler method to achieve the same effect, using two electrodes, is to be tested on migraine sufferers around the country by Prof Vince Walsh of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Queen Square."

The simplest, most effective way to prevent most migraines and most other headaches from actually starting is to avoid eating salt/sodium and salty foods, and my personal experience of preventing the headache coming when the visual disturbance has started is to take two paracetamol ASAP.

Do you often wake up with a headache or a migraine? or with the visual disturbance that precedes a migraine? flashing lights? jagged lines...?

Do you often wake up with a headache or a migraine? or with the visual disturbance that precedes a migraine? flashing lights? jagged lines? blurred vision? Not finding tablets very helpful?

These symptoms are often caused by salt sensitivity or by sodium retention. - You may like to try cutting down on salt/sodium. (You can be sensitive to salt even if you do not eat a lot of salt.) - Why not try it? - It costs nothing and does not involve taking drugs/pain-killers.)

There are many illnesses and many symptoms that can be cured or made less severe by eating less salt. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/sodium_foods.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)