HOW MANY HEADACHES AWAY?
An estimated 18 million Americans (two thirds of them women) regularly experience migraine headaches. (Symptoms include one-sided pain, visual disturbances and nausea.) And until now, there has been no effective drug therapy to ease migraine pain. But in a breakthrough discovery, scientists have found that a brain chemical, serotonin, may play a key role in pain relief by affecting the functioning of blood vessels in the head. Now being tested: a new experimental drug, Sumatriptan, that masquerades as serotonin. Preliminary studies show that it can stop a migraine in the early stages and relieve pain in up to 75% of patients tested. Approval by the Food and Drug Administration is still several years away. From Family Circle, April 24, 1990
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