Emgality Headache Treatment: FDA Approves New Drug – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a new drug to treat cluster headaches. Migraine affects more than a million Americans, who can finally dare to think of relief for this type of condition.
How many times do we see people suffering from migraines? Not being able to sleep, not being able to have a normal life, nor a normal relationship with your loved ones, etc. It is very serious because, even when we seek some kind of help, it isolates us little by little from our environment.
Who did not walk through all the pharmacies asking for some remedy for these intense headaches that do not leave us or let us sleep peacefully? Well, now we have a little more than a hope: a new treatment.
Causes of Migraines
While not all migraines are linked to headaches, not are all headaches migraines, “neuralgia” is one of the most common pains of these type.
Although the causes are still unknown, this pain occurs due to the dilatation of the arteries located in the skull. These blood vessels dilate due to an over-excitement of the nerves that derive from the brain. These changes overwhelm the flow of blood in the brain and adjacent tissues.
Many times, this type of headache may be accompanied by sensitivity to sound and light, nausea or vomiting and general malaise. Some people feel only a severe pulse pain in one area of the head.
At the same time, migraines can be hereditary, or they can be triggered by other reasons, although it is women, more than men, who present this type of ailment more frequently.
Other causes can be hits on the head either by accident or by playing a sport such as NFL Football, where head-on collisions are constant as part of the game.
Migraine Symptoms
It is very common that migraine appears at an early age, affecting children, adolescents, and later adulthood. These pains can be classified into four stages, although it is possible that a person does not go through all these.
Prodrome
It is said that one or two days before the intense headaches, subtle changes are detected in the organism that warns what is about to come. These changes can be:
Oral anxiety
Humor changes
Neck stiffness
Increased thirst, therefore, increased frequency of urination.
Constipation
Aura
Auras refer to discomfort in vision. They can also be perceived as motor, verbal or sensory disturbances. Sometimes, this stage may be linked to hemiplegic migraine.
These symptoms begin gradually, worsening between 20 and 60 minutes later. However, most patients have migraines without aura.
This type of migraine may include loss of vision, stitches in the extremities, difficulty speaking, and perception of visual or auditory phenomena, spasms, among others.
Crisis
Migraines can last between 5 and 72 hours if they are not properly treated. The frequency varies according to the person, being able to appear from time to time or several times a month. Migraines may be accompanied by:
Pain both ends or in the whole head
Nausea or vomiting
Vertigo or fainting
Disturbances in vision such as blurred vision
Perforating pain
Postdrome
This final phase occurs after a migrainous crisis. There are several types of outcomes although the most common is that people feel weak or exhausted, or on the contrary, they can feel vigorous and euphoric. At the same time, they can feel sensitivity to sounds and light, confusion, dizziness, weakness and bad mood.
FDA Approval
This new drug is an injection that must be administered once a month (300ml).
The American Migraine Foundation says that many times migraines are not diagnosed because they can be linked to other conditions.
Neurologists and psychiatrists say that the drugs used so far to treat cluster headaches are administered in high doses, generating side effects.
The new treatment with Emgality belongs to a new class of drugs called CGRP inhibitors, used to prevent and reduce the frequency of migraines. Depending on the length of this treatment, it can cost around $ 7,000 a year.
Finally, before consuming a new drug or undergoing a new treatment, consult your doctor about the best options. Recall that not all people suffer these headaches the same way or with the same intensity, if you think about it – at the same time – they greatly harm people as it conditions to make a normal life.
Alan Rada