So I was lying in bed with a migraine waiting for the medication to kick in and this commercial comes on "Chronic Migraines? Would you like to be part of a Clinical Trial or study to help find a treatment? If so call 867-5309 (not really the number)."

So I did. I was surprised some one answered the phone. She asks me if I am a migraineur. Yeah.

How frequently do you have migraines?
Better question would be when do I not have a migraine. At this time, at least 6 to 7 days a week. Sometimes, I get a migraine that just doesn't go away for several weeks and I have to go to the hospital.

What medications have you tried?
I've taken Imitrex, Zomig, Maxalt, Frova and others that I cannot remember the name of and now Relpax. Narcotics I've been given - viciodan, depakote, percocet, and worse. Preventatives- atentolol, propranolol, years and years of Topamax (which has ruined my brain function), and most recently effexor which caused me to gain 30 pounds in 2 months.

What do you take now and how frequently?
Relpax 80mg and Valium and for nausea and vomiting- promethazine and for severe vertigo meclizne. At the ER they throw everything they have at me.

Have you had MRIs, CTScans etc?
Yes, every 3 to 4 months.

Anyone else in your family suffer from migraines?
My mom but hers may have been because she had a huge brain tumor. My mom's sisters (all six of them), my mom's two brothers, my sister, her two sons, my brother's two twin daughters, my oldest brother now says that he occasionally gets a really bad headache and vomiting but he didn't know it was a migraine, about 10 of my cousins, and one cousins migraines are so bad that she lost her internship at USC medical center because her migraine triggered either a TIA or seizure while she was attending to a patient.

Oh?

How long have you suffered from migraines or headaches?
Since childhood. I remember that complaining to my mom that I had a headache and feeling sick to my stomach often. I remember that after a while the St Joseph's baby aspirin that I took at age 5 didn't kill my headaches when I was six so my mom gave me my first adult strength Tylenol. After that I always got Adult Strength Tylenol as a child.

Have your migraines changed and increased in frequency?
Yes, I guess so. I recall that I frequently got headache but Tylenol usually got rid of them. If the Tylenol did not work and my eyes hurt then a dark quiet room helped. Then after I turned 18 a dark quiet room and Tylenol did not work but I just toughed it out and vomited and tried to sleep through the pain. Then at 24 I was still having regular level headaches but once or twice a year my head would hurt so bad that I wished for death. I wished that I had a big metal mallet and that I could beat my own head in to just stop the pain. But my friends would take me to the ER and the ER doctor said "migraine" for the first time ever. So I went to my personal doctor and she gave me preventative medications. Those didn't work so she gave me abortives and a different preventative. They worked twice then not again. So my personal doctor sent my to a neurologist. The neurologist for the last 10 years or so has tried to prevent the migraines with different preventatives and they work for a while at decreasing the number of migraines but I still had them and when I had them they were 10x worse and lasted longer than 1 day. So now my neurologist is at a complete loss. And she has recommended that I quit the job I have because its just not safe for me to do that job. The other thing she said is I may have to go on permanent disability until something comes along to help control the migraines.

Silence...

Can I have your name and address?
Sure. (I give it)

Let me tell you about the study. We are in the final stage of testing a neuro-stimulator implant to help chronic migraines.

She then explained what the study entailed.

Oh yeah I read about this in the August 08 Scientific American (I posted the link to the article here). I didn't think that it was really real and ready to be marketed to the public.

Well almost. This study is the last hurdle, the one to present the finding to the FDA for approval for widespread use in Chronic Migraine suffers. Those who's lives are being adversely effected by the migraine and associated problems.

Would you be interested in coming to see us and seeing if you qualify for participation? Sure. When?

The appointment was made. I went got the information and started the headache diary. 34 days of daily entries regarding whether or not I had a migraine. If I did how bad was the pain on a scale of 1 to 100? Did I have any sensitivity to sound, light, was I dizzy, nauseated? If I had a migraine what medications did I take and how much? And finally how long did it take the migraine to pass?

So for 34 days I entered the info. And at the end the record indicated that 26 days out of the 34 days I had migraine pain that required medication of a pain level of 50 or better.

Hey I qualified.

So now I go to see the neurosurgeon who will do the implant. He is going to decide whether I am physically able to withstand the rigors of the study and the surgery.

After that I see the studies Psychiatrist. If both agree that I can handle it then two days later I go in for brain surgery and get the implant.

Now the implants which are placed in the brain stem at first will be temporary then if all goes well they'll be replaced with permanent implants. I'll also have a pacemaker like thing implant under my collarbone. It's the switch to turn on the stimulator. Basically the device will administer a low volt shock to the nerves in my brain whenever I start to feel a migraine or headache coming on. The shock will essentially smack down those nerves and tell them not to become overstimulated and not to turn on the pain receptors that trigger migraine head pain.

Coolness. Now after the first implantation the device may or may not be turned on. It's a blind study - so for a specific period some people's simulators will be turned on so they can activate it and others won't be turned on but they will be told it is and instructed on how to use it when a migraines strikes. After the first few weeks of the study everyone's stimulator will be turned on. If it works for the participants and we want to keep it then we get to keep it for free and we get continued free medical care and replacements for the stimulator as needed for life. If you don't like having the thing in your head then they take it out and no harm no foul.

However, from what I've read from the previous study the researchers have found something really odd. So some people's simulators are turned on and some people's aren't but the simple action of having the implant placed into the brain stem in the nerve cluster seems to stop the migraine pain for the half that had units that were not turned on. And even after the unit was turned on people reported no or minimal migraines and that the stimulator when used stopped the migraine progression. The previous study participants reported that they were able to resume active even strenuous lifestyles again with little or no migraine pain.

Wow. It's not a cure but a measure of control. Something interrupting the nerve signals and the pain impulse for the migraine attack. Other pain receptors still worked fine - like if they cut themselves or stubbed a toe they still had pain. Adverse effects were occasional unasked for shocks or misfires of the implant and infection at the implant sites or the need for the replacement of the chest unit sooner than expected.

I hope this works as well for me. So if all goes well by mid-February I'll be able to report if I got the implant and if I'm feeling any better.

I'm scared only in the respect that their dealing with my brain and its already damaged and as yet we cannot get replacement brains. So if something goes wrong and its damaged further then I am truly screwed. But aside from that I'm excited and hopeful. I'm excited that this may really work like the implants they started using on Parkinson's patients and epileptics. Where when the neurologist finds the right area in the brain the disease is controllable. And I'm hopeful that if it works initially that it works forever or that as the researchers hope the stimulator retrains the brain to not become overstimulated and cause migraine pain. Either way I'd consider it a win.

Then the others win is that this procedure would become available to all chronic migraineurs who do not get relief from preventatives and or abortives. Like my friend Amanda who has gone through the same thing I have but was actually fired from her job because of her migraines and neither she nor her neurologist have any hope that she'll ever have any relief. How great would that be no more migraines because we can retrain our brains not to overreact and trigger pain when there shouldn't be any pain.

It would be nice to smell onions because someone is cooking something not because I'm about to be crippled by a migraine.