Maddening migraines can be controlled.

• Position: Special Newsletter Edition: Your Health

Maddening Migraines Can Be Controlled

Migraine headaches are not curable, but they are treatable. Added to the arsenal of attack against this excruciating condition is a new drug called sumatriptan (Imitrex), which may stop some such headaches within minutes.

Migraines typically create throbbing pain on one side of the head that can last for hours or even days. They also are known as vascular headaches because they are associated with constriction of blood vessels outside the brain and in the face, neck, and scalp.

Estimates of the number of Americans who have migraines vary widely from 11,000,000 to 23,000,000 individuals. They are much more prevalent in women--up to three times more so than in men. About 70% of women who suffer from migraines report that they get them only in association with their menstrual periods or ovulation. Migraine headaches are common in children in equal numbers among boys and girls, up to the age of 14. They may be inherited; about half of migraine patients have a parent who had them.

According to Richard Strub, a behavioral neurologist at Ochsner Clinic, New Orleans, treatment involves establishing the diagnosis, consideration of frequency, and a two-phase plan--acute medication when a headache occurs and a long-term, preventive regimen to reduce the frequency and severity of the headaches.

Acute medications include...