What's Behind the Pain of MIGRAINES.

• Position: Research findings - Brief Article

It can strike without warning, an intense, often debilitating headache that can last for hours or days. For millions of Americans who suffer from migraines, this isn't a nightmare--it's an unfortunate fact of life. The Council on Headache Research, Education and Quality of Life, a group of national headache experts, offers the following facts about this excruciating condition:

* An estimated 26,000,000 Americans are afflicted with migraine headaches. Of those, 11,000,000 suffer moderate to severe migraines that are disabling.

* More than 157,000,000 workdays are lost each year due to migraine headaches.

* Migraines are three times more common in women than in men. About 65% of women who suffer from migraines have them around the time of menstruation.

* Although migraine headaches can start at any age, they usually begin in people between the ages of 10 and 30. Sixty percent of sufferers experience their first attack before the age of 20, and it is extremely rare for migraines to appear for the first time after age 50.

* Migraines often are inherited. If both parents suffer from them, there is a 75% chance their offspring will have them; if one parent has migraines, there is a 50% chance a child will be affected.

* Common symptoms include throbbing pain on one or both sides of the head; pain severe enough to disrupt normal routine' nausea' vomiting; and sensitivity to light...