nbsp(b) What can be done and how does it work?
Advances in our understanding of the nerve pathways active in migraine has facilitated rational treatment of the condition. Any sufferer of migraine, assuming they want treatment, has the basic choice between non-drug and drug treatments. The former are most often based on uncontrolled studies or worse still no studies at all that, while appealing in some senses, cry out for rigorous testing. This is not to say that non-drug and alternative therapies do not work rather that we do not know who benefits and by how much and whether there are potential problems. Many straightforward non-drug approaches are clearly heplful and based upon what is known, such as approaches to reduce the ubiquitous stress that seems to plague us one and all. If one is to have drug treatment the choice is between drugs to stop the attack when it is present, so-called acute attack or abortive therapy, and drugs that prevent or reduce the frequency of attacks, often called prophylactics. The scope of the article
