A drug can stop the symptoms that precede migraines: photophobia, dizziness, and fatigue.

Sensitivity to light and noise, dizziness, or intense neck pain are just some of the common symptoms that often precede a migraine attack , a serious (and debilitating) health problem that affects almost 15 percent of Spanish citizens . In addition to absenteeism from work, these discomforts leave sufferers unable to even get out of bed.

Until now, medicine has found some effective remedies in the form of medications that treat migraine attacks and headaches once they occur. What's new is that a new study focuses on the drug ubrogepant, which acts before the migraine reaches its peak.

What is migraine and how does it manifest?

Migraines are much more than just a temporary headache: they are intense, throbbing pain, usually on one side of the head, often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, photophobia, and extreme fatigue. The type of pain caused by migraines can persist for days in chronic sufferers.

The worst part? Migraines are downright debilitating on a daily basis , with intense symptoms that don't go away and medications that treat the pain only after it has occurred, so it takes time to subside. According to Mayo Clinic experts, migraines go through four stages : prodrome, aura, attack, and postdrome, although not everyone who suffers from them goes through each stage.

The first stage manifests with constipation, neck stiffness, fluid retention, and frequent yawning. The aura causes blurred vision and tingling in the extremities. The third stage produces pain on one side of the head and photophobia, nausea, and vomiting. After the migraine attack, physical and mental exhaustion sets in.

Current treatment for migraine

The causes that may trigger migraine attacks in some people and not in others have a lot to do with genetic predisposition and hormonal changes. Typically, sufferers feel painful stabbing pains in one part of their head, like an intense throbbing.

To date, migraine treatment involves a series of preventive recommendations such as relaxation and meditation techniques, lifestyle modifications, and certain antidepressant medications that have proven effective in reducing flare-ups.

To relieve pain, there are traditional analgesics such as ibuprofen and triptans, which reduce inflammation of the blood vessels by improving the narrowing of the artery that causes this pressure.

The new drug capable of stopping migraine symptoms

A new drug called ubrogepant has just emerged as a promising treatment for relieving pre-migraine symptoms, a first in medical history. This breakthrough is based on a recent study from King's College London, published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Until now, migraine treatments have been effective in relieving pain once it appears, but nothing has been done to prevent the onset of symptoms. Ubrogepant can be effective in treating symptoms such as fatigue, light sensitivity , neck pain, and nausea before the onset of severe migraine pain.

According to the researchers, ubrogepant, which is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of migraines, is able to block the CGRP receptor, which is responsible for transmitting pain to neurons. This finding, which requires further study, opens the door to new treatment strategies to combat migraines from the early stages and improve the quality of life of those who suffer from chronic migraines.