Anyone who has experienced a migraine knows this: Living with migraine is an ordeal. Throbbing pain, nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to sounds, smells, and light are just a few of the horrible symptoms making the sufferers miserable.

Yet while for some people migraines are common, others experience migraines rarely or never. “Your parents are the best predictor of your risk”, says Dr. Bargar, Director, Internal Medicine at Boston Clinical Trials. “If one or both of your parents have a history of migraines, your risk is higher. In fact, 90 percent of migraine patients have a family member who has them too.” Watch a short clip below to learn more about genetics of migraines.

Changing one’s genetic composition, and thus predisposition to migraines, is impossible. But that doesn’t mean that nothing could be done to alleviate suffering. Several medications, such as Imitrex and Sumatriptan can help stop migraines in progress. Even more promising are medications of a new class, so called called monoclonal antibodies, which are specifically designed to prevent migraines by targeting a critical neurochemical involved in transmission of migraine pain.

The new medications are now undergoing testing before being submitted to FDA for approval. To learn more about migraine studies at Boston Clinical Trials, please call us at 617.477.4868 or click here to visit our migraine studies page.