A magnetic device that seems to help depression and seizures may also short-circuit migraine headaches in their earliest stages, a new study finds. The transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) device, about the size of a hair dryer, was able to interrupt the development of migraines, according to data to be presented Thursday at the American Headache Society’s annual meeting, in Los Angeles. The study was funded by the device’s maker, NeuraLieve, of Sunnyvale, Calif. About 28 million Americans suffer migraine headaches and about 20 percent experience migraine with aura, characterized by changes in vision before the actual pain begins. Scientists now believe that migraine attacks start because of nerve cell hyper-excitability, which is followed by fatigue and malfunction of the nerve cells, or neurons. These phases seem to correlate with the aura. ‘This process spreads throughout the brain and the end result is the throbbing headache,’ said Dr. Yousef Mohammad, principal investigator of the study and an assistant professor of neurology at Ohio State University Medical Center. ‘If we can interrupt this with two pulses of magnetic stimulation, we can abort the headache,’ he added. The TMS device used in this study is approved […]