Conn. doctors make migraine breakthrough

Migraines have baffled humankind at least as far back as the ancient Egyptians, who blamed the excruciating headaches, and their often-accompanying visual auras and nausea, on the supernatural.

Now, in a development doctors are calling revolutionary, an international group of neurologists has deciphered the mystery of why people get migraines and, in doing so, has determined how to greatly reduce their frequency and severity.

The discovery “has revolutionized our treatment of migraine,” said Dr. P. Christopher H. Gottschalk, a neurologist at Yale Medicine and assistant professor of neurology at the

Yale School of Medicine.

“I’m witnessing a change in the landscape,” said Dr. Sandhya Mehla, a headache specialist and vascular neurologist with Hartford HealthCare Medical Group. “I would say this is a milestone.”

The discovery, the fruit of 40 years of research, won four scientists in Sweden, Denmark and the United States the 2021 Brain

Prize, the world’s most prestigious award in neurology.

It’s already leading to treatments that can significantly reduce migraine attacks as well as minimize any breakthrough headaches. The new class of drugs has the potential to change the lives of the 1 billion migraine sufferers around the globe.

Linda Kelley-Dodd’s life has

already been transformed. The Bristol resident started having headaches as a teenager, although, she said, “It wasn’t until I was in my 20s that I really noticed, this is a problem for me, this is really, truly a problem.”

A year and a half ago, however, Kelley-Dodd started monoclonal antibody therapy, injecting herself once a month with a drug called Emgality.

“I can’t talk about how amazing this drug is,” she said. “It has completely changed my life.”