Migraine headaches are the number three reason women ages 18 to 44 head to the emergency room, and the fifth-leading cause of emergency room visits among all Americans, according to a 2013 National Institutes of Health report.

They are said to be extremely painful, debilitating, and mostly unavoidable.

Migraines can be distinguished from a normal headache by their severity of the pain and usually include other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, and extreme sensitivity to noise.

Frequent migraine suffers can usually detect a physical warning prior to the onset, and that might include blurred vision, numbness or nausea. For those who can predict a migraine coming on, they are able to take immediate action in an effort to avoid a full-blown event.

But with the rise in cases, as well as severity, The Food and Drug Administration, just last week, approved a nerve-stimulating headband that has become the first medical device to help to prevent and lessen the frequency of migraine headaches.

The governmental approval could provide sufferers who cannot take migraine medications with a new option . The Cefaly headband did not completely eliminate migraine headaches in studies and reduce the headaches’ intensity, but patients actually experienced fewer migraines per month than patients tested on a placebo device, the Associated Press reported.

According to the company, “Cefaly is the perfect solution for more than half of migraine sufferers. It enables the use of medicines to be significantly reduced and the sufferer’s quality of life to be markedly improved. Several published clinical studies have demonstrated its excellent effectiveness and its complete safety.”

When the device is positioned correctly on the forehead, precise impulses are produced acting on the trigeminal nerve to reduce pain, and prevent full-blown migraine attacks.

About 53 percent of 2,313 patients in a separate study said they were satisfied with the device and were willing to purchase it for future use.

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