A In the age of “whatever the cost” and in the country of Social Security, it is clear that it is the patients who pay their migraine treatment out of their own pocket, ie around 250 euros per month. For a disease that ruins their lives, do they really have a choice?
In one out of four migraine sufferers, the severity of the attacks has a significant socio-professional impact. Indeed, 20 million working days are lost each year due to migraine in France. To fully understand why migraine is a real handicap, remember that this disease is manifested by a moderate to severe headache that lasts from four to seventy-two hours. These seizures are associated with nausea, even vomiting, and/or hypersensitivity to light and noise. In some people, the seizure is accompanied by visual, verbal and/or motor disturbances. In other words, it becomes impossible to carry out any intellectual or physical work. Moreover, 13% of migraine sufferers say they no longer work because of their disease, indicates a survey carried out in March 2020 by the association The Voice of Migraineurs.
The violence of the symptoms can be accompanied by suicidal thoughts for 15% of people with chronic migraine, according to this same source. Even if the majority of migraine sufferers have learned to “manage” this pain since their youth, in addition to professional life which is punctuated by regular absences, social, emotional and family life is turned upside down by repeated attacks. In their life as a couple, the migraine also has an impact on their sexuality and the spouse can find themselves in the role of caregiver, having to carry out daily tasks alone.
Three treatments whose effectiveness is without appeal
Until then, to reduce the frequency of migraine attacks, neurologists diverted drugs initially intended to treat other pathologies: antiepileptics, antidepressants, or beta-blockers, in particular prescribed once morest arterial hypertension, with very variable results depending on some people. Anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies are the first disease-modifying treatment specific to migraine. Their specificity undoubtedly explains their effectiveness.
Patients have seen the frequency of their migraine drop by more than 70%, or even disappear, thanks to the arrival of these new treatments considered revolutionary by the neurologists themselves. They began to live and no longer survive, we read on the various forums. Anti-CGRP drugs are therefore vital for these people, some of whom have been suffering from regarding fifteen attacks per month for more than thirty years.
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