Do we want, need, and deserve better Migraine and headache treatments?
Absolutely yes!
Think there's nothing you can do? But there is! You can take five
minutes to send an email to your Representative in the House of
Representatives. It's easy and only takes about five minutes. The
Alliance
for Headache Disorders Advocacy site is set up for us to send an email to
our Representative, even if we don't remember who he or she is.
PLEASE, go to
www.AllianceForHeadacheAdvocacy.org NOW. Click the "What YOU Can Do"
link in the left column. You will go to our Alert Center. There is a box with
our Featured Alert. Simply click the red "Take Action" button in the Featured
Alert box. That will take you to a letter that's ready for you to add what you
want to say about this issue, fill in your name and address, and have your email
sent directly to your Representative. It is urgent that you do this
NOW because the House is setting 2009 funding
appropriations in just a few days.
Here's one undeniable fact for you...
Under-funding of NIH research on headache disorders has denied
millions of affected Americans equal access to the benefits of publicly
funded research programs and the promise of effective headache care.
At this point, I am pleading with you. If you have Migraines and headaches
yourself or know someone who does, please go to
http://www.allianceforheadacheadvocacy.org/ and take action! I'm
doing this not just for myself, but for my grandchildren who have Migraine
disease. I want their lives to be impacted less by Migraine than mine has been.
I want them to have better care and not have the health complications that
Migraine disease has caused me. We must do this for ourselves and for future
generations.
If you need some background on this issue, read on...
Many of us have shared the frustration of trying to find effective treatments
for our Migraines and headaches. Part of the frustration is that there are
absolutely no medications available that were actually developed for Migraine
and headache prevention. Not one. We must use medications that were originally
developed for other purposes then found to coincidentally help with Migraine and
headache prevention.
Why is it that all the medications we have for prevention are hand-me-downs
from other conditions? One reason is lack of funding for original, basic
Migraine and headache research that is needed to pave the way for the
development of medications and other treatments. This type of research is
usually government funded, coming from research grants from the National
Institutes of Health (NIH).
You need to know these facts about NIH funding on Migraine and other
headache disorders...
- The NIH has never funded research on headache disorders at adequate
levels.
- The NIH expended less than $10 million in 2006 towards all research
on headache disorders, comprising less than 0.05 percent of its total
budget.
- There is no NIH intramural research program on headache disorders.
- There is no NIH study section for grant review wholly devoted to
pain research, let alone headache disorders.
- Migraine has very rarely been prioritized for NIH extramural
research funding.
- NIH inattention to headache disorders has discouraged scientists from
pursuing research in this field and contributed to the limited development
of new therapies.
- NIH under-funding has resulted in a very small community of active
headache research scientists and few quality headache grants submitted
for NIH funding.
Here are some important facts about Migraine disease and other headache
disorders...
- Migraine disease and other headache disorders affect a huge percentage
of Americans...
- Headache disorders are the most prevalent neurological disorders,
affecting more than 90% of all Americans.
- Migraine afflicts approximately 36 million Americans annually,
including 25 percent of middle-aged women and 19 percent of veterans of
the Iraq war.
- A quarter of American families contain someone with Migraine.
- Four percent of Americans experience headache pain more than four
hours per day for more than 15 days per month.
- Cluster headache is as prevalent as multiple sclerosis, and these
attacks are among the most severe pain conditions known.
- Migraine disease and other headache disorders are among the most costly
and disabling medical conditions...
- The US annual direct and indirect economic costs of headache
disorders exceed $31 billion.
- Headache disorders are responsible for nine percent of all US lost
labor productivity.
- According to a World Health Organization analysis, Migraine alone is
responsible for at least one percent of the total US medical disability
burden, and severe Migraine attacks are as disabling as quadriplegia.
____________
Resources:
Headache Disorders Fact Sheet. Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy.
2008.
THANK YOU!
There's more than medical care involved with living with a chronic disease...
migraines
