Jennifer Matthews: Chrissy Freuh's migraines started early.
Chrissy Freuh: I remember the lights bothering me like the sun.
Jennifer Matthews: They got worse after she had kids.
Chrissy Freuh: You always think, 'Could it get worse?' And it does get worse.
Jennifer Matthews: Her mom, sister and two kids also have migraines. The nine drugs she takes don't always work. Doctor Fred Freitag says, that's not uncommon.
Fred Freitag: If we could offer them another tool, another approach to bring management to their headaches, to bring back their quality of life, it is all worthwhile.
Jennifer Matthews: He's teaming up with Doctor Sandeep Amin, to study nerve stimulation for migraine relief.
Sandeep Amin: You are stimulating larger nerve fibers, which have the ability to block the sensation of pain.
Jennifer Matthews: When implanted, this device sends electrical impulses to the occipital nerves in the head.
Fred Freitag: So when we stimulate these nerves in the upper neck with the stimulator, it goes in and actually turns off the center in the brain that causes the migraine to begin.
Jennifer Matthews: Half of the people who get spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain have about a 60% reduction in pain. Doctor Amin expects similar results for migraines.
Sandeep Amin: I think it opens a window for probably millions of patients who are suffering from migraines, who have no alternatives.
Jennifer Matthews: Chrissy is first in line to get the device.
Chrissy Freuh: Having chronic pain everyday, it gets to you. There's just nowhere to go. You're constantly with it, and even the strongest of people, you just run out of coping skills.
Jennifer Matthews: She believes that stimulator will be the answer she's been waiting for. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
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