People who suffer from migraine headaches often describe seeing showers of shooting stars, zigzagging lines and flashing lights. They also experience loss of vision, weakness, tingling or confusion followed by intense throbbing head pain, nausea and vomiting.

The device, called TMS, interrupts the aura phase of the migraine, often described as electrical storms in the brain, before they lead to headaches, according to principal investigator Dr. Yousef Mohammad, a neurologist at Ohio State University Medical Center.

Intense Magnetic Field

Auras are neural disturbances that signal the onset of migraine headaches and people who suffer from migraine headaches often describe seeing showers of shooting stars, zigzagging lines and flashing lights.

They also experience loss of vision, weakness, tingling or confusion followed by intense throbbing head pain, nausea and vomiting.

The stimulator sends a strong electric current through a metal coil, which creates an intense magnetic field for about one millisecond -- this magnetic pulse, when held against a person's head, creates an electric current in the neurons of the brain, interrupting the aura before it results in a throbbing headache, according to Mohammad.

The device is being presented Thursday at the annual American Headache Society meeting in Los Angeles.

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(c) 2006 Daily News Central. All rights reserved.