In a recent RTL interview, Paris neurologist Jérôme Mawet from Lariboisière Hospital's headache emergency center discussed migraine symptoms and treatments. He emphasizes triptans for blocking pain and related symptoms, while a promising new preventive therapy has just launched.
Migraine is a severe headache that can last 4 to 72 hours, varying by intensity. In an RTL interview on September 12, 2021, Jérôme Mawet noted that 12-15% of people experience migraines daily or frequently—about 10 million in France alone.
Men are less affected than women due to hormonal differences. As Mawet explains, migraine is a genuine disorder marked by recurrent intense pain attacks that worsen with minimal effort, plus heightened sensitivity to noise, light, nausea, and certain odors.
Chronic migraine, the most severe form, occurs when pain dominates more days than not. Not all patients face it equally: some manage five monthly attacks resolved in hours, while others endure episodes lasting two weeks a month.
Acute treatments include anti-inflammatories and triptans, which effectively halt pain and symptoms. Paracetamol offers limited relief, and codeine-based drugs are discouraged. Botox, proven effective for over a decade, recently received marketing authorization.
Research advances steadily. In 2018, Inserm studies pinpointed the brain's pia mater as key to orbital and forehead pain, offering hope for enhanced migraine therapies.
