A high tech gadget will be used to relieve severe headaches



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SHeadache sufferers will receive a gadget rather than pain relief pills, the NHS England chief said on Wednesday.

Headaches, which are often mistaken for migraines, are one of the most debilitating conditions known to medical science, with women often describing this pain as worse than childbirth.

At present, patients will be offered a portable device that provides light electrical stimulation to the vagus nerve to block the pain signals that cause headaches.

The gadget, called gammaCore, can also treat migraines, but its deployment is initially planned for cluster headaches.

It is applied on the neck to deliver a small electric current for two minutes at a time.

According to the Migraine Trust, cluster headaches affect 1 to 2% of the population, which means that about 110,000 British adults are at risk.

This is one of the many treatments, tests and procedures announced by Sir Simon Stephens at the conference on health organized by the Reform in London on Wednesday.

As part of the innovations, pregnant women will receive a new pre-eclampsia test to rule out the problem, while those suspected of having a heart attack will receive a state-of-the-art blood test that will diagnose a crisis within three hours. nine hours faster than the current rate.

NHS England will also fund another 10 new tests, including a computer program that creates a digital 3D model of the heart, thus avoiding the use of invasive exploratory procedures.

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