Migraine Research - Please email your Senator TODAY!

We need and deserve better treatments, but we're unlikely to get them until the NIH increases the funding for basic Migraine and headache research.

Each of us CAN make a difference. Please read the letter below and follow the link to email your Senators NOW.

Thanks!

Shalom,
Abi

Please Email Your Senator Today! Our efforts last month to urge members of the US House of Representatives to support increases in NIH funding for research on headache disorders were highly successful. Twelve Representatives signed the Obey/Walsh letter. This is an outstanding result for the first mobilization of our numbers, and we are optimistic that it will be enough to have our message appended to the House appropriations bill. It is now time to contact your US Senators for the same purpose. Unfortunately our window of opportunity is only narrowly open. The letter with Senators' signatures must be submitted by today, April 4th. Please take just 5 minutes RIGHT NOW to go directly to http://capwiz.com/headacheadvocacy/issues/alert/?alertid=11231066&PROCESS=Take+Action and send your message to your two US Senators Please forward this email right away to anyone else concerned about the inadequate state of care for patients with headache disorders. Only with increased research will new effective treatments for headache disorders become available. And only with your help will such research activities increase to levels appropriate to the huge scale of this problem. The larger our voice, the greater will be our impact. Thanks again for your efforts. Robert Shapiro, MD, PhD William Young, MD, Teri Robert, PhD Brad Klein, MD, MBA

If you no longer wish to receive e-mail from us, you can unsubscribe here.

---

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date: 4/4/2008 8:23 AM

Migraine Treatments: Time to get off our behinds!

Here's a sad fact for you -- There are NO medications available that were developed for Migraine prevention. NONE. Everything we have in our arsenal was developed for other conditions. Then Migraineurs using them for those conditions noticed that they were having fewer Migraines. All the preventive medications we have are what Teri Robert calls "hand-me-down" drugs.

How about another sad fact? Two days ago, the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy posted an alert to their web site asking Migraineurs and other headache disorder patients, their friends, family, coworkers, etc., to email their members of the House about increased NIH funding for Migraine and headache research. The set up they have makes it quick and simple to send that email. It takes less than five minutes. I just emailed Teri, and was shocked by how few people have responded to that alert.

I read several Migraine forums, and am always saddened by the number of people who are desperately searching for effective preventive treatment. Lives are being disrupted and destroyed by this disease.

So, here's my question for those of you who are in that position or care about someone who is -- IF YOU HAVEN'T GONE TO THE AHDA SITE AND SENT THAT EMAIL, WHY NOT?

This is something we can DO that can make things better for us. It only takes a few minutes. You don't have to look up your representative. That's done for us. Even the introduction and closing of the email are done for us. We don't have to leave our homes or even pay for a postage stamp.

Here's my take on this situation. If you don't take a few minutes to go to the AHDA site and email your representative, they you no longer have the right to complain about the lack of available treatments. We can't just sit back and count on other people doing this for us.

It's one email. It's five minutes out of our day. It's time to get off our behinds and DO something!

From a blog entry on MyMigraine Connection:

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.

Please go to MyMigraineConnection, read that blog entry, and take action!

To read the rest of that blog entry, please click here.

Namaste,
Abi