Cross Your Fingers For More Headache Research Money
Doctors and headache sufferes are in Washington DC this week lobbying for more research money in order to understand and cure headaches. Considering that a potential cause for Americans’ headaches might be Congress, getting more money seems only fair.
Seriously, Though
Just how bad do headaches and migraines effect Americans? Just about as much as heart disease. Myabe even more. Most businesses will not tolerate you calling out of work with a “mere” headache, so you wind up struggling through the day, not being able to do a good job, and maybe even making costly mistakes. NBC news estimates the cost of these headaches are $13 billion annually.
There hasn’t been a new headache medicine in 15 years. And an estimated 28 million Americans suffer from migraines. It is thought that more suffer from all types of headaches, including tension, barometric pressure and cluster headaches.
Currently, only about $13 million is spent trying to help us deal with headaches. And we are still as baffled as to what causes them as we ever were. There are theories, but nothing so far has been proven. $13 million is spare change to the government. $13 million can buy you 0.17th of an Osprey helicopter (which costs a mere $78 million each).
If you vote and get headaches, contact your state Congresspeople and be a headache yourself to get some relief for headache and migraine researchers.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:44 pm
[...] In September, a group of doctors and headache suffers went to Washington, DC to speak about the need for more headache research fuinding. Considering that an estimated 28 million Americans are afflicted with headaches, why NOT invest in discovering the causes and finding better, safer treatments? Think of all the time you spend with headaches of one sort or another. I know that if I’ve put all the time together I spent being sidelined by a headache or migraine, I would have had at least two years to do something else. [...]
March 5th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
[...] is very similar to the Congressional hearing for more headache research money that happened last [...]
April 30th, 2010 at 1:22 am
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