時差N小時:偏頭痛還是臉部疼痛?

If you've ever had a migraine headache, you don'tneed me to tell you it hurts.

如果你曾經(jīng)有過偏頭痛的經(jīng)歷，就不需要我告訴你那有多痛苦。

Doctors report that about twenty million peoplesuffer from serious headaches, and ten percent ofthese have intractable pain-meaning it doesn't goaway.

醫(yī)生報告，大概有2千萬人患有嚴重頭痛，并且他們之中百分之十患有頑固性疼痛—那意味著疼痛不會消失。

But here's asurprise: the problem isn't always amigraine.

但醫(yī)生們有一個驚奇發(fā)現(xiàn)：問題不總是偏頭痛。

Sometimes verysimilar symptoms are caused by damage to a nerve of the face,which results inthe nerve itself sending nonstop ouch signals.

有時，類似的癥狀是由臉部神經(jīng)受損引起的，受損的神經(jīng)會不間斷地疼痛信號。

What can be done?

我們可以做些什么呢?

A new treatment being tried out by a few doctors, including Dr. Robert Levy, a neurosurgeonatNorthwestern Memorial Hospital, involves zapping with electricity certain nerves thatinnervate theface.

有幾個醫(yī)生正試驗一種新的治療，包括羅伯特萊維博士，他是西北紀念醫(yī)院的一位神經(jīng)外科醫(yī)生，參與到用電流破壞那些刺激臉部的神經(jīng)。

It's like a marathon in which thousands of runners are crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.

就像一場馬拉松，數(shù)千名奔跑的人穿越布魯克林大橋。

Someone sends up a firework nearby and for a moment all the distracted runners stop andstare.

有的人在附近放煙火，這會兒所有的跑步的人都停下來看。

By hittingthe nerves with a mild electrical jolt, you can distract the signal-carriers-that is, thepain signalsstop crossing the nerves for as long as the electrical charge is on.

通過一個輕度的電力震動擊打神經(jīng)，你就可以轉(zhuǎn)移信號載波—就是說，疼痛信號停止穿越神經(jīng)，只要電荷一直處于連接狀態(tài)。

So how to do that?

那么如何做到這一點呢?

Levy and others have inserted a little battery under patients' collarbones,connected it to a wirethat runs under the scalp, and stuck the end directly into the misfiringnerve.

萊維和其他醫(yī)生在患者鎖骨下面插入了一個小電池，并與頭皮下的電線連接，然后把末尾插入神經(jīng)。

Odd as it may sound at first, it works.

起初也許聽起來有點奇怪，它能管用。

Patients report that when the device is turned onthey are pain-free, sometimes for the firsttime in years.

患者報告說，當設備接通時，他們感覺不到疼痛，這是多年來第一次。

This kind of nerve stimulation is still in itsearly days, but the results so far look verypromising.

這種神經(jīng)刺激仍處于初期，但到目前為止的結(jié)果看起來是很有前途的。

For chronic headache sufferers, a little wirecan make for blessed peace of mind…not pain ofhead.

對慢性頭痛患者來說，一小節(jié)電線得到內(nèi)心的平靜…而不是頭痛。