"With daily prevention medications, the goal isn't to cure them, but to cut the frequency by at least 50%," Dr. Grosberg says.

The FDA just approved a new migraine-prevention device, called Cefaly. It works by stimulating the nerves associated with migraine headaches.

"Cefaly provides an alternative to medication for migraine prevention," said Christy Foreman, director of the FDA's Office of Device Evaluation. "This may help patients who cannot tolerate current migraine medications."

The small, portable, battery-powered device is worn like a headband across the forehead. It is used once daily for 20 minutes.

Migraine sufferers who used Cefaly experienced significantly fewer migraines than those who used a placebo device, according to a 67-person Belgian study. However, the device didn't completely prevent migraines and did not reduce the intensity of migraines that did occur, says the FDA.

The agency also has allowed the marketing of Cerena, another prescription medical device, to ease pain caused by migraines preceded by an aura. The patient holds the device with both hands against the back of the head and presses a button to send a magnetic pulse to stimulate the area of the brain that processes visual information.

Both devices provide an alternative to medication, which can be overused. Patients who overuse acute migraine medications often get rebound headaches.

"I see rebound headache in about 90% of those who have migraines more than 15 days per month," Dr. Freitag says.

Even something as common as caffeine can cause rebound headaches, he says, because it's in so many over-the-counter and prescription medications, and in people's diets.

To stop rebound headaches, your doctor may have you quit medications cold-turkey, or gradually reduce the dose. You may also need to take another type of medicine to deal with withdrawal symptoms, says the Mayo Clinic.

Lifestyle changes. "Many patients don't consider lifestyle factors [that] aggravate their migraines," says Dr. Recober-Montilla. "Not paying attention to lifestyle modifications leads to poor migraine control, despite medications."

Managing your stress ^[1] is one important step.

It's not the stress itself that makes your head hurt, new research shows. Rather, a migraine is likely to occur when sky-high stress levels suddenly plummet (for example, think of how your stress dramatically dips right after you finish a job interview or important test).