Migraine Trilogy Part 3: From Crocodiles to Laudanum to CGRP: The Strange, Surprising History of Migraine Treatments

Imagine your head is splitting. The pain is blinding, relentless, unbearable. Now
imagine that the best medical minds of the day lean in, consider your symptoms
carefully, and hand you a clay crocodile to tie to your head.

Welcome to ancient Egypt’s approach to migraine treatment. 

The history of how humanity has tried to treat migraines is by turns bizarre,
heartbreaking, and — if you squint at it just right — quietly inspiring. Because woven
through thousands of years of crocodile figurines, skull drilling, opium wine, and
electric fish, there is a persistent thread: people have always refused to give up on
finding relief. And today, after all those centuries of trial and error, we finally have
treatments that actually work. The story of how we got here is worth telling.

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