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If you've ever had a migraine headache, you don't need 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 people suffer from serious headaches, and ten percent of these have intractable pain-meaning it doesn't go away.
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 a migraine.
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 in the 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 neurosurgeon atNorthwestern Memorial Hospital, involves zapping with electricity certain nerves that innervate 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 and stare.
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, the pain 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 wire that 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 first time 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 very promising.
這種神經(jīng)刺激仍處于初期，但到目前為止的結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 of head.
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。
