One in 10 Irish people suffer from migraine, but only a small proportion seek medical help despite advances in treatment, doctors at the WONCA conference were told.
Dr Bill Holmes, a GP in Nottingham, said yesterday the majority of people suffer in silence. Migraine symptoms were not difficult to diagnose - episodic headaches, usually between 12 and 48 hours, mostly on one side of the head, and associated nausea and vomiting.
Dr Holmes said that of those patients who a doctor feels are suffering from migraine, some 90 per cent will respond to treatment from certain drugs. According to statistics, women are three times more likely to suffer from migraine than men.
Dr Holmes also said a significant number of people who suffer from recurring headaches "feel they do not get a good deal from the medical profession". A number may have gone once to their GP concerning migraine a number of years ago and not bothered returning because they felt it was a waste of time.
Traditionally, he said, doctors' training in headache management and its treatment was not very good. But in recent years there had been an exceptional increase in knowledge about migraine.
Dr Holmes, who was addressing a seminar on migraine management, said patients had quite realistic expectations and simply wanted to be able to get on with their lives.
"Modern therapies are providing us with the opportunity to make a big difference. Our understanding of the way the drugs work is better now. Many of the treatments have been around for a long time, but we have got better at using them."
In a number of cases patients who recognise the onset of symptoms may take tablets and "be back at work within two hours". Other new treatments act on the "disease process of the migraine", not just on pain relief and nausea.
Doctors and patients need to co-operate to treat migraine, said Dr Holmes.