Now Available: gammaCore Home Delivery To Veterans

gammaCore Is an Effective Drug-Free Treatment for Veterans and Active Military Suffering From Migraine and Cluster Headache

Getting gammaCore from your VA provider is easy

Call your VA provider

1. Call your VA provider or use the MyHealtheVet portal to schedule an appointment today

Download the Veteran Headache Guide

2. Talk to your provider about gammaCore

gammaCore will ship

3. Once prescribed by your VA provider, gammaCore will ship to your home

Need more gel? No problem. A member of our dedicated Customer Experience team would be happy to assist you. You can reach them at 888-903-2673 or customerservice@electrocore.com.

If you are not currently enrolled in the VA healthcare system, you may still qualify for migraine and cluster treatment through the VA.
To get started, you can apply:

Active duty personnel and Veterans more likely to suffer from migraines1, 2, 3

Headache and migraine are increasingly common problems in both active military personnel and Veterans.

About 36 percent of Veterans who served at least a one-year tour in Iraq or Afghanistan have been diagnosed with migraine or signs of migraine, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.4, 5

More than one third of soldiers were diagnosed with migraine or possible migraine upon returning from a 1-year tour in Iraq.

One Veteran’s Story: Reclaiming His Life from migraine*

For almost four years, Jess, a Navy veteran, spent life in a recliner with lights off and blinds drawn. He stopped driving. He stopped fishing.  Jess tried a number of medications. They made him groggy with only minor relief.

His neurologist then suggested gammaCore for his migraine headaches. Jess said he was functioning again after using gammaCore. He reduced his medication use, and now wakes refreshed. He’s active and said he feels like a human being again.

Jess served almost a decade in the Navy, including on two submarines: the USS Menhaden and the USS Blueback, the U.S. Navy's last diesel-electric submarine, now a museum resting half-submerged in Portland, Oregon. He was also a part of Operation Deep Freeze, a collaborative effort among forty nations to carry out earth science studies from the North to the South Pole. It took him to "the bottom of the world, down there under the ice

For 23 years after he left the Navy, Jess owned and drove a long- haul truck. One day, "I told my wife I'm done with long-haul trucking. I'm tired of being gone." He took a few local jobs including rebuilding an air force base runway in Little Rock.

The start of Jess' migraines

"I had 22 tons of shell on the truck, Jess said describing the incident that led to his migraines. "I made a right-hand turn. My buddy behind me told me the truck rolled over. The guys managed to get the door open and the seat belt undone. I was dazed and my neck hurt. Just shortly after, the headaches started." That was almost four years ago.

"It's just been headache after headache. The light bothers me. It's a stabbing pain on the left or right side of my head, like someone is sticking a poker through my eye or over my forehead. I have tension in the back of my neck and a lot of pressure, and it feels like my brain is in a vice."

Jess went to the Veterans Affairs where a neurologist started him on a variety of drugs. "I was like Alice in Wonderland in a weird drugged out zone and I wanted no part of that. I was in constant pain. I always wondered will I be able to function today?"

For three and a half years I spent most of my time in my recliner with the window shades all closed down. I'd keep the house dark." Jess said the slightest movement—picking up the dog's water bowl, turning around in a shower or putting on his shoes brought excruciating, painful migraines. "Just doing normal things, the headaches would come on and there were periods of dizzy spells. Getting out and going fishing was a killer. I had a pontoon boat and in 45 minutes I could be on this beautiful river trout fishing. But I didn't drive. I couldn't live with myself if I harmed another human being because I was negligent driving with these migraines." Jess, who drove 2.2 million miles as a long-haul truck driver wouldn't drive to the local supermarket.

"I'd want to do something but I felt the pain coming on. So you do nothing but get back in your recliner. I led a miserable non-existent life stuck in the living room in a recliner and that's not me. I am not one for giving up. I am a fighter. I need to be doing things."

Then Jess met a new neurologist

"She said they have this new device for me; she brought out this little box, told me the name of it, gammaCore, and asked if I'd been willing to try it. I said I'd be willing to do anything to get rid of these migraines, and to get off drugs. She put it on the right side of my throat and I felt a little tugging sensation."

Jess started using gammaCore. The migraines started going away. I didn't have to wait three or four months with gammaCore. After three or four sessions my headaches were gone. "One of the drugs I am taking makes me groggy and slow moving I was able to cut back on that drug." He eliminated another entirely. "I'm not drugged out. I'm thinking more clearly. I'm functioning. I wake up saying ok today's a good day. I am going to get something accomplished. With gammaCore, I am able to start doing things and I feel like a human being again." Jess carries gammaCore wherever he goes. "I even have a little leather bag, put the machine in it and I carry it with me. If I feel a headache is coming on I do a session."

"gammaCore is doing it," Jess said. "It's my go to. gammaCore should be available to everyone."

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*Individual results may vary

gammaCore Gives you Power Over Migraine and Cluster Headache Pain in the Palm of Your Hand™

gammaCoreTM (non-invasive vagus nerve stimulator) is intended to provide non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) on the side of the neck. gammaCore is indicated for:

  • The preventive treatment of migraine headache in adolescent (age 12 and older) and adult patients.
  • The acute treatment of pain associated with migraine headache in adolescent (age 12 and older) adult patients.
  • Adjunctive use for the preventive treatment of cluster headache in adult patients.
  • The acute treatment of pain associated with episodic cluster headache in adult patients.
  • Treatment of hemicrania continua in adults.
  • Treatment of paroxysmal hemicrania in adults.
  • The effectiveness of gammaCore has not been established in the acute treatment of chronic cluster headache
  • gammaCore is contraindicated for patients if they:
    • Have an active implantable medical device, such as a pacemaker, hearing aid implant, or any implanted electronic device
    • Are using another device at the same time (e.g., TENS Unit, muscle stimulator) or any portable electronic device (e.g., mobile phone)
  • Safety and efficacy of gammaCore have not been evaluated in the following patients:
    • Adolescent patients with congenital cardiac issues
    • Patients diagnosed with narrowing of the arteries (carotid atherosclerosis)
    • Patients who have had surgery to cut the vagus nerve in the neck (cervical vagotomy)
    • Pediatric patients (younger than 12 years)
    • Pregnant women
    • Patients with clinically significant hypertension, hypotension, bradycardia, or tachycardia

Available by prescription only. US Federal Law restricts this device to sale by or on the order of a licensed healthcare provider.

Please ask your healthcare provider if gammaCore is a treatment option for you.

For more information

A gammaCore care specialist is available for one-on-one assistance. To be connected with a member of the team, please call us at 888-903-2673 or email us at electroCore at customerservice@electrocore.com.

Prepare for your doctor appointment

gammaCore is available by prescription from a VA physician. Download this PDF to help guide the conversation with your VA provider so you can find a treatment that works best for you.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD 

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References:
1. Headache, The Journal of Headache and Pain, Migraine: the seventh disabler J Headache Pain. 2013; 14(1): 1. Published online 2013 Jan 10. doi: 10.1186/1129-2377-14-1, Timothy J Steiner, Lars J Stovner and Gretchen L Birbeck

2. Headache: The Journal of Headache and Pain, Prevalence and Impact of Migraine Among US Army Soldiers Deployed in Support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 02 June 2008, B.J. Theeler, Madigan Army Medical Center, Neurology Service, 9040A Fitzsimmons Dr., Tacoma, WA 98431, USA

3. PubMed.gov, Headache disorders in the millennium cohort: epidemiology and relations with combat deployment. 011 Jul-Aug;51(7):1098-111. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2011.01914.x. Epub 2011 Jun 15. Jankosky CJ1, Hooper TI, Granado NS, Scher A, Gackstetter GD, Boyko EJ, Smith TC; Millennium Cohort Study Team

4. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, May 22, 2017, Veterans who deployed are more likely to develop migraines or headache disorders
5. American Migraine Foundation, November 8, 2018, Veterans and Migraine