two teenagers have been killed in london in separate attacks within minutes of each other. police are investigating after one was stabbed in wandsworth yesterday afternoon and another was shot in plumstead. detectives have made arrests in connection with each death. now on bbc news. just how bad can a migraine get and how close are we to a cure? newsbeat reporter shiona mccallum meets some of the thousands of sufferers and the scientists trying to help them. nearly 200,000 people in the uk will experience a migraine today. if you are not in a safe environment when you're having a migraine, it really is one of the worst scenarios you can possibly put yourself in. at some point in our lives, one in seven of us will have a migraine attack. the best way i can describe

it is it's the worst hangover you've ever had, times ten. for those who suffer the most, their migraines can completely take over their lives. people are like, "only come back into work when you are feeling better," but what if you never really feel better? everyone will know someone who has a migraine, and usually it runs in families. but despite being so common, there is still no cure. a headache isjust a little bit of pain, whereas for me and for a lot of people, a migraine is, like, visual disturbances, pins and needles, vomiting. it's so much more than a headache. i work in a school as a teacher's assistant. before that, i was an english teacher in japan. i don't remember a time when i didn't have migraines. i've already had so many days off, and at the beginning, they didn't really understand.

i literally was there and decided, "ok, i'm not going to go when i could feel one coming on," i said "i will see if i can stick it out for as long as i can." i was in so much pain, they carried me to a room and i was vomiting and shaking. i was happy that they could see what it is for what it was. when people say they have a sore head, they usually mean a tension type of headache which can be treated with painkillers. a migraine, though, is something different. a severe throbbing at the side of the head that can last for hours, or days, and it comes with a range of other symptoms, like a sensitivity to light, sound and smells. the headache during a migraine also gets worse with movement. so, it's been a couple of weeks since we first met nathan, and we are just going to check up on him and see how he has been getting on and coping with his migraines. hiya!

how are you doing? nice to see you again. yeah, i'm good, thank you, how are you? not too bad. how have you been feeling? the last two days have been really hard. but today has been really good, so hopefully it will stay that way. and what about work? you're not in the classroom today, so what has been going on? well, since i last saw you, i had to leave myjob. so, it's been quite hard, in general. i was getting migraines so frequently and the intensity was so high that it was just not fair on the school, the children i was working with, and myself really. so, you're here today, and what are you going to be doing? today, i'm going to sign on and hopefully get some help looking for something new. maybe get something a bit easier for myself. something i can actually put more time and effort into. how are you feeling about not being able to be a teacher any more? it's quite sad, to be honest. teaching is one of my passions. and i don't like having to leave where i was and all

the relationships i'd built because of my health. it's not ideal. so, you have a few forms to fill in and we'll see how it goes? that's the plan, yeah. 0k, good luck. see you later, cheers. so, nathan's migraines are pretty bad. he is a chronic sufferer, getting about 15 or 20 headaches a month. but we wanted to see what is more typical, so we're going to meet alice. she gets what is known as episodic migraines, that's a couple of headache days a month. this is my office. this is where i film all my videos. alice is a graphic designer and youtuber. she has talked about migraines before. a lot of people say "it's just a headache!" and that's my biggest

pet peeve in the world. but today, she's doing a shopping haul. right, shall ijust go whenever? hey, guys, it's alice again. so today i'm actually going to do a boohoo haul. iknow, i... what has yourjourney with migraines been? when did you start having them? i think i was about nine or ten, and they gradually got worse as i went through secondary school. and my gcses especially. the stress of gcses played a part in it, too. super, super happy with this. i really hope it looks nice when try it on. i did a video on my migraine experience, i think i filmed it when i was still at uni. and that was like at the peak of them being really bad. so, i'm going to do another one soon, i think updating, but that original video has been really interesting to hear feedback on how they all felt, experiences with them, that i'm not alone. it's a common problem. people said that i get this and did not realise i get this. 0r like, "my mum got these and i honestly did not realise how

much it affects her." there's been a lot of lovely oof cmments of people coming together as a community and understanding that a migraine is not just a headache. i would love to hear from you in the comments, but thanks so much for watching this video. i hope you enjoyed it and i will see you very soon for another one. bye! done! migraines are very common. they affect one is seven of the population, with women being much more prone to them. so, one in four women suffer with migraines, which is a lot. often it does start in teenage years, people can have it when they are quite young. so, i think the youngest we have it treated is four years old, which seems really young to have a migraine. but the most common time for it to start is actually in people's 20s, 20s or 30s, so when they are busy working. it starts to really affect their lives. we are waiting on nathan. he texted that he's pretty weak, he had a migraine

overnight and yesterday. so, he should be ok and he will come, but it's a bit of a shame, i feel bad about asking him here, but i'm sure he is up for it, so that's good. even though it does not help his migraines, nathan loves his motorbike so much, he doesn't want to give it up. hello. how are you? i'm alright. not feeling too great today? well, to be honest, not 100%. no. the last few days have been pretty hard. last night, yesterday, the day before, day before that, i've just been completely zonked. hopefully today, it backs down, that is the plan. so, we are going to do that one? yeah, that's going to be the first one. follow the light blue one, it should be easier. do you find this is an activity you can do quite well despite not feeling very well very often?

ifind it, because you control how much you move your body or your head, you can go as slow as you need to. it is not going to jolt your body too much which makes it easierfor me. and that is one thing about migraines, isn't it? almost! ok, that's actually really hard. you demonstrate, maybe it's best that i just ask the questions, you can do the climbing. yes, so this is a sport that you can easily do with the migraine and manage it, not too strenuous. because you don't have to move your head too much. you just kind of go at your own pace. impact makes a really big difference. like running sports. if i'm just coming off a migraine, or have a migraine, it's really difficult, so i don't think i would be able to do it. do you think your migraines are affecting your mental health? yeah, i would say it has, to be honest. when you are always in your own

space, in a dark room, in pain, you kind of do feel a certain way. like, it puts you in a really dark place, and obviously you are in pain. the feeling that no one understands you. like, the loneliness of it. you kind of feel isolated as well, so it is a whole cluster of things, that does not really help anything. it's just not nice. have you felt depressed at all? when i'm in that dark space, depression is definitely one of the things i feel. i think i'm lucky in a way because i can sometimes pull myself out of it. so when i come off a migraine, and i'm feeling a little bit better, i try to keep as positive as i can and try and get out. to be honest i didn't think i'd be able to make it today, i tried my hardest today. even though i'm feeling really tired and fatigued, and a bit dizzy. but it is just, have to keep positive and keep pushing yourself,

otherwise you are just going to remain in the same place and just remain stagnant and that is not where you want to be. because then you get yourself stuck in a hole which you can't pull out of. help me go as far as i go because this is the last attempt. i'll definitely help. it's all in the toe, all in the toe. do you know, this is actually really hard and i'm really impressed nathan can do this on the back ofa migraine. i think this is as far as i'm going to get, though. i have come to meet emer. until 18 month ago, she was working as a civil servant in central london. hi! nice to see you. how are you? not too bad, not too bad. how are you? as her chronic migraines got worse, she made the decision to change her career. so, this is your home,

but also where you work? yes, this is my office, that is my office over there for the time being. so, i got the laptop set up and everything. so, what is it that you are doing now? i am a freelance writer. that is the easiest way to describe it but i'm doing a couple of different things. i'm ghostwriting for people's memoirs, but then i am also working for a cv consultancy company, helping people with their cvs. and just kind of came to the point where i realised that i had to kind of fit my working life around my migraines because they are just so unpredictable that i need this flexibility now to kind of get up and decide how much i can do on any given day. it's currently saturday morning. instead of doing normal weekend stuff, i woke up with the worst pain on the right side of my head, just so sore, i feel so sick. and this is probably going to be me for the rest of the day.

just lying here, waiting for the pain to be over. the biggest thing for me is kind of managing my ambition. so obviously i was always very ambitious, but i have had to kind of learn to redirect that ambition because the harder i was working, the more unwell i was becoming. it is about being realistic, but also a little bit optimistic as well. when emer gets a migraine, she will take over—the—counter medicines, like paracetomol and ibuprofen. she is also taking vitamins and supplements every day to try and help. none of them really work. alice has had better luck, though. they are so much better than they were. i started them when i was like nine, and now it is the best it has been since i can remember. and it is probably down to the fact that i am now not as stressed. my mum actually spoke to the doctors, and we found a correlation between my anxiety and my migraines. stress is all linked in with that, so we spoke to my doctor

and he gave me an anxiety medicine and ever since then, it has seemed to calm down a little bit. i started taking that towards the end of university, and the frequency of my migraines completely slowed down. so that has helped a lot, which has been nice. and i have think i have learnt a lot better if being aware of and making sure i have my water bottle with me and making sure i am eating at the right time. is there a particular time the stress seems more, where you seem to have more migraines? probably year 10 or 11, i was having up to like five migraines a month and actually through one of my exam periods, i had two in one week so i was trying to take my exams while physically not being able to see because i get visual disturbances and stuff. so, stress from uni triggered them again. so yeah, it is definitely kind of situational based. i think i have to be very aware of my stress levels now and the fact

that it affected my education, as well, i think shows that it is notjust a headache like some people think and it does affect people a lot. i can feel a migraine starting to come on. so these are my ice packs. today i have chosen a white one, with my ice pack, just taken some medicine. so i'm going to... i'm going to go lie down. before it gets worse. and i can't do anything. there is not really a cure for a migraine unfortunately. we will never get rid of them altogether. regarding things that have been directly made for migraine, there isn't very much out there. triptans were the first real targeted painkiller for migraines, but regarding preventive medication, until very recently,

there has not been anything made for migraines specifically, we tend to borrow things from other areas of medicine, heart medication and anxiety medication, epilepsy medication we use a lot. and there is a one in four chance of any of them will work, so it can feel quite frustrating for people. they feel a bit like they are just trying this and try that and nothing is working. when you get as many migraines as emer, even basic day—to—day tasks can be a worry. living in constant fear of coming into contact with known triggers. noise, smells, lights, anything kind of flashing, like wet paint or somebody spraying something, or smoke, all sorts of different things can really trigger it. travel is unpredictable anyway, so it is an element that is always a thing i think about before i go anywhere really. normally ijust feel quite nauseous when i am on trains anyway, so that kind of can make

it worse sometimes. emer has braved the train today because is off to do something today she has found helps her migraines. i'll take that, you put the goggles on. 0k, good luck. what kind of temperature? 0k, well... feels good. feels great... not too bad. it is very cold initially. that is usually the only thing you can pay attention to, but after you start swimming, you just start to get this buzz and you feel really relaxed and that feeling kind of carries over for the next few days, you feel kind of chilled out and relaxed. this is the place i come to kind of reset, to kind of start afresh again and just get a bit of a break from the pain. you know, how you feel and whether or not you are stressed out or relaxed can really

have an impact on your migraines so this is definitely a good thing to do. well done, how are you feeling? thank you. feeling good, a bit cold but not as cold as i thought i was going to be. i mean, swimming is all well and good, but only a temporary fix, really? only a temporary fix and although i'm going to keep doing this, i am glad i'm coming here, i'm kind of hoping for more targeted support in the future and i'm hopinh for more medications that were actually designed to help migraines to come through the nhs, that sort of thing. so scientifically, what happens when you have a migraine then? firstly, there is a chemical cascade in the midbrain. this causes problems with nerves in the scalp, which brings on the pain and the headache. next, cortical spreading depression. it's like an electrical activity which moves across the brain

and causes what's known as aura. aura is the term used to describe the neurological symptoms, and they can be split into visual and nonvisual. if people experience the visual aura, they might see things like sparkles or stars, flashing lights and even experience temporary blindness. nonvisual aura could mean numbness or tingling, pins and needles in the arms and legs or a feeling of dizziness. and then comes the nausea, and in some cases, vomiting. sorry i'm talking to you with my eyes closed, it is really sore. i was sat in my office doing some work and my eyes started to go fuzzy. and because i have had migraines for a while, i now know what it feels like, so i knew i was getting a migraine. i've still got have a headache. my headache is now

on this side of my head. my eyes aren't fuzzy any more. i'm just really sensitive to the light and sound. but i'm glad i've not been sick. i think i took my medicine fast enough. i spoke too soon. i think being sick definitely helped. it kind of released some pressure of some sort. not sure how it works, but... i have eaten a packet of ready salted crisps and a packet of prawn cocktail crisps, because carbs always seem to help me. not sure if that is the same for anyone else. and i'm also eating some bread.

good morning. it is day two of the migraine. i am going to stay away from cheese and chocolate today because i know that that is a trigger, and in the past, i have eaten that on my hangover days, migraine hangover days and given myself another one. so i'm going to avoid that for today. we would all want there to be a cure but it's such a complex problem that targeting one specific substance tends to help people but to varying degrees. i think the chance of finding a cure is slim, to be honest. one of the treatments that works well for some people is botox. the same injection that is used for cosmetic reasons but in this case, it helps stop the inflammation of nerves in the scalp which causes the headache. there is also what is

known as tra nscranial magnetic stimulation. which is basically a magnetic pulse going into the back of the head. it is quite stylish, isn't it? the newest model, i know. a rose gold. i will give it a go. just here? a little bit higher, perfect. great. that's it, you can put it back on the table. did you feel anything? just a little jolt. some people don't feel anything, some people feel what they describe as a kickback from the device. that's exactly the pulse being released. and so that's the magnetic force? exactly, kind of an electrical pulse that goes straight through the skull into the brain. the idea is that it interrupts the brain activity associated with migraines. one of the few drugs that treats people for migraines specifically is called aimovig, but it's not widely available on the nhs.

here, at guy's and st thomas', though, is one of the few clinics that prescribe it for free. aimovig came from a breakthrough research in understanding the biology of migraines. and what it does is specifically targets one of the proteins that causes migraines. so, for the first time, we have a specific treatment designed for migraines that works really well. these patients were at the end of their line in terms of treatment, they had tried almost everything. so, being able to improve the quality of life of patients for whom there was nothing else to try, that has been a great satisfaction from our point of view. and it is significant, isn't it? in some patients, there is a dramatic improvement. you can see over 50% or 60% reduction in symptoms which is great from a treatment point of view. i have invited emer and nathan to meet each other and talk

about living with chronic migraines. we are waiting on emer, she should not be too long. hi. would you guys like tea or coffee or anything? 0h, i'd love a coffee please. coffee as well. if there's any decaf, that would be brilliant. i'm nathan. nice to meet you. i'm hoping emer will be able to offer nathan some advice on working flexibly. for me, i said to myself "what are my skills? obviously i can't be a civil servant, not in the civil service but i can write and manage projects. " so i kind of went into freelance writing and am still very new to it but... but it's something, yeah. it's so hard to know how you will feel when you wake up in the morning so you kind of need that. for me, the morning is the hardest time because mornings i am pretty

much always in pain. i can never tell if it is going to escalate or it's one that is dying off. and it makes it so difficult to choose whether i should try and get up or continue lying down and just stay there for another three hours. yeah. that's the decaf. thank you. i take it you've caught up similar experiences. it does sound pretty similar. so, what advice would you give nathan about working and managing migraines? kind of thinking to yourself what is within the realm of possibility, what can i do today and kind of learning to kind of reframe what success looks like for you. and you both said migraines have affected your mental health. with me, and probably you as well, i find myself in a really dark place

because i get the pain and i'm in a dark room in a dark space and i am in my head for hours on end. like what nathan said, you are in a dark place physically, on your own and in lots of pain and you are in a dark place mentally because you just can't escape all of the anxiety that starts to build up when you try and prevent it from happening again. i think it has a really negative effect on your mental health. if it was a headache, i would be so happy. because i could continue my daily life, i would not be worried about anything with a headache. you can pop a few tablets and continue and get through a normal day like everyone else. i think we can't. itjust doesn't seem possible. i am almost ok with people

misunderstanding how severe a migraine attack is physically, but it is kind of like the emotional pain that ijust don't think they understand. you know, it has reallyjust had such an impact on me personally. that i wish there was a bit more understanding of that, really. some sunshine in the forecast. this was in the hastings area. the rest of the day, some sunshine, but there

is some rain in the forecast as well. low pressure still out to the western side, northern ireland, towards england, scotland and wales and a band of weather gradually seeking its way towards the east. the east had a glorious start but here we are in norfolk, another of oui’ here we are in norfolk, another of our weather watchers, david said it is closing up. that is because, that rain band that was in the west in the first part of the day is creeping its way towards the east. you will not see it in norfolk until later today, this evening. but it will start the side of the pennines, all the while the eastern rain becomes more showery through the rest of today. and on through the night, you will see some hefty bursts across the northern parts of scotla nd bursts across the northern parts of scotland then it turns drier. then we see a return of that weather front into the south—western quarter where it will start the new day on sunday. so don't be suckered if your

day starts gloriously sunny because these bands of weather still circulate. this sunday, they will gradually creep their way across wales and the southern counties of england and spread towards the north and east and eventually get back into northern ireland where they will become more widespread across scotland, more persistent including for a time. then the showers to be had across the mainland. in the sunnier spots, 20 degrees could be yours. if you're stuck with a lot of cloud, you may be closer to 13 or 1a 01’ cloud, you may be closer to 13 or 1a or 15. here we are on monday. still, northern ireland and western scotla nd northern ireland and western scotland for two close to the weather. longer spells of rain. across england and wales, weakening weather fronts, still producing the odd showery bus, but essentially a lot of dry weather here. we continue that on into tuesday which could be the warmest day for the week. a high

of around 21125. we have seen it advertised as a heatwave, injune it isn't that special. not all doom and gloom but if you are out and about the expecting a shower.

this is bbc news. the headlines: a climbdown by hong kong's leadership after mass protests over their controversial extradition law. the gulf tanker explosions, two senior cabinet ministers accuse jeremy corbyn of not backing britain's interests by questioning if there's "credible evidence" for the attacks. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, the british—iranianjailed in iran, begins a new hunger strike in protest against her imprisonment. a major review of hospital food after the deaths of five patients from listeria is announced in england. hundreds more people are urged to leave their homes in lincolnshire because of flooding brought on by heavy rain. and the internationally—acclaimed writer fatima bhutto talks to george alagiah

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