“ We literally try to partner with our migraine patients. In that process, they teach us about their migraine, and we teach them about the knowledge we have as health care professionals.”
“ We literally try to partner with our migraine patients. In that process, they teach us about their migraine, and we teach them about the knowledge we have as health care professionals.”
and you need to know how to use those tools. In that manner, you can control and certainly reduce the amount of impact and disability migraine creates. Remember, it’ s not a failure if you have a migraine.
HW: How can people protect themselves and guard against potential stressors? DR. CADY: There are positive things you can do to protect your nervous system. Keep a regular schedule with meals and sleep patterns. Take a good look at your diet. Are you eating on time? Are you eating healthy foods? Are you enjoying regular exercise? Are you recreating— having some type of fun on a regular basis? Are you setting aside a time in the day that you let yourself disengage from the frantic pace of life, step back and recharge your battery? Those kinds of things are very important.
The other thing that is very important to me is a collaborative health care model. What this means is that we literally try to partner with our migraine patients. In that process, they teach us about their migraine, and we teach them about the knowledge we have as health care professionals. Basically, we have two experts in the room, and both of them are working on a one-on-one basis to solve that person’ s problems. I find that model very effective. Over time, people become very capable of making good, quality decisions about when to treat, what to treat with and how to protect their nervous system from migraine. And they really do take on an expertise that makes them much more successful as migraine patients.
HW: So patient education is integral to this process? DR. CADY: It’ s the center of everything. To me, it’ s what makes managing migraine so very interesting. It’ s an ongoing process in which your patient is learning and so are you. With people who have migraine, you learn a great deal about medicine just in helping people manage their migraine more successfully.
HW: What is the most common question you get from patients? DR. CADY: The most common need people have is to understand what is happening. Why do I get migraine? Why am I different than my friends? We go out and we do the same things, and I end up with a migraine and they seem to have no ill effects. When I sit down with patients, I like to make sure they understand that they were born with a brain that is unique and different than the brain of people who don’ t have migraine. The brain of a migraineur tends to be more vigilant, more sensitive to its surroundings. That often brings with it some very positive attributes if the nervous system is well controlled. Successful people in all walks of life live with migraine. Our goal is to learn to manage this nervous system successfully and bring out the good attributes— the positive side of this sensitivity. Then I like to make sure they understand why they get headaches. It’ s a relationship between the genetics that nature gave them and the environment in which those genetics function. Sometimes we think of migraine as being one thing, but a lot of times, it’ s many things that are impacting the nervous system simultaneously and putting that nervous system at risk. For example, if a woman is working to meet a deadline at work, she’ s maybe not been sleeping as well as she usually does and it’ s getting near the time of her menstrual cycle, that’ s probably not the best time to go out and drink some wine and eat cheese.
HW: If you could say one thing to headache sufferers, what would it be? DR. CADY: Migraine is a biologic process. There’ s a lot that can be done to help manage it more successfully. Part of this, you, as the person that has this nervous system, need to take responsibility for. A lot of it, the medical system can help you discover and learn how to use. Find a partnership. Work with your health care professional, and in almost all instances, migraine can become a well-managed and well-controlled disorder. HW
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