If headaches are getting the best of you and you’ re at the end of your rope, it might be time to see a specialist
If headaches are getting the best of you and you’ re at the end of your rope, it might be time to see a specialist
BY JESSICA ROYER OCKEN
Lorel Brown was a teenager when she started having migraines. For years, she handled them on her own. The problem was, nothing she tried was very successful.
“ I always managed them with over-the-counter medications— lots of ibuprofen, Excedrin Migraine, ice packs and a dark room,” she recalls.“ Mostly I suffered through. I used to get them about once a month.”
About five years ago, when Brown was in her early 30s, her migraines became more frequent, more severe and longer lasting. This finally drove her to see a doctor. But after
OPINION
visiting a general practitioner who suggested medications that created more side effects than relief, she got a referral to a neurologist who specialized in headaches. Only then, after several months of treatment, did Brown’ s chronic migraines begin to recede.
“ Most people don’ t have to spend three days in a dark room or feel like that’ s normal,” she says.“ Your quality of life is compromised by even one or two [ migraines ] a month. You’ re functioning at 60 percent and don’ t even realize it.”
When you’ re overwhelmed by pounding head pain, it can be hard to get motivated to seek care or find a new provider— especially if previous treatment has been unsuccessful. But as Brown’ s experience illustrates, your current doctor isn’ t all that’ s out there.
“ People just assume,‘ Well, I entered the health care system,’ and they think [ their first experience is ] all there is,” says Roger Cady, MD, associate executive chairman of the National Headache Foundation.“ They may give up, and of course their migraines rage on until later when they’ re experiencing disability.”
WHEN TO SEE A SPECIALIST“ In most cases, primary care does a good job taking care of migraine patients,” says Dawn A. Marcus, MD, co-author of The Woman’ s Migraine Toolkit. But in some cases, migraine and headache sufferers need more focused, specialized care.
Richard B. Lipton, MD, an advisory board member of the National Headache Foundation