a candid look at managing and living with headaches & migraines

• Home
• About

Doctors

Delaying the Inevitable With Triptans (Yet Another Migraine Superstition)

Do you ever feel like taking a triptan only delays the inevitable? After three days in a row in which I noticed major tooth sensitivity (my current reliable prodrome symptom) and taking naratriptan within 30 minutes of its onset, a migraine has walloped me upside the head (pun intended). The attack is as bad as [...]

Patients Benefit From Group Medical Appointments

Getting in to see a headache specialist can take months and the appointments are never long enough to ask all your questions. Could group medical appointments be a solution that allows patients to spend more time with their doctors as well as learn from other patients? The motivation behind shared medical appointments is to “ease [...]

Ask a Headache Specialist: Stanford Headache Clinic Director Taking Your Questions

Have a question for a headache specialist? Robert Cowan, MD, director of the Stanford Headache Clinic and a lifelong migraineur, wants to answer them. Submit your questions by 5 p.m. Pacific time on Friday, March 8, by tweeting with the hashtag #AskSUMed or commenting on the Scope blog post: Ask Stanford Med: Director of Stanford Headache [...]

Stress Doesn’t Trigger All (or Even Most!) Migraines!

The pain is too bad for me to write much, but I wanted to be sure you all saw this excellent story from The Daily Mail. The Doctor Says You’re Just Stressed. But Could it be More Sinister? addresses that doctors often dismiss migraine and other conditions as “just stress” and advise patients to relax. [...]

Reading Your Doctor’s Notes

Although patients have had the legal right to read and correct their own medical records since 1996, actually accessing them is often a time-consuming and expensive process. Although advocates have encouraged doctors to share their notes with patients, physicians have been reluctant, fearing their patients may misinterpret what they read or become overly worried about [...]

My Ideal Headache Specialist

Migraine Awareness Month Blogging Challenge #19: “The Match Game” — Describe your perfect doctor to treat your migraines. My ideal migraine doctor attended Hogwarts and then completed four years at a top-notch magical medical school. After a four-year residency in neurology, she did a two-year fellowship in headache medicine at the world’s best magical headache [...]

Medical Groups Urge Doctors to Avoid Unnecessary Tests & Scans for “Uncomplicated Headache”

Through the campaign Choosing Wisely, nine U.S. medical groups are urging doctors to reduce the use of 45 tests, procedures and treatments that may be unnecessary for patients. Each of these groups, which represent different medical specialties, created a list entitled “Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question.” The one item that pertains to headache [...]

Seattle Doctors, Neurologists & Headache Specialists

I’ve been asked about Seattle headache specialists and neurologists more times than I can count in the last month. My experience is quite limited, but the online support group and forum has a thread with recommendations for Seattle headache doctors. If you have any to add, please do! You can also check What Do You [...]

Searching for a Concrete Diagnosis

“My doctor seemed angry with me for not responding to treatments.” “My doctor couldn’t find a diagnosis and just gave up on me.” “If I know what’s wrong, then maybe something can be done to treat it.” Everyone with a headache disorder probably says something along these lines. Headache disorders are difficult to diagnose. MRIs, [...]

Is Seeing a Specialist Always Best?

When people ask me about finding a doctor, I almost invariably tell them to see a headache specialist. Seeing someone with headache-specific knowledge is important because headache disorder education isn’t widespread. But is seeing a specialist always the best idea? Dr. Aniruddha Malpani of The Patient’s Doctor writes: Most patients want to go to the [...]