The right doctor IS out there!

After suffering with the pain of migraine all of my life and experiencing daily pain for at least the past five years, I finally have found help.  During my periods of worst pain, I felt so abandoned that I had given up on finding help.  I was resigned to living the rest of my life in pain, missing out on the important things in my life to deal with the monster that is migraine. 

To fully understand my despondancy, you have to know that I live in East Tennessee, not exactly a medical mecca, but Knoxville is a fair sized city with several neurologists.  Over the course of 20 years, I saw every one of them.  My condition was trivialized; treatment was perfunctory; and I lost even more of my life waiting in waiting rooms.  My frequent visits to the ER were no better. After a 50 minute ride to the nearest ER, I would often wait 3 more hours for treatment as I literally writhed in pain.  No one, not one of the myriad doctors I visited suggested a headache specialist.

Finally, my husband convinced me to try one more time.  Of course, this meant finding the specialist myself.  I researched several doctors recommended here at health central and called and spoke with the offices.  I found a podcast with Doctor Jan Brandes and after hearing it, I decided to start with her.  You can hear them by licking on the following link.  

http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/mindovermigraine/pop1.htm

Five months ago, I had my first visit with Doctor Brandes in Nashville, a four hour's drive away from my home.  After only one visit the frequency of my headaches decreased by almost half.  Now, two visits later, they are reduced even further.  She has further explained that the way migraine works is that with the heriditary predisposition for migraine, exposure to a trigger can start the "migraine generator."  This, in turn, begins establishing chemical and electric pathways which will make each following headache easier to have.  She is using medication to block those pathways.  The best news is that she intends to get me headache free for about a year and then begin weaning me off the medications!

She tells me that , of course, I will always be on some medication; but I won't have to spend all my retirement paying for a the many medications I am currently on.  My current medications are listed in my profile. So, not only do I feel better now, I have hope for an even better future!

So just keep looking and don't lose hope.  I am lucky; I only have to drive four hours, but whatever it takes is what it's worth to find a good doctor who will HELP! They may be few a far between, but some great doctors are out there!

Good luck!