Do I really have Migraines?

This decompression surgery does NOT cut a nerve.  That's what is so great about it.  There is no chance of the nerve forming a neuroma, or having to grow back -- which peripheral nerves -- those outside your spinal cord or brain -- do grow back.  True - other surgeries for occipital neuralgia have not been very successful -- even when the nerve is burned off where it leaves the spinal cord -- 1 out of 3 patients will have a recurrence of pain -- and no one knows why.  But in this surgery the nerve is not harmed -- it is freed up and allowed to heal. The surgeon opens up the skin and tissue just below it, looking to see if the nerve is squeezed by muscles, scar tissue, unusual anatomy or sometimes unusual blood vessels.  She has been trying medicines. How many years should anyone put up with this?  Especially when you have children.  This is an outpatient procedure that spares the nerve.  It is outside your skull.  People undergo much more invasive procedures every day for much less disabling conditions.  Should she continue medications that can cause liver and kidney damage?  Even innocuous ibuprofen used frequently enough for frequent migraines can lead to kidney insufficiency.  Should she wait for trials of multiple medications to kick in so long she losed hope?  This surgery and what is learned from it can be life changing at the least and possibly life saving.