This is a question my husband, family, and I have discussed. My headaches are daily, with 2-3 severe headaches a week, ususally. I don't have a lot of the normal symptoms people have with migraines. My Mom found this article on abcnews.go.com about a cure for chronic headaches.
"Dr. Pamela Blake, of Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital in Houston, has pioneered a new minimally invasive surgery for patients with chronic daily headaches. She said that usually, the headaches aren't migraines or tension headaches, but, rather, an irritation of one or more of the nerves that emanate from the back of the skull.
Find out more about the procedure at www.migraineheadachesurgery.com.
"It's kind of like a pinched nerve you might have in your neck or back, and the pain radiates down your arm or down your leg," she said. "In this case, the nerve gets pinched in the musculature of your neck, and the pain radiates along the distribution of the nerve, which is up into the head or down into the neck."
For her procedure, Blake carefully chooses patients who might respond, and then pairs up with a plastic surgeon who performs the surgery, called nerve decompression."
They make an incision at the back of the neck, and decompress the nerve.
Opinions? Anyone experience with this???
Migraine disease can only be diganosed by a doctor, like a Migraine specialist. Family members, mine included, love us and would like us not to be in pain. When a relative comes across an article that seems like an answer to our prayers, they want to share it with us.
With over 100 medications available to treat Migraine disease, we like to tell people to try not to lose hope, because there are many other options available. Migraine Preventive Medications - Too Many Options To Give Up!
Before having a surgery that cuts a nerve, that may grow back, I personnaly would explore any and all other options, including Migraine specialists, complementary therapies and Migraine prevention medication.
Have you tried keeping a Migraine diary? This is very easy to do and will let you see if what things may be triggering a Migraine attack? Then you can take this tool with you to the doctor to see if there is any pattern. Some triggers include: dehydration, changes in sleeping patterns, chocolate, noise and weather changes. For our free diary, click HERE. Our Migraine Trigger page may be helpful too.
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.