Thanks for writing, Teri!  This prominent Georgetown University Medical Doctor, Dr. Ivanic Ducic, has done hundreds of these types of surgeries with great success.  I am told by him that I am the first patient to have recurring pain in this area, and thinks it might be temporal arteritis, and referred me back to my headache specialist/pain management doctor.  The occipital area that was decompressed is better, but it's the temporal area that is giving me the most pain.   I received some information from the National Headache Institute in Chicago, and one of the things suggested was that I do an MRI/MRA both with and without contrast to see if I indeed have temporal arteritis.  This is a less invasive procedure at this point than having a biopsy of the area done, so that should happen this week or next.  I had two more temporal blocks in each area yesterday, and that has helped for the time being.  My biggest frustration with Dr. Ducic is that everytime I ask him a question about why the pain has returned in my temporal area, his answer to every question is "I don't know".  I feel that he should know since he was inside my head.  The first time I asked him if the biopsy of the affected area showed any signs of arteritis, he said no.  When I asked him about it again yesterday, he said that a biopsy was never performed!  How's that for talking out of both sides of your mouth!  I will let you know the results of the MRI/MRA once I get them back.  I have a feeling that I will be on cortisteroid treatment with high doses of Prednisone for at least a year.  My headache specialist is going to do another SED rate test this coming Friday to see if the Prednisone is helping the levels to come down.

I appreciate your writing, and the referrals to the other doctors.  Thanks for your help, and I will be in touch.

Anne

Hello, I am not sure how you been feeling lately.  But, first, to make it clear, I would like to make sure that you are aware of the type of surgery you had.  You had nerve removal and occipital decompression.  Dr. Ducic was not inside your head.  He did not perform brain surgery and as with any procedure he does not recommend 100% recovery from migrains.  I am only writing to let you know that I too have had those surgeries and I think you might be confused as to the type of procedures Dr. Ducic has done.  He is not a Neurosurgeon and has nothing to do with the brain.  I hope you are aware that Migrain Neuralgia is tricky.  I have been suffering for many years.  I am and have been on medication.  But with the surgeries I have had my pain level is more tolorable.  Dr. Ducic never promised me perfect results and he did state that depending on the patient, the migrains may never go away.  But, what he did for me has been make them more managable.  I did not get the results right away.  For the Occipital, it took a while, I had two surguries but the pain was not as bad as it used to be.  I much rather have a lower pain level then the pain I used to be in.  Just make sure you know what you are getting yourself into and read about it.  Do the research and I think you will understand any procedure better.