In learning how to manage migraines and prevent headaches, it’s important to find a migraine doctor who is resourceful, knowledgeable, and most of all, understanding. Good luck with your search, because a true migraine doctor is like the proverbial needle in a haystack of would-be headache specialists.
(Please speak to a migraine doctor, or other qualified physician, before starting any new migraine treatment. What follows is not medical advice.)
Misdiagnosis!
Try Googling for a “migraine doctor” in your area and you’re likely to meet a lot of dead ends. That’s because today’s physicians are sadly undereducated in the treatment of migraine patients, despite the major advancements scientists have been making in the field of migraine-related neurological studies.
As a result, very few doctors become migraine doctors, because few medical students receive appropriate training to recognize the symptoms of migraine disorder, and therefore don’t even take migraines seriously, writing them off as a pseudo-disease that doesn’t even deserve its own classification.
In fact, only about 50% of migraine patients ever receive a diagnosis for migraines, and not for lack of awareness- they know their headaches are from migraine- but because they have given up on the system, and have relented to self-treatment for their chronic headaches, and other symptoms of nausea, fatigue, and dizziness.
Only about half of migraine sufferers ever receive diagnosis, and even fewer eventually find the right treatments to prevent future migraine attacks.
Migraine awareness, please
Migraine awareness efforts on behalf of the many migraine advocacy groups like MAGNUM, Migraine.com, and the Migraine Support Group on Facebook are helping to educate the medical community, but we are still far behind where we should be.
Until scientists receive more grants to fund migraine research, providing an incentive for medical students to pursue the Golden Goose of migraine cures while gaining recognition for doing so, we will continue to see a very meager representation of migraine doctors in the specialty of neurology, or even chronic pain treatments.
Enter alternative treatments
One positive outcome we’re seeing as a result of the lack of quality migraine medical care is a growing interest in a more natural approach to migraine treatments.
More often than not, people are finding that they can reduce migraine severity and frequency by implementing natural migraine preventative strategies, and without all the harmful side effects that many analgesics, opioids, and other prescription migraine medications may cause, such as dizziness, nausea, memory loss, and risk for overdose.
And the science is behind many of today’s natural migraine treatments, including the use of butterbur extracts, magnesium, riboflavin, and Coenzyme Q10 in benefiting patients of migraine.
Your turn!
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