There are studies on the costs of Migraine -- studies on the costs in terms of dollars spent on medical care, in terms of dollars lost due to days of work lost, etc. What's missing studies on the cost in terms of loss of human life, literally.
Dawn Lewis-Shepherd had severe Migraine attacks every two or three days. What her doctor had prescribed was a combination of pain medications. In May of 2003, she went to an unnamed Migraine clinic and was gold "there was nothing more they could do to help" and that she was overusing her pain medications.
Sadly, on March 25, 2004, a coroner's inquest heard testimony of her death. The pathologist, Dr. Selma Soomro, listed the cause of death as an overdose of her pain medications. The coroner, Dr. Lawrence Addicott recorded her death as a "misadventure," telling the inquest that there wasn't enough evidence to rule it a suicide.
On the morning of her death, Dawn was expecting her mother to visit, and made two telephone calls to her before the expected visit. Her mother arrived to find her on her bedroom floor, dead, with empty prescription packages near her.
At the inquest, Dawn's general practitioner, Dr. Sally Lindsay said, "The headaches she was suffering from were particularly severe and she had visual problems and sickness with them...She was on the maximum amount of medication but continued to have symptoms...She wasn't able to go out or do what she wanted."
Her death certificate will read something such as "drug overdose by misadventure" or "accidental drug overdose," but that's not what caused Dawn's death. It was caused by Migraine disease, by doctors too willing to give up or not willing enough to try hard enough, and loss of hope.
Unfortunately, such cases aren't as unusual as we'd like to think. I know of a woman who left a message with the answering service on a Migraine information line. She didn't say it was urgent, sounded fine to the operator, and merely said she "wanted to talk to someone about her Migraines." She didn't wait for anyone to return her call. Instead, she took her own life. Her husband, after finding the information line phone number, called them, and explained what had happened. She, too, had been told by her doctor that nothing more could be done for her.
Today, with all the possible Migraine preventives and combinations of preventives, an effective preventive regimen can be found for 95% of Migraineurs. Not only does that regimen reduce the number of Migraine attacks, it reduces the severity of those we still get, making them easier to treat. Even for the 5% of Migraineurs for whom effective preventives can't be found, a good specialist is able to use pain management to give them a better quality of life. This isn't the middle ages when trepanning (drilling holes in the skull) was the treatment for Migraines. There is no longer any excuse for Migraineurs to die because someone tells them there's nothing more that can be done for them, taking away their last shred of hope.
If you're a Migraineur, and your doctor ever tells you there's nothing left to try or there's nothing more that can be done for you, fire that doctor on the spot and walk out of his or her office. Maybe there isn't anything more (s)he can do for you, but there are other doctors, excellent specialists, someone who can help you. If a doctor is foolish enough to give up on you, don't give up on yourself.
*Editorial Note: My purpose for writing this article is two-fold: If you're a Migraineur whose doctor says there's nothing more (s)he can do for you, don't give up! Just move on to a new doctor, preferably a true Migraine specialist. Never forget that you're not alone, and there is hope! If you're not a Migraineur, and don't understand what Migraineurs endure, maybe this will motivate you to learn more about our disease.
____________
Resources:
Higgit, Duncan; The Western Mail. "Migraines made mother take overdose." IC Wales, The National Web Site of Wales. March 25, 2004.
