When you're not making progress:
It's natural to be somewhat impatient to make progress with an illness or
disorder, so it's important to give your doctor and treatment plan a fair
chance. If you're discouraged with your progress or lack of progress, ask your
doctor about it. If you're seeing a specialist, don't forget that you can always
ask your primary doctor for his/her opinion also.
- "I told her I was "desperate" to get the Migraine attacks under control especially the "wake up in hell" attacks that rob me of at least an entire day. Because they're my worst, I was experiencing excessive daytime sleepiness, and never felt rested, she ordered a sleep study -- then set my next appointment for March - three MONTHS away . . ." forum post
The selection of a doctor is one of the most important decisions we make. We entrust doctors with our health, well-being, our very lives. That give us reason to expect a great deal of them, but we need to be reasonable as well. When we're ill and/or in pain, it's often difficult to approach situations with our doctors in a fully rational frame of mind. To help in difficult situations, try putting dates, facts, and events on paper without adding your emotional reactions to them. Share these notes and your feelings with a family member, friend, or your primary physician to get their advice.
The best health care comes from a team approach where we are members of that team. This is particularly true in conditions such as headache disorders where lifestyle factors such as sleep schedule and food triggers can be a significant factor. The more we know about our condition, the more effective we can be as a member of our team, so it's important to have a good working relationship with our doctors. Do doctors automatically deserve our respect? It's my philosophy that they do, not because they're doctors, but because they're people. That means that we deserve their respect in return. A mutually respectful relationship with a well educated and compassionate doctor is what I wish for each of us.
Help with locating a new headache or
Migraine doctor:
It's important to do your homework when selecting a doctor. Even the best
family doctors and general practice neurologists simply don't get the experience
or advanced training to manage difficult headache and Migraine cases. We have a
directory of
recommended doctors and clinics. The only listings are for doctors about
whom I've received first-hand patient feed back or a recommendation from another
specialist whom I know and trust.
