Migraine

A little backstory, I rcvd disability, but not medical insurance. So, as many of you know, I couldn't find a doctor. 1)because of no insurance, and 2)chronic pain.

Evidently there are a lot of people out there saying they have chronic pain just to get medicines to sell and make money. (I'd like to have a "talk" with those people.) At any rate, after almost 9 months of trying, I rcvd insurance through Access TN.

So I started seeing a new doctor. Very nice lady, and spent more time with me (talking and listening) than any doctor I've seen. Of course, she prescribed some of the same old stuff the first visit "just to make sure" and I can't blame her. But after 3 visits to the ER in 2 1/2 weeks, she realized we needed to change our strategy.

After looking at my CT's and MRI's, she sent me to an ear, nose and throat doctor to rule that out. He did. Back to the doctor. She's now prescribed me cafergot & lyrica. And she's setting me up an appointment at a pain clinic.

She says pain clinics don't like to take patients with "headaches" because they can't "see" the pain. Yeah, whatever. They also can't "see" me laying on my bathroom floor vomiting, sweating and swearing someone is inside my head with an ax trying to split it open. Y'all know what I'm saying. Anyway, I don't know how long it will take to get into this clinic. But in the meantime, I'll take the new meds, pray and be thankful that I've found a doctor who cares! Y'all know what I mean. Everyone take care, and thanks so much for your well wishes. I pray for each of you.

tabby

Hi Tabby!

I wanted to make sure that everyone could read your post and reply- so I broke your text up into paragraphs so that all of our members could comprehend all that you had written!

I hope the new meds work for you! Having a doctor who cares- and who you can work with can make a world of difference! I hope that you can get into the new clinic soon. Keep us posted, okay?

Welcome Tabby. Good luck with the new meds and the pain clinic. Let us know how it goes.

Thank you all for your well wishes. It's comforting to know others out there not only understand, but care.

Glad to hear your care is back on the right track! I know how much easier this is to cope with when you have a good doctor.

Good luck on the new meds and getting your appt at the pain clinic!
Keep us posted!

Tabby,
Fantastic news on your new doctor! I'm glad you found someone so caring

Good luck and keep us posted, k?

I'm SO glad you're getting good care. A great doctor makes all the difference, doesn't it.

It sounds like your doctor is pretty up to date on migraine treatments. I started Lyrica in November, when I first saw my first specialist. My local neurologist, who has a strong interest in headaches and treats a LOT of them, had run out of ideas and wasn't familiar with Lyrica.

My specialist said that Lyrica is the best thing they have for lowering frequency of migraines. I think it's beginning to work -- I'm still titrating up to my final dose. I had some trouble with increased appetite, so I had to slow down for awhile. I've had more 0s and 1s this month than I've had in years and years.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Good luck, Tabby. I'm glad you have been able to make some positive changes.

Thank you, so much. Ya'll are so awesome. You can't even know how encouraging it is to open my email and get a message from one of you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for caring.
God Bless!

Hi tabby,

Good to hear your doctor is listening, but I'm not sure about her comment on pain clinics not taking "patients with headaches." In fact, many pain clinics DO treat patients with head pain. Pain is subjective, but pain is pain.

Have you checked to see if your insurance covers these Migraine specialists in TN?

No, I haven't done that. See, I received disability (finally) last October, but they didn't give me medical insurance. Gotta love that one. So it's taken me until last month to get insurance. That's how I got in to see this new dr. Before I had to go to a clinic because I couldn't afford a dr. Anyway, thanks for the information, and I'll look it up.

I'm so happy for you that you finally got insurance and were able to find a good doctor to treat you!

I've not had good experiences with pain specialists in the past. They have been extremely reluctant to do anything to help me. In fact, one guy actually told me he couldn't do anything for me and that I had no choice but to wait until I found a preventative medication that worked.

Thankfully I'm now seeing a headache specialist who is a neurologist and pain management specialist so he "gets" it. I hope you can find someone like, too.

Diana