Update After Neuro Appt./Thank You For Your Help

zoey1

Glad you went in, did you feel comfortable talking to him?
I remember my first neuro appointment didn't go so well. Neither did the phone call by second appointment it got better.
I do think when you directly ask them what you should do they do not know how to respond. Mine still hadn't run basic tests that he should have run, accepting the "book and labs from everyone else".
The one thing i would metion if it gets bad and the office isn't far and he is there regularly go sit in the office till he can see you. As far as pain meds go see how what he put you on helps or not and then if it doesn't see what his other suggestions might be.
Lots of luck to you.

Chaswick

Hi Jane,

Did you take all of your old records with you to the new Neuro? I'd think they would take a while to get to know you and trust you before they Rx'd any heavy-duty pain meds..

The other thing that seems quite common when it comes to migraineurs is that Neurologists seem to be very reluctant to Rx strong pain meds. for us. It makes sense as they are trying to solve the problem and prevent them from happening in the first place and many believe that if a patient has access to strong pain meds. they will not give the other meds. a 'fighting chance' to work.

There comes a time when the focus has to change to controlling the pain. There is a percentage of us that just don't respond to prevent. medications and the time comes to control the pain and try to get back our lives.

To do this though, I'd say you might want to go to a pain managment Dr.. It was a headache specialist that Rx morphine IM for use at home for me after 20 years of preventattive medications.

Good luck!!//Chaz

**I was thinking about your post Jane and it is crazy that the Neuro doesn't have some plan for you to avert ER trips.

I'd imagine you go thru hours of awful pain before you finally bite the bullet and head to the ER. The cost to you and/or your insurance company has to be high for a visit. Once there, I'm sure you wait for hours to be seen.

And then, if you haven't had to already, chances are that you are going to be seen by a Dr. who either pooh poohs you because you are in the ER for a 'headache'. Or, who accuses you of being a drug=seeker. Or who gives you a hard time because the ER is not a place for someone with recurring medical problems like awful migraines (think they are right about that one - but what are you to do?).

I really think you need to set something up with your Neurologist. Or if he/she is new and doesn't know you, what about your GP? Even if it is just a letter explaining what has worked in the past. They aren't obligated to follow it, but at least it gives you some credibility.

Chaz

DogMom22

Good Luck with the depakote - I have read it can be pretty effective but the side effects can be pretty rough., but certainly given the severity of your case it is worth a try. I would be in agreement with the last post - to maybe continue with the neurologist to continue to find a prevanative and seek a pain management specialist as soon as possible to treat the pain (or wait until you see whether you can tolerate the depakote and determine if it helps enough that you can live with it). It is clear the your neuroligist is not 'geeting it'. The other choice is to call your neurologist everytime you would otherwise go to the ER - hopefully they have an after hours answering service that would call him.

Fibbles

From my experience, most neuro's tend to be uptight about strong pain killers in general.

When I finished the 30 10/500 Percocet I was given after my C-Spine fusion (on C5 and C6) I was still in pain, but the doctor (a neurosurgeon) did not want to give anything stronger than Ibuprofen. His nurse actually said that opiates were bad in that sort of situation and 800mg Motrin would be much safer Heck, they wouldn't even give me 5mg Sonata for sleep knowing my history of sleeping problems.

I had a bad experience with a Neurologist and Migraines once before too. In the late 90's and into the early 2000's, I was getting painfully severe and long lasting headaches that seemed to be seasonal, starting in the fall and ending during early winter. I went to a Neurologist and told him I was getting headaches, so he gave me Imitrix. He didn't examine me, nor did he want to get any scans. To make a long story short, I had a severe allergic reaction to the Imitrix (my face and throat swelled up) on X-Mas eve! That was not fun at all! What was his reaction? "Well, I guess you shouldn't take it anymore" and then he chuckled. Hello?

Had he examined me and/or got some scans, maybe he would have realized that a crooked septum was to blame. The headaches were a result of allergies causing sinus drainage, but since my septum was crooked, the drainage would clog and give me an absolutely horrible headache. An ENT doctor was able to solve it surgically.