I had my appointment with the Dr. that Prof. Goadsby directed me to. His name is Dr. Alan Finkel. This man spent a full 2 hours with Clark and I, and he went over every single aspect of my life and health. I was not just a headache, I was a person, and one he wanted to know everything about so that he could tailor a treatment that would give me maximum quality of life and potentially the chance at full pain freedom.
I was at the end of my rope with my head, and after losing Wiley on Monday, if this appt had been yet another Dr. that was clueless, I can honestly say I would probably have joined Wiley.
This man has guaranteed that, that option will never have to be one I look to ever again. He even knew all about the buster research and the BOL trials; He asked if I could get into the trial here LOL. He was just absolutely amazing, he isn't just a Dr., he's a human being who FULLY and COMPLETELY understands what a headache sufferer, (any kind) but most especially CH sufferers live with every day.
He goes to Ft. Bragg twice a week to treat soldiers that have suffered TBI's (traumatic brain injuries) from post concussive blasts, and have been showing up as clusters as a result. Now to me that's a pretty awesome thing for a civilian doc to do.
I could go on for pages about everything he said and did, but he has started me on a plan to get my head fully under control and to deal with the TBI I suffered last year from my falls. His words were "You and I are gonna drive off a cliff about 3 different times, as we start the phases of your treatment, and the first cliff we are going over starts today" - not here's a pill, hope you land safely, but he's jumping straight into hell right along side me. He gave me 3 scripts, one to treat the pituitary cyst initially - something to lower the pressure in my noggin, and another for the migraines, and the 3rd he calls my "feel good pills". Because so many chronic CHers, or any chronic pain sufferer, often deal with depression, and the standard anti depressant meds tend to not work well with CHers and have the potential for seratonin syndrome because of triptan usage, he has a very novel approach. Amphetamines. I about fell off my chair, but he fully explained how it works and even drew me pictures LOL. The legal amphetamines that they use cause a release of seratonin, norepinephrine, dopamine (that's the biggie) and epinephrine, as well as work on the next level down with the CGRP's and one other thing that I can't recall at the moment.
So, he sent me home with a bunch of 'black beauties' and told me to adjust them up or down as needed until I got to a place where I had more energy and felt good - my feel good pills. There is some evidence they do help with headaches, but his primary reason was to get my mental status to a place that would be far better off and thus opening more avenues for other treatment options.
He told me about another drug as well, that he says in short order every CHer out there will be banging down their docs doors begging for it - apparently it lets you sleep, and will allow you to sleep through the night and cause any REM or night time attacks to never materialize.
Oh and he says PG is short
I simply cannot express adequately just how wonderful this man is. He has just taken one very at risk 'patient' and ensured that I was no patient, I was a whole person with a condition that impacted the whole of my life and turned it into a situation with hope and help and given me the gift of looking forward to the future.
Next time I see PG I'm going to hug his neck for sending me to him
So anyone in the NC region - Chapel Hill area (it's a 3.5 hour drive for me, and worth every minute) if you don't have a really good headache specialist, this is the man you want to see. And miracles of miracles, he fully accepts military health care!!!
I am so very thrilled. I would LOVE to see a conference with both PG and Finkel speaking - that would be a mind blowing explosion of knowledge and understanding.
Cat, who has a new lease on life!!
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