Have you explored finding a headache specialist? So few docs have decen education/experience with complex headache disorders that it's common for folks to run thru multiple docs & many years without finding good treatment.
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LOCATING HEADACHE SPECIALIST

1. Yellow Pages phone book: look for "Headache Clinics" in the M.D. section and look under "neurologist" where some docs will list speciality areas of practice.

2.  Call your hospital/medical center. They often have an office to assist in finding a physician. You may have to ask for the social worker/patient advocate.

3. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or ; On-line screen to find a physician.

4. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or Look for "Physician Finder" search box. They will send a list of M.D.s for your state.I suggest using this source for several reasons: first, we have read several messages from people who, even seeing neurologists, are unhappy with the quality of care and ATTITUDES they have encountered; second, the clinical director of the Jefferson (Philadelphia) Headache Clinic said, in late 1999, that upwards of 40%+ of U.S. doctors have poor training in treating headache and/or hold attitudes about headache ("hysterical female disorder") which block them from sympathetic and effective work with the patient; third, it's necessary to find a doctor who has experience, skill, and a set of attitudes which give hope of success. This is the best method I know of to find such a physician.

5. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or NEW certification program for "Headache Medicine" by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties, an independent, non-profit, professional medical organization.
        Since this is a new program, the initial listing is limited and so it should be checked each time you have an interest in locating a headache doctor.

Hi. I saw a neurologist about 30 years ago and got an EEG done. He said I didn't have seizures. No surprise there. Since then I've been on the waiting list a couple of times but after a couple of years the doctors left having never seen me. They're over-worked and underpaid. I can't speak to the quality because I haven't seen one in so long. Right now I'm taking Verapamil 240mg once a day to prevent. I started that about 16 years ago. That worked for about perfectly for 14 years. The only time I had a hit was when I missed a pill. In the last couple of years the headaches have come back, not with a vengeance, but they have put in an unpleasant appearance. There's not much that stops my headaches. I've tried oxygen, oxygen and more oxygen, various ergotamines, triptans and other drugs, but nothing stops them. Fiorinal c 1/2 can help if I get to it fast enough, but there's the rub. It's hard to get it in time. If I feel the ache in my teeth and can get the capsule in time, I'm not too bad. If not ... let's not think about that too much. Once they're in progress it takes a moderately high dose of narcotics to change the character of the pain enough to get some level of comfort and I only go there when the headache lasts longer than about two hours. Anything less is not worth a trip to the ER and anything more, I don't know when it will stop if I don't get to a doc.


It's nice to know someone, beside my wife, is interested in what's going on. Thanks.