Posted by Sean (128.249.135.57) on August 06, 1999 at 12:54:58:
In Reply to: glad to meet fellow sufferers posted by mike on August 06, 1999 at 12:05:30:
Mike,
This is a great point you bring up. I too treated my CH's as a sinus problem for may years and even had sinus surgery. It wasn't until I started med school and began exploring the topic that I came to the realization that I probably had CH and subsequently went to a neurologist. The problem is that among headaches, CH's are rare, and thus most internists are unfamiliar with what they are and how to diagnose them. Since they do present with "sinus-related" symptoms, unfortunately most go down that diagnostic road first. So, I think that one major issue is the education of primary care physicians, who are the ones first seen with the complaint. These days its very hard to get a referral to a neurologist in most HMO plans without the primary physician trying to screw around with some usually ineffective therapy.
I think that a real initiative has to occur to make primary care physicians aware of cluster headaches,and more willing to refer cases that sound like cluster to a neurologist.