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So you’ve tried everything without success, and your migraine attacks have reached the point you simply can’t handle them any longer. Your physician has suggested you consider migraine surgery, but it’s a big step and you aren’t sure it carries enough benefit to make it worth the risk. Scheduling a surgery consult is your first step towards a new reality, but it’s essential you get answers to all your concerns during the appointment, so you can decide whether to proceed or not.
Finding a cure for migraines is the dream of 37 million Americans who suffer regularly from these painful headaches. As one of humankind’s oldest afflictions, it dates back to the ancient Egyptians and 1200 BC. In 400 BC Hippocrates described migraine with aura and first recorded the relief sufferers could feel after vomiting. It took another 600 years, however, before Aretaeus of Cappadocia described the typical one-sided headache pain of a migraine, in tandem with vomiting and blocks of...
Nausea and vomiting are very common during a migraine attack, with studies showing close to three-quarters of patients experience vomiting and almost 95% feel nauseous. One reason for this is that while a migraine attack begins in the brain, it causes changes in the brain stem and affects the central nervous system, too. Neurologists believe this could be the source of the headache pain, as well as the sensitivity to light and sound often experienced during an attack. Nausea is also a side...
Living with chronic migraine is difficult enough for adults, but it’s even harder for young people. Teens whose parents don’t know what it’s like to experience the blinding headaches and other symptoms often have a tough time getting them to understand why you don’t want to do all the typical teenage activities. Interestingly, there are whole threads on Reddit devoted to helping teens explain to their parents what migraines are about, so it’s not an unusual problem.
Headaches of any sort are often related to jaw and tooth issues, and we all know how a bad toothache can feel as if it’s reverberating right through your head. Migraine sufferers often experience a stronger relationship between the two, with oral health issues contributing significantly to migraine attacks.
Most of us can’t imagine our life without a smart phone. It’s now become such an integral part of our daily routines that trying to do without one would be like losing an arm or a leg. We socialize, manage our money, grocery shop and arrange professional calendars all via apps on the phone. And that’s before we even start filling in those boredom moments with amusing videos and games.
When you have to deal with a long-term medical condition such as recurring migraine pain, you might find yourself in a dilemma regarding paying for treatments. On one hand, you have the ongoing expense of costs for migraine medication, and on the other the potentially big, upfront cost of surgery. Surgery may or may not reduce your monthly bills for pain meds, but finding a solution to the dilemma through affordable treatment plans can be a struggle.
When you’re suffering from regular and repeated migraine attacks that seriously affect your quality of life, the chance that migraine surgery may reduce these is an attractive option.
Most patients recover quickly from migraine surgery. As you consider whether you should undergo surgery for your migraine attacks, it's natural to have questions. Here are some of the most common concerns.
For the millions of people who suffer from chronic daily migraine, finding relief is a priority. Often, the search for a solution leads them to choose migraine surgery. While several different types of migraine surgery are available, the option chosen most often is surgical nerve decompression, which releases the specific nerve that is trapped and gives the patient much-needed relief from the attacks. This procedure was developed after doctors discovered that patients who had undergone plastic...
