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Welcome to the Migraine headaches doctors Forum

Just wanted to see if there were other folks here who have been treated @ Georgetown in DC.

I am having no luck finding a doctor in my area…..and when I do the information that the do divulge seems unrealistic and the information that they don’t divulge has been detrimental to my health also…..Where to turn? I am at my wits end and ready to give up the fight!

Unfortunately, there aren’t enough Migraine specialists. Many of us have to travel to get to one. I spent four years traveling eight hours each direction three or four times a year to see my specialist, but it was worth it. Have you see the listing of patient recommended specialists at http://www.helpforheadaches.com/doctors/migraine-headache-specialists.htm?

I wanted to share my experience with Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.. to save anyone from experiencing what I went through. I have had Migraines for 15 years and over the last 2 years they have really evolved in to chronic Migraines. I have seen quiet a few Dr’s, Neurologist and a Chiropractor. I have also been to the USF/TGH Headache clinic.. I have been extremely depressed and feeling at a loss because of the pain and not being able to find a Dr who cared enough to help me. I was advised in the ER a month ago to try and get in with Mayo Clinic, “they were the best”. So I made an appointment, was extremely excited and truely felt like this would be my answer.

My appointment was last Thursday in Jacksonville, a 3 hour trip from where I live but I fetl it would be worth it. I met the Dr, he reviewed all my records, did the standard Neurological test and looked at me and said.. well unfourtanately you have tried all the best medicines and had pretty much all the standard test, so I dont have much hope in helping you. He informed me that there was a small % of Migraine suffers that never got relief and he felt that is where I fell. He did prescribe a few test, that of course came back normal and a new prevenative. He refused to discuss my pain or the fact that I am about to loose my job due to not being able to get a Dr to help me certify for FMLA.. I started crying half way through my visit and couldn’t stop. My worst nightmare had come true, another Dr saying, I am sorry, I can’t help you!

The Dr was even so nice to make the smart comment as I was leaving.. If you happen to find a cure for Migraines before I do, give me a call!

Needless to say I am completely devistated and at a loss of what to do from here. I have even called a few Neurologist in near by towns, explained that I had been to Mayo’s and to TGH, one lady just told me this morning.. well if you have been to those two places and wasn’t helped, I don’t think there is much we can do for you!

Lost…

@Sdavis
That’s a sin! He wouldn’t even try to help you? I wish I could give you my HA Doc (in Philly). He truly IS the best in my opinion!
I would have cried as well! I wish I had something to offer…maybe someone here will!
Best to you!

Thanks Dawn RN.. It was a rough experience but I have to hold on to hope that I will find a Dr that will try and help me..

Hi, I too am having a hard time finding a decent doctor to treat these migraines, I live in new york, and it takes so long for me to get to see a neurologist, i had a problem with the train yesterday and i missed my appointment, so now what do i do? It”ll take another 2 or 3 months for me to get another appointment, is there an easier way?

Tonia

sorry to hear you are sharing in this experience. Finding a good Dr (Headache Specialist) is almost as bad as the migraines themselves. They would be so much easier to deal with if you knew you had someone that was there to treat you and actualy cared whether you were getting any relief or not… I am not aware of any easier way but to call, make another appointment and wait. I can’t even get Dr’s offices to call me back!

Good Luck

I had such an awful time dealing with my new neurologist that I decided I should warn people about him. I am in Greeley, Colorado and saw Dr. Celina Tolge for 5 years and she was one of the best doctors I’ve ever had. She had to close her practice at the end of the year and sent her records to Dr. David Ewing.

I went to see him right before I had cervical fusion surgery and since then have become so frustrated that I finally fired him yesterday. My first appointment was made for 7 a.m. and I got to the appointment about 10 minutes early. The doctor didn’t even show up to open the doors until about 7:25 and then he brought me in and only saw me for about 10 minutes. He didn’t seem interested in seeing me at all. Since there was nothing he could do until after I had healed from my surgery, we decided to meet again three months later. Well, it just happened that I was sick with the flu that week. I called and rescheduled, but they said they still had to order the Botox for my appointment and that would take two weeks to get in. So I made my appointment for two weeks out and waited.

In the meantime, the doctor had called in a prescription for my pain meds that was only 1/3 of what I had been taking previously. He never mentioned he was lowering it to me, he just did it. The first month, he had admitted it was a mistake and that he hadn’t read the Rx strength the first time through. He called in a new Rx and even though it was for a lot fewer pills than I had with my old doctor, I made it through the month. I have been trying to reduce the number of pills I take gradually, but since I was just out of surgery, I was having more pain than usual. When I called the pharmacy for another refill after the month was up, they again sent in the wrong strength and amount, so I called his office.

I have to say that I have never been treated so rudely by someone in a doctor’s office before. I asked the nurse about fixing the Rx again and she told me the doctor was out of town, and wouldn’t be back until the day before my appointment the next week. I asked if I could leave a message for him, and she said no, with no explanation. When I asked why, she just said, you have to wait until you see him to talk to him. I was a bit dumbfounded at this and explained that this was the same problem that happened last month and she got angry at me. After a couple of minutes of trying to figure out just what was wrong, I finally realized that she was calling me a drug addict. She ended up just hanging up on me and I called her back.

I really couldn’t believe that after 5 years of seeing specialist after specialist and in-patient hospital treatment for my migraines that I was having to deal with this. I thought I finally had the history that somebody would be able to read through and see that I have tried almost everything that I could try. The only thing I really haven’t tried was Botox and they were working on getting the approval for that.

Needless to say, I got very upset. By the end of the call I was crying and couldn’t believe some of the things she had said to me. I finally told her that if they were going to treat me this badly, I wasn’t coming back at all and she hung up on me again. I found out later that the doctor had been in the office the whole time and that she had lied to the Doctor and told him that I had refused to take numerous earlier appointments and had rescheduled two weeks out for no reason.

I called and left a long message on their voice mail (they were suddenly gone from the office in the middle of the afternoon) about the situation and about the woman lying to me and the doctor. I’ve never wanted to reach through the phone and shake somebody quite so much, but I was professional about it (although I was crying through most of it). I told them that I hoped they were ashamed at how they treated a patient in pain and in need of help.

I’m thinking of making an appointment with my old doctor who has moved to a different state and is now over an hour away. It would be worth the drive just to keep from dealing with people like this.

Hi Jadelady,

I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. If I were you I would definitely not go back to see that doctor. There’s a good migraine/headache specialist in Denver named Dr. Judy Lane. She’s been treating my migraines for the past year and a half and I would definitely recommend her as a good doctor.

TO sdavis: I went to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota (an 8 hour drive for me). I also had just about the EXACT same experience. I saw a neurologist there and he ran some tests, another MRI, and everything came back normal. When I finally saw him again after all the tests.. He told me I had Chronic Daily Migraines (I had already been diagnosed with that two years prior) and that I needed to “learn to live with it” I was 19 and had to withdrawl from college and could no longer keep my part time job due to my daily completely debilitating pain. I literally did not HAVE a life, so “the best place in the country” telling me to learn to live with this left me depressed and completely hope-less. I was in shock. How do you learn to live with not really living? After that, I, as well was turned away from several doctors saying that if Mayo and a headache clinic here in Chicago couldn’t help me that they couldn’t. I finally found a great neuro willing to work with me, but we haven’t found anything successful yet. I just found it interesting you had the same problem with Mayo Clinic. I was utterly disgusted by them, as I’m sure you were too. I wish you luck in finding some relief..

Has anyone been to or heard anything about the neurologists at the University of Virginia?

Thanks,

Sandra

I have had the same neurologist since I’ve been diagnosed with migraine. In the beginning he was absolutely great, now he’s taken to flat out telling me – “I just don’t know how to help you,” and makes me feel like an idiot for complaining about my migraines. I live in Maryland and I have Kaiser however I am on disability so Medicare and whatnot will give me a chance to see other doctors, any suggestions?

I have suffered for years with “atypical migraines” and have gotten all sorts of answers, prescriptions and mostly dismissive attitudes from health care practitioners. I have become underemployed due to my disabling headaches. I can tell you the approx. date they began; before that I was healthy….I have begged for answers to the myriad of symptoms i have with the headaches…I found out recently that I have Lyme Disease and headaches and related “migraine” symptoms I have are due to a coinfection that often goes with Lyme. If any of you live in an area where you might have rec’d a tick bite please pursue testing for Lyme Disease. It is all over the United States and a very, very real thing. My headaches……the constant swelling feeling in my head, the nauseau, dizziness, ear pain, numb face and tongue and head fog are slowly easing up since starting the antibiotics. I pray my life is coming back and hope the best to all of my fellow headache sufferers.