Blue Walls, Blond Wood, and Low Lighting
Thank your lucky stars, because I'm giving you the latest installment in Dori's Scintillating Medical History. After my bad interaction with the MGH neurologist, my new friend and blog reader Deb W. (whose husband posts as "L.") suggested I call the brand new Women's Headache Center.
Because it just opened, I was able to score an appointment. Today I met with the founder, who is a neurologist, a fellow headache sufferer, and a WOMAN. Women are disproportionately affected by headaches, and, shocklingly, the medical establishment tends to dismiss their complaints.
This new headache clinic features calming blue walls and dim lighting (since migraines can cause sensitivity to light). Gentle, tinkling new-age music plays softly in the waiting room, and the nurse asks if you have a headache before turning on the lights in the exam room. Dr. Bernstein is gentle and sweet and wears chunky shoes and no lab coat. She came up with three suggestions for me (two new meds and biofeedback), which fancy bigwig Dr. MGH didn't even know about.
The BEST PART? After listening sympathetically in a non-rushed way, conducting the neuro exam and discussing my options, the doctor said: "Call us if you need anything. If you get a bad headache, and it doesn't respond to treatment, we'll get you in right away. There are all kinds of things we can do to help if you need it; we can give you "rescue medication"."
Seriously, I almost cried. Of all the zillions of providers I've seen, not ONE has offered rescue of any kind, and I've never experienced such a soothing and compassionate medical interaction.
Posted by Dori at 6:14 PM
4 Comments
That's awesome. My doctor told me yesterday that he thinks the new headaches I've been suffering from are migraines, so this post *does* fit the description of "scintillating" reading for me.
Anne
That is great!
I used to get debilitating "atypical" migraines that would last for days and until I found drugs that worked for me, I was miserable.
I hope this new place continues to be as awesome as they were today!
I'm glad Deb suggested it to you. It sounds like an interesting place. I'm guessing you've already covered this territory before, but have you tried to see if there are certain things you eat that trigger your headaches? Just a thought, because a friend of ours a couple years ago said that not eating muffins in the morning stopped her migraines, but I actually don't know if they stopped permanently or if it was a temporary thing. In any case, good luck.
Glad I could help!
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