Which Doctors Provide Migraine Treatment?

When looking for medical treatment for your migraines it’s good to know the different levels and types of care available to you.  Although most people begin looking for medical treatment with their primary cary physician you should know that it doesn’t end there.  There are lots of different doctors that can provide migraine treatment.  This article reviews some of the different types of doctors that may be able to provide help.

Primary-Care Physician

The primary care physician is the person that most people first disuss their migraine problems with.  This is primarily due to the fact that the patient is already comfortable discussing various ailments with that doctor.  Your family doctor is the person that usually refers you to specialists if they feel it is appropriate.

The primary care physician is usually a general practitioner, internal medical specialist, or family practitioner.

Pros:

  • The doctor knows your medical history.
  • The doctor probably knows your family medical history and may even be treating other people in your family.
  • You have probably established a long term relationship with the doctor.

Cons:

  • General practitioners are generalists, not specialists.  As such they may not know of the latest advances and treatments available for migraine sufferers.
  • Some general practitioners may be reluctant to refer you to a specialist because they believe the condition is something they’re qualified to treat.  This may result in lengthy treatments and considerable trial-and-error attempts before the most effective treatment is found.  If you don’t believe your doctor’s treatment is effective you should feel comfortable enough asking him/her to refer you to a specialist.

Neurologist

A neurologist specializes in conditions that affect the brain and is considered highly qualified to diagnose and treat headache and migraine conditions.  Many primary care physicians refer their migraine patients to neurologists for this specific reason.

Pros:

  • They’re likely to keep abreast of the latest migraine treatments and medications.
  • Because of their specialized knowledge of the brain and how it functions they’re likely to accurately diagnose the presence of neurological disorders that can cause migraine headache pain.

Cons:

  • Because neurologists deal with very complex brain problems they may not be willing to spend time treating migraine patients.
  • Some neurologists only deal with patients that have very severe and frequent migraine pain.  Infrequent sufferers may not be able to get an appointment to see certain neurologists.

Headache Specialists

A headache specialist is a physician that specializes in diagnosing and treating patients that suffer from migraines and other types of headaches.

Pros:

  • Headache specialists are likely to have th latest information on migraine treatments and therapies.
  • Because they treat people with different types of headaches they should be able to distinguish between a migraine headache and other headaches that have similar symptoms.
  • Because of their knowledge of migraine headaches they often provide cost effective treatments.

Cons:

The term “headache specialist” is not a certified or accredited medical sub-specialty so determining a physician’s qualifications may be difficult. Ask the physician if he/she is a member of the American Association for the Study of Headache (AASH), which is a professional group for physicians and researchers interested in the treatment of different headache types.  Because accreditation is not required it is recommended that you only visit a headache specialist as the result of a physician’s referral, or the referral of a trusted physician, friend, or family member.

Read the article “Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Migraine Headaches” for more information.

Filed Under Migraine Treatment | 2 Comments

Tagged With , , , , , , , ,

Comments

2 Responses to “Which Doctors Provide Migraine Treatment?”

  1. Anita Anand on February 19th, 2011 9:58 am

    pls help me. i have accute migrane and i am not getting proper treatment.

  2. karen Marcum on February 9th, 2012 9:53 am

    I have tention headaches been to so many diffrent doctors and have taken so many meds it willn’t go away!!!!please help me..

Leave a Reply