Who is the best doctor to see for migraine treatment?

Migraines can be devastating, and there are many new treatments on the horizon: drugs, diets and lifestyle changes.

But who should you see? And what remedies will help you the most?

The first step should be to see an excellent general practitioner or family doctor who can confirm that you have a migraine and, if possible, rule out other causes for your symptoms. They should also have a good neurologist that they can refer you to if needed and referrals to other migraine experts that can help you get to the root cause of your condition. 

We know that the best migraine treatment is an integrative approach. People that commit to this "integrative" approach consistently put their migraines in remission.

However, the correct treatment for migraine is still controversial because there are many kinds of migraines and no single migraine treatment. 

There is an arsenal of migraine medications (painkillers and anti-inflammatories), but because the body's inflammatory response often mediates migraine pain, non-pharmacological approaches can also be effective. Most people with migraines report that a combination of strategies works best.

Is the best doctor to see for migraine treatment a neurologist?

Migraine treatment is an issue that many people struggle with and it can be challenging to know which doctors are best suited to treating it. Some people view their primary care doctor as the best doctor to treat migraines, but others feel that the best doctor to see for migraine treatment is a neurologist. 

The most important reason for seeing a neurologist for this problem is that they have special training in the brain and how it works. In other words, they have more knowledge about how migraines occur and what is needed to treat them effectively. 

Neurologists undergo a specialised training in how the brain works so they can prescribe the right medication that actually works for you. They also know how to help you find other doctors that can help with any other problems you may have, such as depression or anxiety. 

With all of their specialised knowledge and experiences in treating migraines, seeing a neurologist for migraines is really a good idea you should consider. 

Neurologists will mainly prescribe medication for your condition, which may be helpful, but be sure to ask about the side effects and any long-term plan to try to get to the root cause of your migraines so you can start to prevent them.

Migraine patients are often told to take painkillers, but these seldom work in the long term for patients.

Drugs don't make the pain go away; they make it easier to ignore. 

An abundance of research suggests environmental, and lifestyle changes such as diet, supplements, neck treatment, hormonal balancing, and stress reduction strategies can be more effective than medication, not only in reducing symptoms but also in preventing migraines from even starting.  This is what every person with migraine should be striving to achieve, and it is possible - just not with medication.  Your symptoms are a sign that there is something wrong in your body.

Migraines are more than just a bad headache.

Migraines are not just headaches —they are a family of related headaches with different causes and symptoms. 

The most typical sign of migraine is a severe, pulsing, throbbing pain on one side of the head. But nausea and vomiting are also common migraine symptoms. Diarrhea is also sometimes present. Other symptoms include sensitivity to light, sound, or smell; numbness or tingling; fatigue; and vertigo.

The cause of migraines is getting more and more apparent to researchers. It may be a problem in the brainstem or brain cortex with the nerves being hypersensitive. Often this is a consequence of neuroinflammation. The exciting thing that has come out of research over the past decade is the influence of regions outside the brain that may be the root cause of migraines.

Often other signs are present with migraine such as anxiety, blood sugar problems, hormone imbalance, and neck and back pain. These can all contribute to your migraine experience and sometimes help you understand the root cause of your migraine. You want a doctor who will take all your health issues seriously as part of the migraine treatment.

You are unique and so is your migraine.

In migraine treatment, as in other things, it is a mistake to look for a one-size-fits-all approach. 

Each individual has a different combination of the factors that contribute to their migraines. You can control some simply by avoiding red wine or chocolate triggers, while others have adverse reactions to specific painkillers. No one will have experienced every possible migraine trigger or drug reaction, so there will always be a need for doctors and patients to work together to find the best possible treatment for each individual. 

Migraine treatment is not just about finding a way to minimise migraine symptoms when they happen. It is also about finding ways to reduce the frequency and severity of migraines. The most effective treatment regimes are usually ones that involve a combination of short term medicines and long term prevention strategies.

Find a doctor who listens and takes the time to understand all your health concerns.

A doctor who listens to you and takes the time to understand all your health concerns is essential. Doctors are still only human; sometimes, they are unaware of the newest information about a particular medication or treatment. You should partner with a doctor who has an intimate knowledge of migraine and sees many migraine patients every day. 

At Melbourne Headache Solutions, the team has thousands of hours of additional training in headaches and migraine. Your standard GP has 3 hours. It can be hard to know everything about everything, so seeing the doctors that specialise in migraines will always be more helpful for you.

When making decisions with your doctor, be sure to do some research on your own as well. Please read up on the condition that gives you problems, including its symptoms, treatments, and prognosis. You can find out what others have done in the same situation by checking message boards, talking to friends who have had similar symptoms, or asking around on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.

Knowing what you are dealing with will better prepare you to have an informed discussion with your doctor. You will come out of your appointment having learned something new about what is happening inside you and armed with more information about how to deal with it. And if you discover that the diagnosis is not accurate or that other treatment options are both more effective and less risky, then you will be able to change course before it is too late.

There are many factors that can cause your migraine.

Migraine is a complex disease that a combination of factors can cause. The root cause of migraine is partly genetic, but dietary triggers and environmental factors are also involved. 

The problem with migraine is that various trigger factors can be challenging to identify because they are often different for each individual. The main known trigger factor is specific foods. Food additives, artificial sweeteners, nitrates found in processed meats, certain wines, chocolate, caffeine, monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartame and tyramine-containing foods can all cause migraines. Other food-related triggers include skipping meals, fasting, skipping meals during menstruation and hormonal changes associated with pregnancy. 

The typical migraine sufferer may find relief from eliminating certain foods from their diet until their migraines subside. However, trying to figure this out on your own can be difficult. There is no ONE dietary change, one elimination strategy to follow. The most effective way is to partner with experts in the field who can identify what you need to do and walk you through it. The consequences of repeated migraine episode over the years whilst trying to figure it out on your own is just too high.

Consulting a team of health professionals to help you find the best migraine treatment is ideal.

It is common for a migraine patient to complain that their doctor does not know how to treat a migraine. Migraine is complex, with many different causes and treatments. The best approach is to have a good understanding and open GP who can work with other health professionals who have more specialised knowledge on migraine. 

Together, the team can help you have acute treatment with medicine and help you get to the bottom of your condition to prevent it from occurring in the first place. Having a doctor that can understand their limitations and enlist the help of others outside of conventional medicine is vital to your success in treating your migraines.

Migraine treatment requires that all possible causes be taken into account simultaneously.

Migraine treatment is unique in the medical world in that the treatment requires that all possible causes be taken into account simultaneously.

Unfortunately, this is rarely done. Both patients and other health practitioners will focus on one area (neck treatment, diet changes, hormones), and it does not produce lasting results. Most migraine patients have several causes that combine to cause their symptoms. That is why they have so many symptoms like head pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, cravings, back and neck pain, and joint pain.

All these symptoms give you a clue as to what is causing your migraines. They all need to be investigated and treated to get results. Don't worry if this seems too hard. That is why the team at Melbourne headache solutions are here. This is what we do every week with hundreds of our patients. But a word of caution, if you are trying to figure this out on your own, it may take years of trial and error, compared to 6- 12 weeks.

It is important to determine and address the root cause of your migraine.

Identifying the root cause is very different to identifying your triggers. Your triggers are just the tip of the iceberg, and these are the things that are obvious to you. Here I like to use the analogy of the bucket theory of migraine which you can read more about in another blog post. 

When your migraine bucket is full, it only takes a small event, a smell, a drink, a bit too much stress, and it's enough o tip you over the edge and produces a migraine attack. So the apparent trigger is ( being the smell, food or stress) is blamed.

But what about everything that filled up your bucket in the first place?

People will often deal with the triggers, but they don't know what is filling the bucket because it happens silently in the background over the years. The things that can be filling your bucket are certain foods that you are eating or not eating, nutrient deficiencies, hormone imbalances, blood sugar control, inflammation, gut issues, stress and anxiety, exercise or lack of it, neck issues and more.

The root causes are the things that are filling up your bucket, and your doctor has to help you identify what these are and help you deal with them. Only dealing with triggers is useless for most people, except in about 1 % of cases.

Migraine treatment doesn't have to be a complicated process.

Once you understand the bucket theory and what is filling your bucket, the solution is often straightforward. It does take some adjustments to achieve this, but we have seen thousands of times that people can constantly put their migraines into remission when this process is followed.

However, through lack of appropriate guidance, most people guess what they have to do, focus on triggers, symptoms, and medication only, which nearly always results in years and decades of progressively wondering migraines.

Migraine is complex, and even doctors and neurologists have had trouble effectively managing migraines, so it's best to partner with those who know how to help people with migraine effectively.

Prevention will always be better than cure.

If you have migraines, that is not because of a lack of drugs. There are lots of medications used to treat migraines. There are also lots of pills that claim to be good at treating migraines. But they are not very successful at preventing migraines in the long run. They are most successful at treating the symptoms of migraines.

If you try to find out which of these drugs is best for treating migraines, the evidence is clear: the best migraine treatment is understanding what is filling up your migraine bucket and dealing with them.

We have created a test to help you find out what is filling your migraine bucket and what you can do about it.

Take the test here or you can book your FREE consultation with us today.