Your Visit to the Doctor

Your initial visit with the doctor represents a crucial step towards securing effective control over your headaches. Even though your headaches may have driven you to the depths of desperation, despair, and neediness, never forget that the management process involves a transaction between two parties that will require your active participation. The physician is not your savior; ideally he or she will serve as a compassionate, informed consultant who will advise you how best to direct your own ongoing headache management. Get this process off on the right foot. In this chapter we will offer suggestions as to how to maximize the benefits obtained from your initial visit. Although headache is endemic in our society and headache sufferers fill the waiting rooms of our clinics and EDs, surprisingly few healthcare providers are proficient in the diagnosis and treatment of headache, and many have a distinct aversion to dealing with headache patients. Your initial visit to the doctor will be far more productive if you arrive for that visit adequately prepared.