Subscribe to one of our news e-mail lists . It emphasizes closer communication between doctor and patient, a systematic search for medications and devising an individual plan for each migraine sufferer. But, they added, about 50 percent of migraine sufferers never see a doctor for treatment.
Patients experience headache more than any other type of pain.
Presenting recommendations from the U.S. Headache Consortium, Silberstein and Rosenberg underscored the importance of the primary-care physician or neurologist taking a thorough history of the patient s experiences with headache, noting durations and apparent causes. By using the report s grid chart, displaying expected benefits and common negative reactions for each drug, doctor and patient can experiment. Guided by the outcome of treatments used by other physicians and patients, they can find the best treatment, wrote Silberstein and Rosenberg. Half of those who consult stop seeking medical care for the headaches. Only 28 percent of sufferers are very satisfied with their usual treatment.