Do You Need a Headache or Facial Pain Specialist?
If you are unsure whether to seek help from a headache or facial pain specialist, ask yourself these four questions:
- Are your headaches or pain interfering in your life regarding work, school, family or social activities?
- Have your headaches or pain become more frequent or more severe?
- Are over-the-counter medications no longer effective or do you worry that you might be taking too much?
- Have you gone to the emergency department for a headache?
If you answered ?yes? to any of these questions, a consultation with our headache specialist may be right for you.
Headache Diary
A daily headache diary is one of the most important tools your treatment team has to help you. An accurate headache diary serves to:
- Monitor the frequency, duration, and severity of your headaches over time
- Identify patterns that may help determine triggers and improve treatment
- Track medication use and response
- Maintain long-term records of what has worked and what has not
With the help of this diary, we can better plan your treatment and manage your headaches.
Treating Headache Disorders
Hear Dr. Carolyn Zyloney talk headaches, migraines, and how we're treating patients during COVID-19.
Preparing for Your First Appointment
Keeping a diary to track your headache frequency and duration can help your doctor make a diagnosis. Your doctor may ask you the following questions:
- Where is the pain located? Is it one-sided? Which side is involved?
- What does the pain feel like? Is it pounding, throbbing, stabbing, steady ache, or pressure?
- How severe is the pain on a scale of 1 to 10?
- How often do the attacks occur?
- How long do attacks last (with and without treatment)?
- What symptoms accompany the pain? Do you have nausea, vomiting, numbness, weakness, sensitivity to light or sound or smells, dizziness, tearing, drooping of an eyelid, congestion, or discharge from one nostril?
- Are there factors that bring headaches on, such as weather changes, stress, sleep changes, missed meals, menstruation, exertion, or certain foods or alcohol?
It can also help to have a family member or close friend accompany you to the visit to help you recall certain details of your headache episodes.
Additional Resources
