Patients prefer ‘headache tour’ before accepting migraine: Doc

Nagpur: Migraine is a disabling condition which keeps recurring among patients, yet most of them try to attribute it to other body parts, system or disorders. The root cause of the severe headache is also not picked up by any test which makes it more difficult for doctors to diagnose and treat it. Patients prefer to take a ‘headache tour‘ before eventually accepting that they are suffering from migraine, which may start around the age of 15 and fades away around 50.
“From refractive error (eye), sinus-related, stress, dental causes, cervical spondylitis to acidity and high BP, people look for all other reasons than migraine. Patients don’t straight away come to a headache specialist when they start experiencing the disabling pain. We call it a headache tour,” said Mumbai-based headache specialist Dr K Ravishankar.
Speaking on the eve of World Brain Day at Persistent auditorium in IT Park, Dr Ravishankar said several of his patients had to quit jobs in the Gulf nations and given up admissions at premier institutes because they failed to control migraine.
“Migraine is genetic. Every child with migraine has a mother who suffered from same condition. There is no cure, but we can certainly control triggers to make the patient feel better,” he said.
Warning against self-medication, Dr Ravishankar said Indian triggers are different from those found on popular search engines of the Internet and people get disillusioned when reading about migraine but can’t relate with them. “We found exposure to sun, travel sickness, head bath, no-breakfast habit, education system stress, afternoon nap, joint family stress, spicy and fried foods, festival links, Indian sweets and fasting habits linked to migraine. Examples available on the Internet are mostly US-driven,” he said.
Patients need to identity which among these triggers they are prone to and avoid them. “Family too needs to understand what a patient needs during recovery period. It could be complete silence at home, or no lights,” he said. The Mumbai-based specialist has come across patients who would even wear a goggle while working in the kitchen so as to minimize exposure to light.
He said proper sleep of at least 7 hours, medication and awareness are the need of the hour to control the disability recalling that people ridiculed him and doubted when he started headache clinic in Mumbai 25 years ago.