MRI at last but Neurologist Gives Up

Let's have a recap... I am 44 year old man based in the UK who has been having migs for about 30 years but only diagnosed for the last 9 years.  I get 20 to 25 headaches every month of which about 10-15 are migs.  Over the years I have tried many things to try and prevent my migs and most of them you can read about in the pages of this blog... There were preventative meds, which mostly made me feel awful or didn't touch the migs at all.  I have tried botox, occipital nerve block, physio, chiropractor, massage, acupuncture, allergy tests and diet changes and a hand full of alternative meds such as Q10, feverfew, magnesium sprays etc.  None of them have touched my migs.  I have searched high and low for triggers and the only one that I have found is the cold wind on the back of my neck.  I know of no others.  I don't get aura and thankfully most migs go within a day.  I take triptans, paramol, midrid and a cup of coffee to cure my migs once I get them.  Oh, not all at the same time!  I keep a diary to make sure that I don't overdose on any one of them.

Last week I had my regular 3 monthly appointment with my neurologist and he told me that he had run out of ideas, and that he wasn't going to make any more appointments to see me.  That was a real jaw dropping moment.  He had nothing for me.  No more meds, no more injections (not that I really wanted either but it would have been nice to have been asked). 

He said "Carry on researching and if anything else comes on the market, ask your doctor to refer back to him again."  To be honest he has never been the most proactive of specialists.  Our appointments tended to be so quick that I could park, register at the reception, see him and get out again, still within the 20 minute drop off time for the car park.  So the good news is that I didn't have to pay any car
parking fees at the hospital.  If I suggested something to him, and if it was available on the NHS then he would approve it.  But for now it seems that I have reached the end of the line.  No more options are available to me, nothing, zilch, zippo.  I felt empty and dejected.  He did at least try to look sorry for the inconvenience, but fell a little short of the mark.

So.... um.  No actually that's it.  I tried getting referred to another specialist a few years ago and all they could offer was what I already had tried.

"But what about that exciting new neurologist that you mentioned at the end of your last blog?" I hear you all cry.  You have read my previous blog haven't you?  Haven't you?  It's ok, we can wait...

Well he was a fabulous guy.  It made a real change to be seen by someone who took some time to think, and to ask, and to look and to touch.  He booked me in for an MRI scan, which he was amazed had never been suggested to me before.  He also suggested physiotherapy as he was sure that at the very least it would alleviate the symptoms.  The MRI found nothing conclusive.  There is always stuff that you can see on an MRI scan and mine was no different, but as nobody seemed too worried by the results, neither did I.  The physio appointment finally came through, three months later.  He gave me some neck stretching exercises to do.  Half of them I do already, I mean who doesn't stretch their neck from side to side when you have a mig?  I will give them a go, but as the appointment was only a week ago it is too early to see if they make a difference yet.

Other than that dear reader, I really am not sure what to do.  I will continue to search for the elusive cure and I will continue to post my findings here when I find them