Headaches: a common problem
More than 70% of Americans will suffer headache pain severe enough to compel them to seek medical attention at some point during their lifetimes. A small but substantial minority of patients experience chronic daily or near daily headaches, which significantly impacts the quality of their lives and the lives of their families.
Types of headaches
Patients can suffer from a variety of headache disorders.
Primary headaches include:
- migraines with and without auras
- tension-type headaches
- cluster headaches
These types of headaches, among others, initially must be distinguished from headaches due to medical disorders such as strokes and tumors.
How we help patients
A first goal is to refer patients to appropriate medical or surgical colleagues if their headaches may be signs of other medical problems.
When no medical cause is found, as is the case with the majority of patients who have developed primary headache disorders, the goal is to tailor a regimen that effectively reduces the frequency and severity of headaches.
Our intent is to alleviate the pain in these patients as well as those patients with more episodic, but equally disruptive, headaches – restoring a sense of wellbeing and returning the patient to acceptable functional status.
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